Newport News, VA

UPDATED 10/01/03, MANGLED 10/07/03, PARTIALLY REPAIRED 10/08/03, UPDATED 10/10/03

September 19, 2003 - Stevens Road

(Proper accreditation lost in mangling on 10/07/03.  Sorry...)

 Leon Powell, left, holds the tarp while Henry Singleton nails it on the roof of a garage on Dogwood Drive in the Riverside area of Newport News. They both work for Hallstead Construction in Newport News and said they will be back to begin fixing the roof in a couple of days.

Buddy Norris/Daily Press
 Sep. 24, 2003
Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

Trees cover the roof
and garage of this home
on Wingfield Drive off Briarfield Road in Newport News.

 Photo by Nancy Brock/
Daily Press Reader
 Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

A fallen tree separates roughly a third of this apartment building on Marshall Avenue in Newport News from the rest.

Photo by Greg and
Christine Vassilakos/
Daily Press Readers
Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

Someone on Corbin Drive in Newport News has maintained their sense of humor ....

Photo by Jan Clarke/
Daily Press Reader
 Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

... from my neighborhood (Maxwell Gardens section of Mid-town Newport News.) ... taken from my house on Luanita Lane (off Mammoth Oak.) As you can see.. the mammoth oaks dropped once Isabel arrived.

Shane Thomas/
Daily Press Reader
 Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

 Two Newport News police officers look Friday at the damage caused by the high winds of Hurricane Isabel at the Towers apartment building in the East End.

Kenneth Silver/Daily Press
 Sep. 24, 2003
Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

From Shore Park in Newport News

"Buck" Holloway/
 Daily Press Reader
 Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

 

From Shore Park in Newport News

"Buck" Holloway/
 Daily Press Reader
 Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

 

People lined up for gas in Newport News.

Michael Rightler/
Daily Press Reader
 Copyright © 2003, Daily Press

"We were without electricity from Thursday until today (Wednesday). 
Our neighborhood spent many nights eating dinner together in our front yard. 
Fortunately, we didn't have any damage other than many tree limbs in our backyard.
Our next door neighbors had to have two of their pine trees removed because they were hanging over our roof,
and thank God the trees didn't meet our roof.  Charles and I feel very fortunate. 
Our neighbor's home has been condemned.  River Road was a mess with trees and utility poles down. 
I hope that others in our area as well as anywhere that Isabel hit are safe."

- Pauline Collins Shofner of Newport News, VA - 09/24/03
Thanks, Pauline!

"Thank you for the kind words.  This has been a nightmare. 
My house has become a laundry mat for many of my friends and I don't say that in a negative manner. 
I am so thankful that Charles and I are able to help our friends.  Sarah (Puckett) Kressaty's neighborhood still has no electricity and the power company isn't giving them much encouragement.  Sarah and Lou were over here Monday while the next door neighbors were having the "TREE" removed from their yard, and they came over today to borrow a ladder to remove debris from the gutters. 
This has brought many of us together.  I never thought that I would be able to do without electricity for more than a couple of hours. 
My cousins live in York County/Edgehill section and from what I understand that area took a pretty bad beating as well and I cannot reach them by phone.  I am all over the map with this e-mail.  Trees are down everywhere. 
My feelings about trees at this point is to get them down in our yard.  I don't want an oak or pine tree. 
Yes, you may use my comments - I'm not certain how coherent that it sounds.  Thanks for reading."

- Pauline Collins Shofner of Newport News, VA - 09/25/03
Thanks, Pauline!

"Hey!  We finally got power @ 5pm yesterday (Friday, September 26) and we were so happy! 
I'm sure I haven't gotten 1/2 of the emails that were sent...
We have minimal damage (except my nerves) and are playing the waiting game for estimates, the insurance adjuster, etc. 
Lou cleaned my mom's gutters thanks to Pauline and Charles' loaning us the ladder. 
I still have a lot of raking and we have to replace part of the hedge as part
of our neighbor's beautiful maple blew over the fence into our backyard. 
Didn't touch the house, so we are very fortunate! 
My first hurricane since coming back to VA, wow.....I would have preferred to start with a smaller one!!!!!  :-)
Hope everything is ok with you there. 
We are still shocked as we expected NC to take the worse of it and you guys seemed
to have faired better than we did (except for those on the water)!!!"

- Sarah Puckett Kressaty of Newport News, VA - 09/27/03
Thanks, Sarah!

"Hope all is well with you and yours.  We just got our electricity back today - 11 days.  WOW, am I glad. 
We finally had to buy a generator this past Thursday; 8 days without anything was just about enough.

"Hope all is well with our folks in Newport News, Hampton, Poquoson, Virginia Beach, Nags Head area, Seaford,
especially Grandview, Virginia, and I could go on naming the areas affected by Hurricane Isabel. 
My thoughts are with everyone.  I didn't get much damage at all, just no power mostly."

- Brenda Amos Williams ('62) of Newport News, VA - 09/28/03 
 Thanks, Brenda! 

"I lost everything around noon.
I was standing on the rear deck smoking a cigarette and watching trees tumble behind my house and in the yards of others.
Just as I took a nice drag I was attracted to a loud crack and looked up just in time to see a large elm falling my way.
As I cleared the doorway the tree landed on my roof and took out the portion of deck I was standing on.
       Power was returned on the 30th partially. Still no cable and telephone....Damage in NN was really bad.
14 homes were condemned. Thankfully there were no deaths."

- Jimmy Parker ('62) of Newport News, VA - 10/03/03
Thanks, Jimmy!

"As a result of Hurricane Isabel, we did have a tree fall against our house. 
It did not go through, thank goodness, but did some damage to the roof, siding, gutters and a couple windows. 
Since I had both cameras with me in Winston-Salem for my new grandson's debut, we didn't get pictures of the tree. 
We're still waiting to hear the final cost from the insurance company.  
Although my daughter's area (in NC) got the fringes of the storm, we never lost power. 
When I got home exactly a week after the storm, our house in NN was still without power, but did come on the next day. 
Dale said it had come back on Sunday night and went again Tuesday morning and finally came back Friday morning.  
Even with all of that, we're better off than a lot of people and we thank God for that."

- Sandi Bateman Chestnut of Newport News, VA - 10/06/03
Thanks, Sandi!

"Approximately 4 hours ago my telephone and cable were finally restored.
I have been unable to use my computer since 9/18.
Can you imagine all the junk e-mail I had accumulated over this period?
As usual, most was junk."

- Jimmy Parker ('62) of Newport News, VA - 10/09/03 - 9:17 PM
Thanks, Jimmy!

"Riders on the Storm" midi courtesy of http://www.mystiqal.com/Music2ak.ht
 at the suggestion of Dave Spriggs ('64) of VA - 09/23/03.
 Thanks, Dave!

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