LYNCHBURG, Va. – April 15, 2018, is a day Chase DeWitt would rather not remember.
That’s because a tornado with winds of more than 150 miles per hour ripped through some businesses on Timberlake Road on that date. Dewitt, president of Floor Show Carpet One, saw huge damages. These are pictures of what the storm left behind. One of his employees, working that night made it out safely.
“He was the one that called me that evening and said, ‘Your building is gone.’ I said, ‘What?” DeWitt said.
Almost a year later, Carpet One is coming back to life.
“In the last two weeks, yesterday the new front door and window frames went in. It’s starting to look like a building again,” DeWitt said.
Inside the building, contractors are working on electricity and running cables for computers and phones.
“It will be a little different than it was before. We lost about 20 feet of the front of the store,” DeWitt said.
DeWitt said his father's store has been a staple in the community since 1978.
He hopes to have construction finish by May and be operational in June. Before then, he says, he'll be speaking with his insurance company on how to be prepared for another natural disaster.
“It’s nice to have a fresh start. I think that’s what we need to revitalize everything. It’s been a rough year,” DeWitt said.