Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 10, 1993                   TAG: 9308100232
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SOUTHSIDE PUTS A PRICE TAG ON DISASTER

Administrators in several cities met with building inspectors, representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and state officials to put a price tag on the devastation caused by Friday's storm.

The National Weather Service said most of the damage was caused by two tornadoes that plowed through Southside Virginia. The first ripped through Petersburg's Old Towne area and a Wal-Mart in Colonial Heights. The other sent a wall of water crashing into the Interstate 295 bridge over the James River.

Three women died in the Wal-Mart collapse and a man died after he was crushed by a concrete slab at a nearby construction site.

The weather service was checking the possibility that other twisters were responsible for damage elsewhere in eastern Virginia.

More than 200 homes were damaged in Newport News, Hampton, Chesapeake, and the counties of James City, York and Surry.

Preliminary damage assessment teams - comprised of FEMA and state representatives - fanned out to the affected areas Monday, said Lisa Katz, deputy press secretary for Gov. Douglas Wilder.

"We're trying to at this point get good solid numbers we can count on from the localities," Katz said. "There were more than a dozen hit."

In Hopewell, the damage estimate reached $1.5 million. Riverside Park Apartments, where 60 units were destroyed, accounted for about $800,000 worth of damage, officials said. Four of the buildings were condemned and will have to be rebuilt, said Elbert Holt, general manager for the apartments.

Jack Williamson, the emergency services coordinator for Newport News, estimated $1.2 million worth of damage to private property in the city.

Williamson said local officials met with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but he did not know whether Newport News would receive federal assistance.

Officials say it's too early yet to estimate how much damage was done in Colonial Heights, but across the Appomattox River in Petersburg, where 120 buildings were damaged by the tornado, the damage estimate topped $11 million.

Keywords:
FATALITY