good evening, i'm melissa gaona. and i'm chris hurst. there's been progress today, getting power restored to appomattox county. but dominion virginia power reports 85 customers still are waiting to get the lights and possibly heat back on. this is new video in tonight of the destruction there. today the national weather service confirmed all the damage yesterday came from an e-f-3 tornado. wind speeds topped anywhere from 136- to 165-miles per hour. the national weather service adds, this is the third time since the agency's been keeping records that a tornado's been documented in appomattox county. volunteers and humanitarian groups spent today helping those salvage what they can after yesterday's tornado touchdown in appomattox county. wdbj-7's khiree stewart joins us live there with how they spent their first full day of clean up. the tornado may have brought down trees and homes like this one, but it didn't bring down the spirit

today, people from this area and all over the state rolled up their sleeves and got to work to start the rebuilding process. "to see it on tv is one thing but to actually come ut here and experience it is a whole other ball game." josuhua polk and travis smith sift through the rubble of what used to be a home. they're trying to salvage whatever they can for the family that lived here. both say they can't help but be touched by the stories they see in the piles of debris. "when we drove by we actually saw a large teddy bar that you can tell belonged to a small girl, just laying under a whole bunch of debris." "pictures, doll babies, like tools, we found a few trophies, like stuff that holds memories and i think the people out here, i think they really just want to get it back." power crews were also out working to restore power to the area. while volunteers are out lending aid to victims, others are out lending aid to the volunteers. "we've helped people from all over the world and all over the country and now we get the chance our friends and our neighbors right here in our community. members of the

group, gleaning for the world, were out making sure volunteers and victims had enough supples. "today we brought 2500 bottles of water and we've sent 25,000 out to other places that have been affected as well as more food and blankets and things of that nature." polk and smith said they plan to come back tomorrow. they said this tragedy has taught them the importance of life and helping others. "the community needs to come together. people need to band together to help one another. that's something that's going to be real important in these next couple of days." danville non-profit god's pit crew plans to send a truck full of relief supples to appomattox tomorrow morning. that includes blessing buckets, gatorade, and water. volunteers are also traveling from danville to tappahannock tomorrow. the team plans to stay there for four to five days to help with the clean-up. live in appomattox county, khiree stewart, w-d-b-j-7. outside help isn't all these damage stricken communities are receiving.

shows us, some of the biggest support comes from those closest to home. this evergreen community used to get overlooked " " but now it's hard to look away, this photo will tell the tale for decades, destruction now reality. "then we got out and all of our houses were destroyed, completely destroyed." four homes stood on debbie garrett's property. now one, the one that saved her family's lives. and community is the only thing keeping them alive now. "we all went to granny b's in appomattox fantastic restaurant, they gave us our breakfast on the house as i was sitting there one of the waitresses stephanie walked up to me and handed me a 100 dollar bill and said this is from one of our customers just to say we're sorry then as i was sitting there another customer walked by me shook that hand, and in that hand was a 20 dollar bill." fewer people live north across route 460 , but the tornado still obliterated everything in its path. "total devestation, everything pretty much destroyed." damien bailey's

house wednesday night. thursday morning brought a kitchen with a view to the heavens, and a search for beloved diamond earings. "i've been on the fire departmnet for the last 15 years and responded to other peoples' disasters and you always kind of hope that it doesn't happen to you, and it just hurts when it happens to you.." among so much destruction, tears, and sorrow, one thing is standing taller than ever: community pride. "thank you appomattox, thank you ems, thank you state, local sheriff deputies, rescue and fire, if it wasn't for them i don't know where we would be now." in appomattox county, shayne dwyer wdbj-7. governor terry mcauliffe checked out the damage in appomattox county first hand today. he credited advanced planning and a quick response. he also said if the e-f3 tornado had hit in the middle of the night, more people in the evergreen community would be injured or even killed. in southern

