showing just how badly damaged this area is. appomattox county administrator susan adams says about 100 structures are damaged. she says about 20 of those were severely damaged, including some that were flattened. 3 danner so many people have been affected by this tornado. mark we have multiple crews on the scene ready to bring you the latest. we have marissa parra, mona kosar abdi -- along with valerie bragg and annie andersen. marissa -- you were at the latest news conference. what did we learn? 3 marissa satlive mark and danner, one of the most important takeaways is that the storm may be over but it is still potentially dangerous to be outside. you can see the wind is pretty strong, and there is a lot of sharp, metal debris that can be easily picked up. it sounds like right now no one is even thinking about the re-

focus is still on assessing damage, cleaning up and taking care of those without homes - human or animal. vdot says all roads are passable right now. and from what we heard, times may be tough but the help is just pouring in. it's been amazing. we've had a wonderful search team out of lynchburg we've had local guys, emergency services units and they've done a trememendous job and we appreciate everything they've done for the county. marissa satlive the lynchburg fire department is collecting non- perishable food, bottled water, clothing, cleaning supplies -- things like that at any of its fire stations. there are several other organizations also collecting too. we have that information at wset.com. now as for volunteers to come out and help clean up -- the county administrator says they

when they need you. live in appomattox, marissa parra, abc 13 news. 3 3 3 danner so many people are out looking at all the damage to their homes and property. mark mona kosar abdi caught up with some and is live in appomattox. mona -- what are you seeing right now?mona liveu 3 3 just 4 miles south of where the nation once re- united..tracie morgan "not much is going to be usuable after all this." the community is uniting again. in evergreen-- you'll find two types of people. those hardest hit by the tornado that ripped through this communitya&and those lending a helping hand.morgan

world" wind speeds near 150 miles per hour ripped tracie morgan's brother's house apart.morgan .."can't find much in this" underneath the debris "i found the ipad in perfect condition it's just muddy." she's searching for whatever she can salvage. morgan "and also even though my brother was torn out of the house and into a wall we found his iphone..ringing." a mile up the roada& "i know." cody mccune and his wife count their blessings mccune "we made it through a lot this ain't going to stop us." there's hardly anything left of the mobile home, mccune and his wife lived in. and its contents have been blown all across the property.mccune "it's hard but we'll make it..we got a lot of people helping us." but everywhere you turn..nats there is no shortage of support.brandon means "just trying to get it clear for them so they can get in and out." uniting..to overcome a force that tried to tore this community apart.means- "everybody is doing what they can to help. appomattox is a town where something happens

3 mona liveu3 3 mark tight families all over appomattox are coming together to recover after the storm left many without a home. valerie bragg spoke with one teen who was sitting at home when a tornado ripped through. valerie, to say he's lucky.. would be an understatement.valerie satlive yes, anchor. right now i'm in front of ???? and words cannot even describe the devastation i am seeing. so i'll show

everywhere... this sums up what a large part of appomattox looks like tonight. 3 earlier today, i went to cub creek road...where a family of three lost their home. 15-year-old daniel poole was home sick from school, when the tornado tore his home to shreds. luckily, chris wright was over at the time, painting the family's home when he heard the tornado coming. he pulled daniel into a closet the basement. they held the door shut as hard as they could. "you know when a train passes a building and everything just shakes in the building. well that's how the door was and that's how my hands were... it was just like this. i couldn't control it. i walked out of the room and i was still shaking like crazy."

them survived without a scratch. another miracle...the family was able to dig out their cat from the rubble today...and she's doing great and doesn't appear injured. i'll show you that moment tonight on 13 news at 6. live in appomattox, valerie bragg, abc 13 news. 3 3 3 danner state police tell us.. there are two shelters set up for families in appomattox county. one is at this community center at 2-20 community lane in the town of appomattox. trucks were dropping off supplies this morning-and while power is still out in much of appomatox county - the shelter does have generator power and bathrooms. the other is at the pamplin fire department on pamplin road. 3 danner tight governor terry mcauliffe came to appomattox today to see the damage firsthand. this is a picture he tweeted out earlier as he saw the damage

andersen is live in appomattox. with the governor's reaction to all the damage. annie satlive it was just sadness and shock. looking around, this tornado just demolished houses... turning them into just pieces like this (show wood from one of the houses)....take sot: "it was just amazing he length and width of this tornado that struck here. but as you go on you'll see structures totally gone and you'll see just gigantic areas of trees snapped in half, gigantic trees on the ground and you can clearly watch the wind as it obviously came here toward appomattox." annie the governor toured some of the houses that were hardest hit here in evergreen. at this house, one of the people who live here is still in the hospital after the tornado threw him about 200 feet. while in evergreen, mcauliffe also met with phil hysel of the national weather service

