3 danner this is a live look at appomattox tonight now two days after a tornado ripped through the area. so many people are out cleaning up today... 3 danner plasma appomattox county officials did hold a news conference just a few hours ago. they say the outpouring of support they're seeing has been unbelievable but the work is nowhere near done.we will continue to work together in the upcoming days and weeks to assist those in need and to strengthen our community. 3 danner our team coverage picks up tonight with valerie bragg and suri crowe. valerie -- an appomattox mother lost her son seven years ago and now the tornado swept away his urn. valerie -- just a heartbreaking story. 3 valerie liveu danner, it's the sentimental things that a lot of these tornado victims are trying to find because those are the things you cannot replace. for

ashes are somewhere out there -- and she hopes somebody finds them. 3 an all day search turned up bits and pieces of her son's urn. (:04) "it was an old pooh bear cookie jar that i chose for him."3 sully mccune louis died from sids seven years ago. samantha already lost him oncea& now this timea& (:08) "it's 10 times worse because it makes me feel like i lost him again." the scattered pieces of the urn doesn't mean all is 3 lost. the funeral home says the remains could still be out there. (:08) "they confirmed to me that it's in a bag. it will have his name on the bag and a little disk with numbers on it."(:11) standup- "she's hoping to find the

they could be anywhere. so she's asking the community to please keep a lookout. " the home is in piecesa&but nothing will stop her. she'll keep searching, until someone out there finds her son. (:09) "it would mean the world. i would give them the biggest hug that i could. because he was my baby." 3 valerie liveu mccue is really devastated 3 because the urn was at her brothers place when the tornado swept it away. she was moving and kept it there, to be safe. live in appomattox co., valerie bragg, abc 13 news. 3 danner plasma we want to update you on those sent to the hospital after this storm. diane ludwig with centra says they only have one patient in stable condition. she says the others that were originally in lynchburg and farmville have been

for their injuries or have been released. 3 danner plasma now we've got another survivor tale if you will. suri crowe has the story of an appomattox rancher and his family.suri satlive danner -- by family we include their pets! i've seen situations where people left their dogs to fend for themselves in disasters. not here -- this rancher and his family ran home to their house -- to their animals -- terrified of what they might find. what they found was a miracle or two. 3 all looks peaceful on the rockin b ranch... until you look over here."i was in petersburg working my neighbor said the storm had come through" by the time damien bailey got home neighbors had gathered round the home he'd built for his wife and little girl.bite "it kinda took all the air outta me honestly" no people

hit, but bailey's prized rodeo bulls and horses were scattered about just like everything else he owned. alive. but missing: the family dog. a beagle named wayland."wayland was actually in our bedroom which is on the far side which is no longer there-we keep him in his crate during the day butt and one of my friends who was there ahead of me -i told him see if you can find him and make that a priority-i'm not worried about any of the rest of the stuff" they found wayland's crate and it didn't look good."somebody said there's no way he survived it-and about time they'd given up looking for him he come running out of the woods tail wagging" fur family and friends intact bailey checks out the destruction and promises rebuild the rockin b.3 "i can rebuild the house. that's nothin' we're fine all our animals are fine. you

3 suri satlive they're all staying with relatives including wayland. the cat also survived. live in appomattox, suri crowe, abc 13 news. 3 danner plasma if you're in the affected area and your pet is missing, please call the appomattox county animal shelter at (434) 352-7922. they are going to try and help out and reunite pets with their families. if you have your pets but you need a place to keep them -- the boonsboro animal hospital is offering free boarding for those affected by the tornado. you just have to make sure your animal's vaccines are current. you can call 3 them at 434-384-7799. 3 danner plasma volunteers wanting to help clean up showed up at the old thomasville building in appomattox to sign up. you need to go to the main parking lot. all volunteers have to go through

will be told where they volunteer. they will be assigned a task and will have to record the hours they work. all volunteers must have an official placard on vehicles to be allowed to enter into the storm-affected area. all contractors must register as well. 3 danner plasma a lot of you have been asking how you can donate. the county has put out a list of places that are secure. for financial donations, you can write a check to the american red cross and specify it's for the appomattox disaster. for non perishable supply donations -- you can take things to the appomattox community center, liberty baptist church, and the lynchburg fire department. we have all this information -- including addresses and phone numbers -- at wset.com tonight. 3 danner gleaning for the world is set up right now at the sam's club in lynchburg, collecting items for the victims today and tomorrow from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. they'll also have a collection site at the walmart in appomattox tomorrow from 10 to 6. abc 13 is helping

us out there too. this is a way to get much needed supplies to the victims.sandy mayberry, product placement manager @ gftw - "the outpouring from the community has been amazing. when something hits home as this has, lynchburg really comes around and really supports the community. it's been amazing." danner they're looking for non perishable food items, personal care items, cleaning supplies, pet supplies and other necessities. 3 3 danner plasma as people start to process what's happened, they're now starting to call their insurance companies. annie andersen rode along with a claims adjuster as they went to start the insurance process.annie satlive danner, they were extremely busy. evergreen baptist church is still the command center for the tornado recovery, so that's where allstate set up their mobile catastrophe center. but along with that, claims adjusters from 3 various companies, including allstate went door to door to start the claims process. a lot of times people find out that natural disasters slip

policies, but the good news here is that generally wind damage, which includes tornados is covered under basic home insurance policies. different agencies have different procedures, but the adjusters i talked to said there's a few things that people can do while they wait for adjusters to get to their houses. bryan heichale, claims service adjuster"take some photos, photos are always good for everything. so if you can take some photos take some photos, but definitely if you have shingles that are missing you want to do a temporary adjuster may not be able to get out there for a couple days or a week and you don't want another storm coming through and causing more damage." (15)annie satlive if you're having trouble getting in touch with your agency, most of the major companies have special catastrophe numbers available on their websites. we'll have more on what to expect during the claims process... including what to watch out for, tonight on 13 news at 6. danner? 3 3 3 danner tight u.s. cellular is offering phone charging stations to tornado victims and loaner cellphones at

appomattox. there will also be a table with a hot spot connection so you can have access to a wi-fi connection to contact loved ones. so you can go to the location on wards road in lynchburg. the old forest road location in lynchburg. and the richmond highway location in appomattox. 3 danner chief meteorologist george flickinger joins me now. and george -- we're looking into the history of a storm like this. and how rare it is to have a 3 tornado in feburary . 3 good friday to you! we're looking forward to a great weekend ahead. no rain will occur until next week.the wind will finally decrease tonight and temperatures will drop below freezing. you can expect mid 20s by saturday morning. saturday afternoon will be cool and dry with partly cloudy conditions and less wind. highs will near 50. sunday will be warmer with highs in the mid 60s under a mostly sunny sky.we will see rain chances returning next week. a few showers are possible on monday and tuesday. highs will reach the 60s. heavier rain is likely by wednesday. looking ahead about 7 days, we could see a chance for snow on friday-it's too early to know specifics, but right now this doesn't look

3 danner plasma3 we will have much more coverage on appomattox this hour. and still to come -- we look at a proposed bill in the general assembly created

3 good friday to you! we're looking forward to a great weekend ahead. no rain will occur until next week.the wind will finally decrease tonight and temperatures will drop below freezing. you can expect mid 20s by saturday morning. saturday afternoon will be cool and dry with partly cloudy conditions and less wind. highs will near 50. sunday will be warmer with highs in the mid 60s under a mostly sunny sky.we will see rain chances returning next week. a few showers are possible on monday and

60s. heavier rain is likely by wednesday. looking ahead about 7 days, we could see a chance for snow on friday-it's too early to know specifics, but right now this doesn't look

3 danner3 in 3 minutes -- a look at proposed legislation to help keep you safe -- created after a reporter and photographer

3 3 danner today marks six months since two wdbj journalists were shot and killed on live tv. alison parker and adam ward were doing a liveshot at bridgewater plaza in moneta when it happened. 3 danner tight a bill to protect employers who report violent behavior of former employees... is going before the u.s. house. congressman bob goodlatte introduced the measure in light of the wdbj shooting. priscilla kaiser is live in the newsroom with more details on the workplace bill. priscilla?priscilla nwsrm if it passes, the bill would look something like this... when a potential employer calls a current employer they would be able to pass along anything to do with violent behavior in the workplace

action. not only will it protect any future employees, but according to goodlatte, he hopes it will also help people get help they may need. 3 the shooter of the two wdbj employees last august was essentially able to 'slip through the cracks'..."they were not given all of the information that would be useful." we later learned why vester flanagan, also known as bryce williams, was fired from a florida news station prior to joining wdbj..."for bizarre behavior and fighting with other employees, he threatened to punch people out and he was kind of running a rough shot over other folks." but that information wasn't shared. congressman bob goodlatte said employers hold things back for fear of legal action."there are a variety of reasons for that and one of the reasons is they're concerned with being sued." and, that's why goodlatte wants to create a 'safe harbor' for employers to pass along any information concerning violent behavior...

providing information that is willfully false..." and, to give employees the sense of knowing they are safe in the workplace..."so individuals like this can't wind up with a new job where they terrorize a new group of people but instead hopefully get some kind of help that they need, mental health counseling and so on."3 3 priscilla nwsrm there were questions about fair and accurate reporting of potential violent behavior.. congressman goodlatte said if someone feels "wronged" they would quote -- "have their day in court." he says his hope is, if it passes, the bill would actually help *reduce* workplace violence altogether. danner? 3 danner danville police identified a man shot and killed this week. they say it's 23 year old devontaye jermaine johnson. officers were called to halifax street just after 12-15 wednesday morning. johnson was

no one has been charged. 3 danner plasma i have been working on a story for weeks... about a problem really plaguing our area right

3 danner intvu tonight, in an abc 13 special report -- i show you a new world of opiate addiction. there's an epidemic in our community. the victims? well, that may just surprise you.i'm a

to games, i participate in school, i volunteer, i stay at home with my kids, i don't work. it was a normal thing when i got on the pain medicine." doctors prescribed pain medication to crystal for a back injury. when she got pregnant and quit taking the opiates -- she discovered a very big problem. crystal was addicted to pain meds ... and if she just stopped, the withdrawal would kill her baby. doctors and nurses at virginia baptist hospital tell me the number of women, like crystal, has skyrocketed. they know, because they are treating an unprecedented number of babies for withdrawal in the nicu. danner intvu but wait until you see what happens next... a community effort... to address the problem and find solutions for these mothers and babies. join me for born addicted tonight on 13 news at 6. 3 3 danner much more coverage

appomattox --- in 3 minutes -- as we take a live look at the

3 3 mark people are out -- surveying their homes -- and starting the long process of cleaning up.... there is another field we went and looked through yesterday and the woods are torn to pieces back there. but they are not alone.(:05)salina mcnutt - "you see devastation, like movie quality devastation, and it's just...humbling."danner help has arrived.we deeply appreciate the tremendous support pouring out from all over. we look at the efforts to get appomattox county back on its feet after that tornado ripped through. 3 3 mark3 this is a live look at appomattox county right now -- in the evergreen area -- where so many people have been out cleaning up today.danner