Cleanup underway after severe storms leave behind damage in Virginia

PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. – Severe storms impacted Southwest Virginia, and the damage left behind is now causing stress for a family in Southside.

A family hired to remove the tree is pleased to know the tree didn’t do as much damage as it could have.

Lewis Wilson has been working in storm cleanup since he was a child.

“Really I’ve been doing this all my life, since like 7, 8,” Wilson, with Magic Grass Tree Company said.

Wilson sometimes removes trees that may have fallen on people’s homes. He and his family, including his sons are cutting this tree that was on the roof of the home.

The idea is that they can carry it away in smaller pieces, however, preparing may sometimes require working during a weather event.

“It was raining, storming, hailing, we did what we could to keep the structure dry as far as preventing damage on the inside, and we left around 7:30,” Wilson said.

The purpose of working through a weather event is to ensure there’s a good head start.

“I would give it minor, we’ve been in lots of situations like this even at our own place,” Lewuja Wilson, who works alongside his father, said.

Despite cleanup crews calling the aftermath minor, severe storms impacted lives around Southside.

Meteorologists said wind gusts reached 35 miles per hour at Danville Airport.

In Dickenson County, near the state line, the same storm claimed the life of a 65-year-old man. Sheriff Deputies said a tree hit his pickup truck.

In Lee County, school officials said part of the roof blew off at Elk Knob Elementary.

Officials said there is also water damage in three classrooms.

“We’ve got roof people here now, we’ve got the building inspector here,” David Sampson, with school transportation, said. “We’re trying to make all the foundations good.”

Cleanup crews are pleased the family can remain at the home.

While there is damage to the gutters and sides of the home, if the tree fell in the center, they said the damage could have been much worse.

“That’s what saved this house, that the tree fell on the low beam of the house which held the weight of the tree,” Lewis Wilson said.

Clean-up crews said no one was hurt, and the Red Cross is assisting the family.