Fred Martin Jr. gestures at damage to a machinery storage building and hay barn severely damaged by Tuesday’s storm. His father estimated the damage would top $1 million.
In the Dyers Store area in eastern Henry County, Fred Martin Sr. initially estimated the damage at his Martin Stables at between $600,000 and $800,000 but later raised that to "way more than $1 million," considering all the vehicles that were damaged.
A machinery storage building, hay barn and half a cinderblock building were destroyed, left in a pile of rubble in the storm that hit around 2 a.m. Tuesday. Some of the buildings had been there for 40 to 50 years, Martin said.
His son, Fred Martin Jr., said the company's machinery lay beneath the rubble. Martin Sr. said the vehicles that were licensed for road use and his home nearby were insured; the buildings at the stables were self-insured. One furniture van alone was worth $60,000, he said, adding that one building held 12 farm tractors.
"It's bad," Martin Jr. told a caller as he took a break from using a chain saw to cut branches from one of the huge downed trees on the property. In some cases, those trees took fences down with them; others along the street were snapped like toothpicks, yet nearby cars did not have a scratch.
Part of the metal roof from the buildings was wrapped around a nearby utility pole on the property on Mountain Mist Road.
No people or animals were hurt in the storm, Martin Sr. said, calling that a blessing.
He said the storm sounded "like a herd of horses across the roof" when it hit. "We could see things blow past."
"I've never seen anything like this in this area," Martin said.
But he vowed to rebuild. "We will recover with the good Lord and good friends' help," he said.
Not far down Mountain Mist Road, Ricky and Debbie Dove were just grateful that the big pine trees that snapped in their yard did not hit their home - especially the front bedroom where their grandson slept.
"The good Lord was just with us," said Ricky Dove, a lifelong resident of that area. "A couple of shingles we can replace."
Nearby on the Dyers Store Road, Don Jackson was wondering how he would do just that. His uninsured home lost shingles and the antenna was damaged in the storm. Jackson had been out of work at Thomas Systems for four weeks following surgery and had recently gone back, "and now this," he said Tuesday morning as he surveyed the scene.
Fortunately, the inside of his home was not damaged, nor was the home of his son next door. But the mobile home on the other side of his house was partially crushed by the storm. His nephew, Mike Jackson, used that building for storage but now is left with cleaning it up.
"My nerves have been torn up since I saw it," Mike Jackson said.
Don Jackson said he has lived in that area for 51 years and never seen anything like Tuesday's storm. Like the Doves, he said it sounded like a train moving through the area.
Henry County Public Safety Director Dale Wagoner said the Blue Ridge Airport registered wind gusts of 60 mph.
A tornado warning was issued after 2 a.m., he said, but no cyclonic activity was detected. The National Weather Service has determined that straight-line winds were responsible for the damage.
The Rev. George Agnew recognized the straight-line winds. Several years ago he drove into the same thing in Axton, he said Tuesday.
"It was a solid wall of water" that brought down power lines which, unknowingly, he drove over, he said.
On Tuesday, power lines were down between his home on Mountain Valley Road and Mt. Vernon Baptist Church. In some cases, trees took the lines down and blocked the road, he said.
At the nearby home of his son, David, shingles and facing were torn off the roof, a metal bench was blown off a porch and a wooden swing/slide set was mangled. "The slide is in my yard," Agnew added.
But, he said, "our granddaughters are OK, and we're OK, and that's what's important."
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