Tornado leaves path of destruction in Halifax Co.

By Aimee Norton

Published: April 29, 2008

“No warning, no warning at all,” said Cheryl Wilkins.  “When I raised the blinds to shut the window I just saw all this swirling and debris and tremendous noise and I just slammed the window shut and yelled ‘to the basement, to the basement.’”

The National Weather Service says a tornado was on the ground in Halifax County for five minutes, with winds near 100 miles per hour.  The twister left a path of destruction 240 yards wide.  Cheryl Wilkins’ house is still standing, but her trees were snapped in half. And next door at Mary Helen Gravittt’s house, the roof was blown off.  In Gravitt’s backyard, the garage is gone.  Only the foundation is left.  Pieces of the siding and splinters of wood are scattered across the yard.

“There was so much noise.  I was really just surprised when we opened the basement door and had a house left,” said Gravitt.

Gravitt’s neighbor, Kit Hooper, was running errands when the storm hit.  She came home to find a 100-year-old tree on her house.

“I saw the orange emergency flags and all that kind of thing and I knew… I just started crying you know, but just thankful it wasn’t worse than it was.”

Now Hooper and her neighbors are left picking up the pieces, after a tornado that took the them by surprise.