FRANKLIN
Aside from the winds that tore an awning at a service station in Franklin, there are no reports as yet of any other significant damage from thunderstorms and pebble-sized hail, which passed through Western Tidewater late Friday afternoon and early evening.
“We got lucky,” said Capt. Richard Grizzard of the Franklin Fire Department. He added hearing of an officer who reported seeing a funnel cloud in the region, but nothing apparently came of it.
A power line in the 1500 block was knocked down, he said, but service was expected to be soon restored.
John MeGee, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wakefield, said that as 7:15 p.m., the threats to Franklin and Southampton County were “pretty much over.” He figured to get confirmations on Saturday of any tornadoes and related damage.
Also around that time, the next line of storms was in Suffolk and moving eastward, McGee said, adding that there were confirmed multiple sightings of funnel clouds in Virginia Beach.
As of 8 p.m., the National Weather Service in Wakefield calls for mostly cloudy and showers with some thunderstorms until midnight, and then a slight change of showers afterward. Tomorrow will be partly sunny with highs around 70.