yesterday's tornado destroyed a 120- year-old church. winds tore the steeple off central baptist church and dropped the ruins about a quarter mile away. the brick facade was peeled off and stained glass windows are mangled. this morning volunteers, including the football team from appomattox county high school, helped clean up the damage. barbara arnold: "it's devastating. even if they rebuild, it's still not going to be the same church, and i'm sure they will rebuild." the church was insured. appomattox leaders are encouraging people to stay out of areas impacted by the tornado. cross pic on fb amid all that devasation in appomattox county, these three crosses still stand. since we posted this on our wdbj7 facebook page this morning, it has more than 56-hundred shares. appomattox county has set up a help line for anyone in the area that needs assistance after yesterday's tornado. that number is

in patrick county, a e-f 1 tornado hit the ararat community, destroying trees and homes. today, crews continued to clean up along ararat highway. vdot and the national guard were called in to help. patrick county board of supervisors chairman is thanking the emts and fire and rescue teams who responded so fast after the storm and helped get people to safety. roger hayden, chairman, patrick co board of supervisors, "it really bothers me to see this place damaged and the agony of the people but luckily no one was injuried or killed in this episode so, ya know that was a blessing." law enforcement will have a strong presence in patrick county at least through weekend. bathroom andso on were times to help you visualize what yesterday look like in terms where the tornadoes were and how they traveled it basically came from the southwest and went to the northeast of six

this afternoon by various national weather service offices the strongest were the strongest two weren't appomattox and the other one was up in that tappahannock and it was just the kind of the day where nothing good happened through this entire stretch lots of storms lots of wind damage the appomattox one as zartman reported was the strongest one they've ever recorded there not very wide in its path about four hundred yards but last for thirteen miles while the london ararat was actually wider than a half-mile i didn't move the less damage and had a limitless way of wind coverage of the coverage were seen right now is all related to the other side of the storm out of the twisting winds or when that stronghold northwesterly flow it can be run twenty five to thirty even forty miles an hour seen that right now but it was fielded hot springs romo discussed in the last hour at thirty nine miles an hour toll about the cold air that is losing in the region right now last couple more days now coastal systems or to modify the schedules tomorrow as result cold air that is using in the region right now western couple more days now coastal system to modify the schedules tomorrow

things in appomattox it's because the powers not on some areas and are still quite a bit of damage a facility closed entirely greenbrier county schools are dealing with snow and cold temperatures of the opening three hours late in pocahontas county it would be a two-hour delay the day tomorrow and intestinal county also openingd cruz to stop donald trump in the republican race for president. the candidates played nice at frist, but it didn't take long for them to start hitting hard. it's the final gop debate before super tuesday, where more than 600 delegates are up for grabs. john kasich and ben carson joined them in the effort to end trump's success with voters. (marco rubio/ (r) presidential candidate): "you are the only person on this stage that's ever been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally. you hired some..." (donald trump/ (r) presidential candidate): "i'm the only one on this stage that's hired people, you haven't hired anybody." trump didn't take the shots lightly, and insists america would be better off if the front runner wins. trump will be heading to radford this coming monday. the noon rally is at radford university's dedmon center. even though it's not a university sanctioned event,

of the crowd. layne dibuono "i am interested in going just to hear what he has to say and just get my own opinion instead of just hearing what other people are saying about him." tyler rosenblatt: "i'm definitely going to go and i want to hear what he says but i'm just going to take it with a grain of salt." doors for the trump rally open at 10 am monday. as we told you last night, marco rubio will be speaking at roanoke college sunday night at 8:30. r-s-v-p's are required for anyone 12 and older. senate democrats took to the steps of the supreme court to try to shame republicans who will refuse to consider president obama's nominee to the supreme court. republicans argue that it cuts american voters out of the process by pushing through a nomination during an election year. antonin scalia's death splits the justices evenly leaving the court with 4 conservatives and 4 liberals. the white house says the process should leave out partisan politics and has not given a time table for its nomination.

