VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — In addition to tearing through the Great Neck area of Virginia Beach, Sunday's tornado also hit Fort Story.
No one was hurt, but people at the military base lost power for about 18 hours after that tornado came through. On Monday, only mission-essential personnel were called in to report for duty.
"It was a roaring sound."
That's how Captain Michael Witherspoon describes the tornado as it came barreling toward his house.
The Commanding Officer at Fort Story and his wife were doing what a lot of others were doing Sunday night: taking cover.
"As I came down the stairs, she was already in the bathroom and it came through so fast, I didn’t have time to close the door. I could see the furniture flying," he said. "It looked like just a white out of water and when I looked down, I saw it coming."
He and his wife saw what had since been downgraded to an EF1 tornado tearing toward their house on the water’s edge.
"Prayer works, right? While we were there and the walls were pulsating, I could physically hear my wife praying."
Miraculously, no one was hurt.
Witherspoon said that between hundreds of downed trees and structural damage, they’re looking at around $3 million worth of damage, although that number could increase.
Even though the winds had weakened a little bit by the time the tornado got on the base, it was still strong enough for a limb to pierce a concrete wall.
Witherspoon said 56 soldiers and sailors are displaced on base after the tornado ripped a roof off the barracks.
The garage of the Cape Henry House was totally destroyed, with some debris floating out in the ocean.
"We are lucky no one was hurt. The damage we can recover from. The debris cleanup, the removal of trees, just restoring the installation, we probably have a couple of weeks ahead of us," he said.
According to the National Weather Service, by the time the tornado reached First Landing State Park and Fort Story, it had weakened from an EF-3 to an EF-1 before it finally moved off-shore.
Witherspoon said it’ll take about two weeks to clear out all of the debris left behind, but they’re expecting to have all personnel back on Tuesday.