Storm in Richmond destroys steeple, catches cars on fire

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Thursday’s storms caused damage throughout Richmond including near Libby Hill Park where trees were toppled over and two cars caught fire.

”It was just bizarre from pretty still and then just suddenly debris flying down the street,” said Yoseph Teklemariam, who co-owns Nile, a restaurant in Church Hill.

Neighbors say what happened after 7 p.m. felt like armageddon with blue skies on one side of 29th Street and storms on the other.

Winds were strong enough to destroy the steeple that normally sits upright in front of Asbury United Methodist Church.

”The thunder was just constant so I think that we heard a crack but did not know the steeple was down until after it settled down,” Teklemariam said.

The crack was a large tree already marked for removal by the city across from Teklemariam’s restaurant.

He said it landed on a truck, but there was only minor damage.

”Other than that, there were a couple of motorcycles that got wrecked around the corner as well,” Teklemariam said.

Down the street, two cars caught fire when a tree branch snapped causing a downed power line.

“We thought it was going to blow up,” Malia Stringer, whose mom was renting one of those cars, said.

Stringer’s mom said she was renting the car after her car was wrecked by a drunk driver at the same spot back in MAy

Firefighters said the downed line caught the tree branch on fire and caused both cars to sit in flames.

”They used a fire extinguisher thinking it was just a normal fire but when it didn’t work they said it was because it was an electrical fire,” Stringer said.

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