roanoke's next mayor. wdbj7's christian heilman joins us live with what happened. the lone candidate seeking the republican nomination for mayor withdrew his bid. it came right before he would have become the nominee. kevin settles was looking to challenge democrat sherman lea in the general election. the announcement came just about two hours before a mass meeting of republicans in roanoke. his campaign released a short statement -- only saying he has "withdrawn from seeking the republican nomination for mayor" -- no word as to why. at the republican meeting this evening, the committee didn't put forth any candidates for city council either. we talked with the temporary chairman of the meeting. he says they'd love to have candidates to face democrats, but it can be a challenge. mel williams, temporary chairman, roanoke city mass meeting "i can say that historically speaking, it's a very difficult race for republicans to run and that can make it difficult to recruit candidates to run in those spots and unfortunately it appears the republican committee hasn't been able to get any candidates for those. "

sherman lea will be the only candidate on the ballot to be roanoke's next mayor. the election will be held on may 3. christian heilman, wdbj7. lots of chaos and confusion tonight in a city in kansas after a mass shooting at a workplace. next - what we know. apple files its appeal to keep encrypted personal information from the fbi. eamon tease: "what new research is being done at virginia tech. find out how students are showcasing their studies to other students hoping to inspire even more

a workplace shooting in kansas has at least four people dead and around 20 others wounded. authorities say the shooting occurred at a plant in the town of hesston. the suspected gunman, described by police as an employee there, was later shot and killed by authorities. police say there are at least four crime scenes, including the plant, the facility parking lot and two road intersections. the fbi is helping state and local authorities in the investigation as they look for answers. president obama says he believes isis is in trouble. he told reporters today that the terror group has not launched an operation in iraq and syria since last summer. he also quoted a syrian national as saying isis has made enemies of "almost everyone". obama says that shows isis is not winning hearts and minds in the middle east, and is under intense pressure. today, apple filed its response to its case against the fbi.

asking a judge to vacate an order that would help federal investigators access encrypted data on the iphone of one of the san bernardino terrorists. apple accuses the government of seeking "dangerous power" through the courts. the new york times is reporting that apple engineers are working on a new security measure that will make it impossible for the government to break into a locked phone. the u.s. attorney general maintains the government is not overstepping its boundaries. loretta lynch/us attorney general: "it's a long-standing principle in our justice system that if an independent judge finds reason to believe that a certain item contains evidence of a crime, then that judge can authorize the government to conduct a limited search for that evidence" the fbi says it needs apple's help to find out whether others were involved in the plot that killed 14 people back in november. apple's ceo says helping the government sets a bad precedent and that apple will take the issue to the supreme court if need be. nissan says it's disabled the app for its electric 'leaf' car. the move comes after an australian

found a way to hack into the car's temperature controls and review the vehicle's driving record. nissan says there is no safety threat and a new app for the 'leaf' will be launched soon. u-s lawmakers are accusing takata of faking test results to cover up its exploding air bags. their report cites internal documents from takata in the past 12 years, showing the company argued data on inflator quality and testing was manipulated to hide the problems. the senate committee says one document shows a takata manager telling a quality assurance official that limitations to the scope of a recall in 2013 might be quote, "a violation of our moral obligation to protect the public." the air bags have caused more than a dozen deaths and numerous injuries. takata's recall involves 14 car manufacturers. sea world admitted today that it planted one of its employees inside an animal rights group as a

peta says the employee posed as an activist and tried to incite violence as the group protested against the san diego theme park. sea world says it no longer uses such practices and plans to review it's security operations. virginia tech is commonly known for pioneering studies and research. but where do these ideas come from? wdbj7s eamon o'meara takes us to a growing conference the school uses to highlight undergraduate research. student researchers at virginia tech are spending the week presenting and demonstrating research that could define their education and future careers. (keri swaby, university undergraduate coordiator) it gives the students an opportunity to showcase what they're doing, to defend their work, exchange ideas, [and] share new ideas. no matter what the research, students can sign up to discuss it, something they say they're happy to do. (nneoma nwankwo, senior political science student) it's saying that the university cares about what you do, it's saying that the university is willing to support your actions and your research is imporant to the university, and it shows you how you can give back to the rest of the world.