gusts of 120 miles per hour. 3 to put that in perspective, that's a category 3 hurricane... that's what katrina was when it hit tornados hit virginia yesterday, causing the governor to declare a state of emergency.national guard can be called in to help. guardsmen helping out here tonight at 5:30. appomattox, annie andersen, abc 13 news. 3 3 3 mark chief meteorologist

what does that mean?george3 3 tonight will be windy and cold, but overall much quieter weather is moving into the heart of virginia. this afternoon we've experienced strong wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph. you'll want your coat this thursday evening as the strong wind persists. temperatures will drop to near 30 overnight. friday will be mostly sunny, breezy and cool with highs in the mid 40s. 3 danner3 everything we know about this tornado is at wset.com. including a gallery of pictures you have sent in to us.mark and tonight.. we have a list of resources if you need help. there are a lot of agencies stepping in to help out. be sure to check our site and also our abc 13 facebook page for all that information. please share it so we can help get the word out. 3 danner we have much more coverage of the tornado that hit our area.mark as we take a live look at appomattox

right now.//3 now we want to go to a new video taken by chad crain. danner he lives in appomattox and got video of the tornado as it was coming through. take a look. soon you are going to see a

the trees start blowing over.3 and that's when chad decided to 3 run and take cover. he was not hurt. 3 3 tonight will be windy and cold, but overall much quieter weather is moving into the heart of virginia. this afternoon we've experienced strong wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph. you'll want your coat this thursday evening as the strong wind persists. temperatures will drop to near 30 overnight. friday will be mostly sunny, breezy and cool

3 danner3 dramatic scenes are also coming out of another small virginia town.5044 it was almost unbelievable to look at it. mark we take you to waverly -- after the storm killed three people, including a toddler.... much more coverage on appomattox coming you way too as we take another

3 3 danner we are getting a good look at waverly today too. mark it's another area hard hit by the tornado. three people are dead there. noreen turyn has the latest. noreen nwsrm mark, state police tell us a 2-year-old child and two men, ages 50 and 26, were killed in the town of waverly during the storm. state police say the victims

stringfield, 50-year-old larry turner and 2-year-old ivan lewis. police say the toddler's 30-year-old mother was also in the trailer and is in the hospital. governor mcauliffe met privately with several relatives of the victims. he says the family lost everything and does not have money to bury the child. the national weather service rated that tornado as an ef-1, with wind speeds of 100 to 110 miles per hour. its path was 9 miles long and 300 yards wide. we hear tornado tornado tornado. and we looked. just imagine a smoke grenade going off. it was almost something out of a movie. and just as quickly as it started it was over. noreen nwsrm governor mcauliffe says he expected the storm damage to top the 11 million dollar threshold for a federal disaster declaration. that frees up low-interest loans for rebuilding. live in the lynchburg newsroom, noreen turyn, abc 13 news. 3

3 mark a lot of you have been asking how you can help. danner we'll tell you

minutes.//3 3 danner tight there are some things to know if you are planning to help out. officials don't want you near impacted areas because they don't want you at risk of getting hurt. avoid downed power lines. and do not eat any food that has been out

the rule -- if in doubt, throw it out. a lot of people have been asking how you can help. financial donations are being accepted at numerous places. we have all of that information online at wset.com.danner tight a help line has been set up to provide updated additional and resource information. that number is (434) 352-2637. we have that at 3 our site wset.com for you tonight. 3 mark tight there are a lot of resources available for those who need it in appomattox.pause for nats gleaning for the world is collecting items for the victims tomorrow and saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. at sam's club in lynchburg. we also learned they will collect things at the walmart in appomattox on saturday as well. they're looking for

personal care items, cleaning supplies, paper products, and pet supplies. several other organizations are also helping. we have all this information -- including phone numbers - at wset.com tonight. 3 danner3 we are staying on top of the latest in appomattox.... mark as we take a live

3 danner tight the virginia department of emergency management has a list of tips to help families cleaning up. clean walls and floors with soap and water and disinfect it with a solution of one cup of bleach with five gallons of water. wash all linens and clothing in hot water. for things like your mattress or furniture -- air dry and spray with a disinfectant. if things aren't cleaned within 48 hours -- they suggest to throw them away.

about the man killed in the appomattox tornado.it was the search team. he was in a field. this as families see what's left of their homes. danner but they are getting some help digging through the rubble... football cleanup sot we have the very latest on the devastation in appomattox. 3 3 mark we now know just how big that tornado was that touched down in appomattox county.danner this is the damage it left behind late yesterday afternoon. the national weather service says the deadly twister had peak wind speeds with an e-f 3 intensity -- that's between 136 and 165 miles per hour. they say it started on berry lane and took a 13 mile track northeast. and it was