VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The recovery process continues in the Great Neck area of Virginia Beach.
Three days after an EF3 tornado ripped roofs off of homes, tree trunks and limbs line the streets of the Broad Bay Point Greens neighborhood.
No strangers to hard work, high schoolers on the Princess Anne Crew Club spent their day off the water helping one of their own.
"It was pretty devastating," rower Alex Cochran said.
His home was in the path of the tornado.
"A ton of windows were broken and the garage door is messed up. Branches were through the roof and almost all the trees in my backyard were knocked down by the tornado," he said.
He said he wasn't home at the time, but his parents had to take cover.
"My parents were hiding in the closet," he said. "I’m pretty thankful that the damage to our house wasn’t to the extent to some of our neighbors."
When his teammates heard what happened, they didn’t hesitate.
"After a tragedy, it’s important the community comes together and we were here to help Alex and his family," said team captain Michael Wieder.
Team captain Dakota Helgren agreed.
"Community is like the biggest part of our team for everyone, so when we heard about this, I feel like everyone wanted to help and this was the best way," Helgren said.
They spent their day alongside the city’s public works crew cleaning up the debris left behind.
Virginia Beach's Director of Public Works LJ Hansen said they had 80 people and 35 pieces of equipment out there to help what will be a months-long process.
"Things are progressing. You know, we’re three days into this, and in reality, there’s a long way to go. We’re appropriately progressing, that’s probably the best I can say. There’s a long way to go though," Hansen said.
He said their main priority is getting the roads clear. Since they've been out there working, he said they've already taken 300 loads of debris out.
"That’s a dent, but it’s not anywhere close to the final number," he said.
Hansen said their part of the cleanup will take a few weeks, but the total recovery will take months. In the meantime, he's asking people to stay out of the area and have patience with their team.
"I know that the bottleneck on Great Neck Road is a challenge. I know that for folks that are trying to traverse across that area, that’s gonna be a challenge for a couple of weeks," he said. "It’s also to allow us to move this debris out faster. The faster we move the debris out, the faster we can get out, the faster that the residents can start to be able to address their more significant concerns."
Princess Anne’s Coach Jonathan Macy said watching his team haul wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow to the road makes him proud.
"One of our core values as a team is commitment to our teammates and this is demonstration to commitment," he said. "That's who they are."