biochemistry) i think everyone should take advantage of this opportunity. you not only get to learn new things about a new field that you might not have experience in, but also you get to explore your interests, you get to learn scientific processes about thinking about things critically. and this conference is continuing to grow as last year it was only one day, as opposed to several. plus there are now arts research presentations on top of all of the science. (matthew johnson, senior literature and language student) i think it's an important way to get more people to come out to the conference and then it's also a good way for virginia tech to break out of the idea that it's just an engineering school. (willie caldwell, graduate student) research is more than just what happens in a lab. this event has really made a commitment to showcasing all of the various ways that research can present itself and recognizing that all of them are equally important. and equally important to the presenters are the audiences, who researchers are also hoping gain something from their presentations. (rachel snyder, senior history & applied economic management student) inspiration. to really follow your passion, whether it's something that is going to change the world or whether it's something that you're just interested and curious in. in blacksburg, eamon o'meara

that wind is really whipping around out there tonight. and meteorologist robin reed says it continues tomorrow. the complete first alert forecast after the break two hoursdon't be fooled by

but leaves can be just wrongone of the many uses of drones is to get up a little bit to take a look

like tornadoes and that's with this one did today you can see just areas completely flat you can also follow the ads of these kinds of storms better view from there were tracking something little bit different closer to the ground now and that's the peak wind gusts of event taking place this afternoon and this evening ranging from fifty miles an hour big island elementary through the mid forties to roman catholic washington and lee abdallah was first thing this morning since then the penguins a pickup in certain areas where the cold air continues to dive down we look at it basically upper twenties and lower thirties in 30s and a lot of locations of the mountains and that's why you're seeing more in the way of snow flurries temperatures just a touch colder when recorded snow flurries just about every hour in the roman valley today but no accumulation just a trace for the 24-hour and obviously nothing on the ground in any tomorrow might see a few more flurries and certainly little but more than way the mountains and as a result the national weather service has winter weather advisory until tomorrow morning at 7 am

the snowfall totals of the fairly light and it is been so windy it is accumulating anywhere but from time to time to come out there flying around first alert doppler radar is even thin them out even more this evening about an hour ago there was an nice burst of snow coming through blue field and that is faded away as well so not much moisture to work with but still strong pressure contrast which is why the wind is still hanging around up there the storm system itself is way up here wrapping around heading up to the northeast away a ghost and it just leaves us little push of moisture and his little fingers of snow showers in west virginia china make it over the mountains not doing too well he resorts their fiber is there find this whether it's cold enough i can ask no and little natural snow as well even upstate new york where they'll like the expos were really blown along that's even thinned out his little but buffalo is always the last clear out and here he looks a little bit of see things what to gusty winds, that's a story for tonight and temperatures

down into the mid twenties so cold way to start the day with everybody dressed up properly for tomorrow juicy forecast model looks pretty tame justin northwesterly flow right on the state line there might be a few additional snow showers but nothing extreme at all so it's gadget of the seven days when we got coming up. i promise to some change in their news by the family sunday we go from they gusty 42 rather breezy 46 to sixty degrees on sunday we'll keep anon on monday under partly sunny skies you're just a wednesday time frame shows a chance for some showers or maybe even a thunderstorm possible and t attempt tonight to launch a falcon 9 rocket. with just two- minutes before takeoff, spacex called it off. it's the second day in a row the launch has to be postponed. no explanation has been given yet. after nearly a year in space, scott kelly is just a few days away from returning to earth - and he can't wait. in his final news conference from the international space station today, kelly said the toughest thing is being isolated from loved ones. he says he can't

real table with loved ones. kelly will have been in space for 340 consecutive days, a u.s. record. he will check out of the space station tuesday. take a look at this. the european southern observatory has released incredible new images showing the entire milky way galaxy. data was gathered by the apex telescope in chile. it's the sharpest map of the milky way to date. virginia lawmakers have given final approval to a bill that legalizes and regulates online draft-kings and it now goes to governor mcauliffe to either sign or try to veto it. a draft-kings spokesman says virginia is the first state in the country framework for the fast-growing online fantasy industry. right now, fantasy sports are banned in six states. soccer star lionel messi's biggest fan now has an autographed jersey to play in. a picture of the five-year-old wearing a plastic bag with

jersey number went viral last month. with the help of the united nations childrens fund, the boy was given two signed shirts and a soccer ball. his father says it's one of the happiest moments of his son's life. lots of high school and odac hoops to get to tonight in the postseason, we'll do that but first our extra point, hokies cornerback brandon facyson could miss all of spring practice after injuring his knee during offseason conditioning. facyson was a freshman all american recording 5 interceptions three years ago but he hasn't had one since. the georgia native is one of the hokies' most experienced returners in the

(donkey sound) (elephant sound) there's a big difference between making noise, (tapping sound) and making sense. (elephant sound) (donkey sound) when it comes to social security, we need more than lip service. our next president needs a real plan to keep social security strong. (elephant noise) hey candidates. enough talk.

tonight, with cave spring hosting the 3a west games. in the first game of the doubleheader, it and his one-loss northside vikings western albemarle team. northside out to the early lead with a couple threes. kendrick tucker from beyond the arc on his way to 13 points in the game. webb following-suit. webb led the vikings with 15, as they end the first quarter up 18-13. western dialed-in from long range in the second. this 3 from will cress puts the warriors up 20 to 18, as they start the quarter on a 7-oh run. back to northside and boogie basham. he lays it in to tie the game up, but right after, the warriors quickly break the press and ryan ingram takes it the other way for 2 of his 23 points. the vikings jump back out front though as nick price spins his way to the hoop. he finished with 9 as northside wins it 63 to 55. next-up, spotswood making the trip to roanoke county to take-on the host cave spring knights the trailblazers attacked the hoop early and often. first it's justin kier driving

then off the cave spring turnover, it's kobe davis ahead of the defense and finishing with the lay- in, as spotswood quickly up by 6. the knights settle-in soon after thanks to this 3-pointer from mason reyer. selling the pump-fake and drilling the shot. then how about jake furrow joining- in. he hits the short jumper, as cave continues to chip away. devin beckner makes this bucket just before the first quarter horn sounds, but spotswood was too much. the blazers go-on to beat cave spring 63-56 it was a private school throwdown tonight at roanoke catholic where the celtics hosted rival north cross. the celts tried to dig out of a 12 point halftime hole. this helps as stephen clark pulls the trigger for 3 from way downtown. but north cross answers. jordan lowery to nariq bailey who tickles the twine from the corner pocket for 3. they then go inside to the big man james nworah for two easy ones. north cross pulled away to win 66-51. the old dominion athletic conference men's and women's basketball tournaments began a four day run at the salem civic center today, with four ladies' quarterfinals, and top seeded

was up first. the hornets coming in at 21 and 4 overall with just 2 losses in conference play. they were taking-on 9th-seeded virginia wesleyan. lynchburg adding to its lead in the third quarter thanks to all-odac first team selection, chaney forbush. she finishes with the lay- in. then forbush dishing it out to franklin county's charmaine hairston who knocks-down the 3. the hornets up 54 to 40. more from forbush underneath. she gets the basket and the foul for 3 more of her game-high 20 points. ahead to the 4th, sarah coon off the glass, as the hornets lead is more than 20 now and the hornets cruised to the 73-51 win. in the day's second game, eastern mennonite matching-up with washington and lee. winner gets lynchburg on saturday. the generals were the only ones scoring early in this one, as jackie clifford hits the 3. she had a game-high 13 points. then it's emma redding muscling her way to the hoop for 2 of her 8 points. washington and lee starting the game on an 8-oh run. the royals able to put an end to that with this bucket from lindsey krisak. coming-back the other way though, shelbi hendricks

washington and lee, who goes-on to win a close one 53 to 48 the final. i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. her life's work has been about breaking barriers. and so would her presidency. which is why, for every american who's not being paid what they're worth... who's held back by student debt or a system tilted against them- and there are far too many of you- she understands that our country can't reach it's potential... unless we all do. together.

for the latest weather anytime, turn to our webpage at wdbj7.com and be sure to follow us on facebook and twitter for weather headlines and more at wdbj7weather. thanks for watching

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