© Reuters
Virginia State Police said three people were killed and eight others were injured after a tornado hit the farming town of Waverly, southeast Virginia. Nearly 123,000 were without power.
Police officials have not released the names of the victims but said a 2-year old boy, 26 year-old man, and a 50-year old man were killed when their mobile home was destroyed in Waverly,
according to WTVR.
The bodies, found 300 yards from the mobile home, were transported to the Office of the Medical Examiner in Norfolk for positive identification.
The strike in Virginia on Wednesday came from a severe storm that had pummeled the southern states over the last two days with 20 tornadoes reported, and is now sweeping up the East Coast.
The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Virginia, and weather radars showed a twister did touch down in the state.
The tiny farming town of Waverly, in the state's peanut-growing region, took the brunt of the storm, #tornadogeddon, with winds as fast as 60 miles per hour.
Five structures in town were damaged, according to officials, in a town of approximately 2,000.Emergency Management said they spotted the twister touch down along Route 460 before slamming into Waverly. "It was only 3 minutes, but it was fast and ripped things apart," one witness
told WTVR of the twister.
Leaving in its wake flipped cars, and snapped trees. In a separate incident, Timothy Williams
told AP a friend had just come to take his new car for a drive when the storm hit.
Comment: For more information on this phenomenon see: Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth