Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

[Dignann]

Nature sure has been giving it to Petersburg NB lately. How're things looking down there, Emmanuel?

Tornado/High Winds Cause Damage to Park

At 1 p.m. yesterday afternoon, what was evidently a tornado touched down in the park’s City Point Unit. There were no injuries, but an as yet not fully determined amount of damage was inflicted on buildings and vegetation. A 1916 Sears & Roebuck shed behind the Bonnacord building – reportedly one of the first of its kind available from the Sears catalogue – was completely destroyed. Appomattox Manor suffered some damage when four heavy cast iron columns supporting the west facing porch were blown down. One column slammed so hard against the side of the manor that it broke through the building’s wooden siding; another was thrown off its base and onto the walkway below. Quick action by maintenance staff in shoring up the sagging porch roof prevented further damage to the historic structure. No artifacts in the manor were harmed, and no other damage occurred to the building’s interior. Many trees, shrubs and signs were blown down or uprooted, including a historic boxwood tree that was a wedding gift to the Eppes family from Brandon Plantation in 1870. Two huge trees fell on either side of General Grant’s cabin, just barely missing the structure. Windows were blown out of the Naldara building and the carriage house. All windows have been boarded up and secured. A newly rebuilt wooden staircase, destroyed by Hurricane Isabel last September, was partially destroyed again. Heavy rains were still falling at the time of the report, causing bluff erosion, particularly along the north and west facing side of the peninsula.

[FC Barlow]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

I hear Richmond got 10 inches of rain. Anything to report there??

[dbarnett]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

Todd-

11 inches of rain in 10 hours to be exact. Lots of flooding and people stranded until late last night. There was a lot more rain in this storm than Hurricane Isabel last September---less wind but more rain. Only a few trees down this time but not as widespread and damaging as last time. Hopefully, RNBP suffered less this time as well.

Don Barnett

[FC Barlow]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

Absolutely incredible!! Barely a drop in Washington DC!

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

Thought I'd respond being that I work at Petersburg Nat'l Battlefield and as many of you know the Eppes' home and lifestyles are of a great interest of mine.

The only incorrect thing I saw was the columns are on the east porch facing the James River and Grant's cabin.

The City Point Unit is currently closed. The damage from Hurricane Isabel is still present as we are in the process of trying to stabilize the bluff. Certainly Gaston does not help and one can only pray that Frances will not be too destructive though last I have heard she is a Category Four ready to pass through the Caribbean. We can only pray that a house that has its original portion dating from 1763 with 1841, 1854, 1856, 1913 additions can remain with us having survived so much already.

On a note of Richmond Nat'l Battlefield: When I called into work today I was told that RNB was closed and I would certainly expect that to be true for Tredegar Iron Works being it is in a low lying area. However, I cannot confirm that for sure. I can say for sure that no one is being allowed in Shockoe Bottom and some buildings in the area have been condemned.

[JustRob]

Tredegar

Any update on the status of Tredegar Iron Works would be appreciated. They have some great artifcats there. It would be a shame if they were harmed.

Any information about how the mechanical barriers/dikes functioned during the storm? I remember seeing them back in 2000, but am not sure how they could handle such a downpour.

[FC Barlow]

Flooding in Richmond

Five Killed as Gaston Drenches Richmond
Warner Declares State of Emergency in Va.
By Michael D. Shear and Fred Barbash
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 31, 2004; 11:12 AM


RICHMOND, Aug. 31 -- Residents in Virginia's capital city on Tuesday began surveying the damage from one of the worst storms in the city's history. Almost a foot of rain from Tropical Storm Gaston inundated the region Monday, leaving five people dead in the flooding that also closed numerous streets and shut power to 100,000 homes and businesses.

Gov. Mark R. Warner (D), at a news conference in the hard hit Shockoe Bottom neighborhood, said the dead included two people in Richmond, two in Hanover County and one in Chesterfield County. He said it was a "a remarkable blessing" that more people had not been killed.

There were few details available about the deaths.

Two of them occurred at swollen Gillies Creek in Richmond, said Richmond police spokeswoman Cynthia Goode. Although she had no other information available about the deaths, Goode said rescuers pulled about 40 people from cars and buildings amid the flooding last night.

In Chesterfield County, a suburb just south of Richmond, a statement from county police said scuba divers found a late-model Toyota Avalon submerged and recovered a body from it.

Warner declared a state of emergency Monday night for the hardest hit areas of the state and said at his news conference that he would seek a federal designation as well so that residents would be eligible for federal aid.

Authorities reported sightings of several tornadoes or funnel clouds as the storm swept northeastward from North Carolina, drenching parts of Virginia from Lynchburg to Richmond.

Officials said openings of state offices in Richmond and of numerous schools were delayed by two hours today.

In Richmond's Shockoe Bottom area near downtown, police Tuesday morning continued to block residents and business owners from returning as surveyors conducted a building-by-building assessment for structural damage that might make some of the homes and stores unsafe.

Throughout the 12-square block area, flood waters had receded. But in the water's wake, cars are stacked on top of each other, streets are coated with thick layers of mud, power lines are lying strewn across the ground and storefronts are damaged or destroyed.

Television news in Richmond reported throughout the morning that buildings in virtually the entire area had been condemned. State officials said the results of the survey effort may shrink the condemned area to just a part of the Shockoe Bottom community.

Just east of the state Capitol, Shockoe Bottom sits in the bottom of a valley, near the banks of the James River. One of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, it once served as the location for dozens of tobacco warehouses.

In recent years, however, the area has become a mix of apartments, restaurants, nightclubs and small businesses. Vacant tobacco warehouses have been turned into upscale apartments and condominiums for young professionals. And the bars and nightclubs have turned the area into the city's main location for nightlife.

In recent months, a coalition of downtown boosters had proposed to build a new minor league baseball stadium in the Shockoe Bottom area. That proposal had met with resistance from some people in the city because of historic preservation concerns.

The waters rose quickly in the area, residents reported Monday night.

"It's flooded," An Bui, owner of the Mekong restaurant in the city's Fan District, said amidst the rain.

With his business closed, he said he was stuck there with his pants rolled up to the knees, surrounded by "30 or 40 buckets," collecting water from the restaurant's leaking roof.

"You can't even see outside," he said. "That's how heavy the rain is."

Trees were falling and "cars are floating away," he said Monday night.

The tropical storm that flooded Shockoe Bottom also flooded other parts of the Richmond area.

Homeowners throughout the city and in the surrounding suburbs awoke to find flooded basements or yards Tuesday morning. Many of the region's primary and secondary roads remained closed with standing water or debris during the morning rush hour and many schools, businesses and government offices opened late or remained closed.

The Powhite Parkway, one of the major toll roads that carries about 100,000 commuters each day, remained closed as the toll collection lanes were clogged with mud and debris, preventing cars from going through.

Officials said they hoped to have the road opened by the evening rush hour, but they added that the storm destroyed much of the equipment that operates the automatic SmarTag system. They urged customers to bring cash once the road opens.

Power began coming back on for residents Tuesday morning, but some homes and businesses remained in the dark and some streetlights were still out.

In Chesterfield County, one neighborhood remained under an evacuation order because of a reservoir dam that officials said may have been damaged by the force of the rain-swelled waters.

Chesterfield authorities Monday night ordered evacuations from homes, apartment complexes and businesses downstream of the Falling Creek Dam as water from the reservoir flowed over and around the dam. About 475 people spent Monday night at a makeshift shelter at Meadowbrook High School. As they awoke Tuesday morning, authorities were still not letting them return to their homes.

Spokesman Don Kappel said county officials are "cautiously optimistic" that the dam "appears to be intact."

Kappel said the county had reopened about 70 of the 93 roads that had been closed by high water or debris. But he said officials remained concerned about the possibility that a house-by-house search of some of the flooded apartment buildings and homes could still produce evidence that elderly citizens or children were trapped by the floodwaters.

Relatively little rain fell in the immediate Washington area, as the storm headed across Maryland's Eastern Shore toward Delaware and New Jersey. Forecasts predicted clouds in the area today, then several clear days.

[Dignann]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

From what I have heard, RNBP did not sustain any serious damage. I don't know if Gaines' Mill has reopned, but Boatswains Creek spilled over its banks and washed out the road up to the Watt House. There was some minor flooding at Tredegar and Chimborazo, but nothing substantial. The phones lines seem to be out, which may account for the closure of the park - security issues.

Eric

[dbarnett]

Re: Tredegar

Any update on the status of Tredegar Iron Works would be appreciated. They have some great artifcats there. It would be a shame if they were harmed.

Any information about how the mechanical barriers/dikes functioned during the storm? I remember seeing them back in 2000, but am not sure how they could handle such a downpour.

Rob--

The floodwall was built to keep the river (being the James) out of the city. The river never really actually flooded---just the streets.

Don Barnett

[Dignann]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

This off the internal NPS website:

On the afternoon and evening of Monday, August 30th, nearly a foot of rain fell on the city of Richmond and surrounding area, causing massive flooding throughout the area. Parts of the park are in the city itself, other units are well out to the north and east. As of yesterday afternoon, here’s how they stood:

Chimborazo Medical Museum/Headquarters – Power is out and the basement is flooded.
Gaines Mill – The unit is closed due to the washout of 90 feet of Watt House Road, which leads to the site, and will be closed until further notice. A ranger living on the other side of the washout has been isolated by the washout.
Beaver Dam Creek – A major portion of the creek bank under the pedestrian bridge was washed out.
Cold Harbor VC – The visitor center was closed but has reopened.
Tredegar VC – The visitor center has reopened.
Malvern Hill – The battlefield has reopened.
Maggie Walker NHS, administered by Richmond NBP, is also without power and suffering from roof leaks.

Although all employees are accounted for and okay, education specialist Pat Ferrell had a harrowing experience. She was headed home from Tredegar VC when waters began to rise in that area of the city, which is low and near the James River. Police directed her up Main Street, but the water soon rose around her car. As she was explaining the situation to her husband on her cell phone, water began entering the car. She opened the car door just wide enough to get out and climbed onto a nearby train trestle. People on the balcony of an Amtrak station across the street saw her there and motioned for her to climb higher. When she did so, she saw that water was everywhere and was not receding. She clung to the trestle for over three hours, expecting that either the flood water would dissipate or that someone would rescue her. Neither occurred, and no one was to be seen (the people in the Amtrak station had been rescued). By this time it was 9 p.m. Ferrell could see that the water had gone down, so she jumped in, uniform and all, and swam across Main Street, bumping into cars that were underwater beneath her as she did so. She reached the Amtrak station and climbed to the second floor. Although nobody was there, she was able to use a pay phone to reach her husband and to dry off with some paper towels from a bathroom. Around 1 a.m., she saw fire trucks and cars nearby and waded through the water to them. When she emerged, nobody said anything to her, and it was only later that she realized it was because she was in uniform and people thought she was part of the emergency response. In any case, she got home okay and reports that she now has some good stories to teach in her first aid and CPR classes.

[styler]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

it was only later that she realized it was because she was in uniform and people thought she was part of the emergency response

Back in the day, we "visitor service" rangers generally changed into uniform at our park so that folks wouldn't think we were LE and ask us to chase down muggers for them.

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

A near tornado strikes Appomattox Manor
The Progress-Index (current newspaper of Petersburg, Virginia)
Tuesday, August 31, 2004

by Ben Bagwell

Hopewell-- A near tornado hit historic Appomattox Manor at 1:30 pm. Monday, causing extensive damage to buildings and trees in the normally well-manicured lawn.
Ulysses S. Grant, General-in-Chief of the Union Armies, made the site his headquarters during hte final nine months of hte Seige [sic-but appears as how it was printed] of Petersburg. He was visited there by President Abraham Lincoln during the seige [sic].
Grant would have been quite disturbed had he been there on Monday.
Four National Park Service staffers were there when the storm hit. The ost of the damage is still undetermined.
"None of us saw a funnel cloud or heard a sound usually attributed to tornadoes. But we saw debris and water spraying on the office window. It hit so fast we didn't have time to retreat to the basement," said Ranger Grant Gates.
"There had been a lot of lightning outside the house. We hadn't heard abou a tornado warning until after the storm passed."
Half a dozen historic trees were knocked down and another dozen were damaged, Gates said. Other were believed damaged in a wooded section of the acreage.
The east porch of the manor house was the closest damage to the staff. Four metal columns were twisted off, one causing a hold in the manor's outside wall.
A portion of hte second story of Bonnacord (originally built as a rectory for St. John's Episcopal Church) was damaged.
And a 15 by 20 foot shed was totally demolished.
"There was no indication of leakage in the manor house that could have damaged historical documents," Gates said.
Also in the manor house when the storm hit were Sandy Eickmeyer, Charlie Washington and Andy Hargrave.

Ben Bagwell may be reached at 732-3456 ext. 260.

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

Also saw this and it is an of interest note as well...

Over 14 inches of rain flood Richmond
The Progress-Index (current Petersburg, Virginia newspaper)
by Larry O'Dell
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, August 31, 2004

RICHMOND-[I snipped that which wasn't history related.] An embankment at historic St. John's Church on Church Hill also gave way, sending bricks and earth sliding into the street. St. John's is the oldest church in Richmond and the 1775 location of Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech. [snipped the rest as had nothing to do with history]

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Petersburg Can't Catch a Break

Well, I know it'll soon be a week but I thought I'd add this first person viewing of the destruction here at City Point.

There are numerous trees down or broken to stubs. One shrub that was mentioned was the boxwood on the south side of the house. It is still large and has been pushed back into the ground and seems to be alright. There are two medium sized gashes on the east exterior (added 1841) and of course the columns that are off. It is a rather sad thing, but it always could have been worse.

Dr. Richard Eppes returned home in May 1865 and in September of that year he penned this:

"On the Hopewell farm adjoining City Point I can better describe it by saying it was Desolation personified, a perfect waste, not a house, fence, timber tree or scarcely tree of any kind standing, everything destroyed more than 500 acres of woodland cut down & totally destroyed 300 of it magnificent timbered land

Along with the buildings all the farming implements cattle hogs & mules & horses, absolutely nothing saved from the wreck. In addition to everything belonging to the farm much of my household furniture that was stored there was destroyed"

Well, I cannot call this "Desolation personified, a perfect waste" but it is saddening. However, just like the post-war, Appomattox Manor will recover from this and all shall be well again soon.