Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508210040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Rich Kane, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, said the storms that passed through between 4 and 5 p.m. dropped almost 2 inches of rain west of Blacksburg in less than an hour. In West Virginia's Greenbrier County, 2.4 inches fell.
In Montgomery County, lightning struck the ground at least 40 times in one five-minute span. The storms then moved mostly southeast toward North Carolina. The storms were strongest in Carroll and Patrick counties and along the North Carolina border.
One lightning strike hit Appalachian Power Co.'s Cambria power station, knocking out power to 7,100 Christiansburg residents, Apco division Superintendent Joe Weddle said. There also were scattered outages in Montgomery, Carroll, Pulaski and Floyd counties.
By 10:30 p.m., 800 of the 7,100 Christiansburg customers still did not have power, according to an Apco spokeswoman. She said the crews were making progress, but she could give no estimate of when power would be restored to all customers.
She added that about 2,600 customers in Christiansburg and in Montgomery and Floyd counties remained without power.
With Hurricane Felix moving away from Virginia and taking the rain that could have broken a two-week-plus heat spell, the thunderstorms helped a little, but a drenching rain would have been better, Kane said.
"Most of them looked at this as actually a blessing, because it's been so dry," Kane said. "Certainly, any rain will help."
Staff writer Lisa K. Garcia contributed information to this story.
by CNB