April 15, 2018 was a day that began like many Sundays. The skies were dark and gloomy in the early morning, the sun made a brief appearance shortly after sunrise, then disappeared into the clouds. To the south, storms were brewing that would change the landscape of Lynchburg, Campbell, and Amherst counties and the lives of many local residents before the end of the day. An EF-2 tornado touched down in Greensboro, North Carolina shortly after 5 PM. Less than an hour later, an EF-1 tornado touched down in Pittsylvania County, then moved northeast through Danville, lasting for approximately 16 minutes, according to National Weather Service reports.
A tornado warning was issued for the city of Lynchburg, and Bedford and Campbell counties just before 6:30 PM. Just after 7 PM, an EF-3 tornado touched down on Timberlake Road, damaging homes and businesses in the Timberlake area, then continued through Lynchburg, damaging homes and property along Lakeside Drive and the Boonsboro area. The tornado crossed the James River into Amherst County, bringing heavy destruction to the Elon community, with maximum wind speeds of 150 MPH. Along the 20.4-mile path of the tornado, homes, businesses, vehicles, trees, and property were damaged. Several people were injured, but thankfully no lives were lost. For many local families, life changed forever as the homes they loved were completely destroyed.
Lynchburg Macaroni Kid followed social media posts to help keep our Macaroni Kid families updated on damage, closed roads, school closings, and additional community information. As clean-up efforts continue, we've followed a few stories of damage, as well as stories about relief efforts in our area. Here are a few excerpts from Facebook updates about damage to the baseball field at Brookville High School, damage to structures and the archery range at Girl Scout Camp Sacajawea, and two updates from Leecy Fink, a personal friend whose family rode out the tornado in their basement of their home, one of many destroyed in Elon.
At the end of this article, there are some ways you can help those in need in our community.
Brookville High School Facebook page official comment after April 16 clean-up of the baseball field: "If you know of anyone who is in need of clean-up crews for debris from the storm, please send us a comment or private message with their information. We have some teams of students who are interested in helping out and we can coordinate them for you! Thank you for all those who helped here at the school. We still have no power, but the facilities look much better!"
Brandon Inge comments about Brookville High School baseball field damage: "My high school baseball team, the Brookville Bees, took a devastating hit from a tornado last night. These boys are hard working, blue collar young men that represent our community well and are obviously torn up about not being able to play baseball the rest of this year on their home turf. Please stay tuned as I will be setting up a Go Fund Me page to help out our Brookville Baseball program."
Brookville teacher Bobby Markey comments about Brookville High School baseball field damage: "Some poles holding the net behind home plate are bent badly, the visitor’s bleachers were thrown into right field and destroyed, the outfield fence is badly damaged and bent, the new mobile Turtle batting cage unit was destroyed, the roof on the home side dugout was torn off and flew off, and the 3rd base line/outside barrier fences were bent/torn and are temporarily repaired. So a lot to fix before it can be safely occupied for games."
Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Council statement about Camp Sacajawea: "Due to last night's severe storms, Camp Sacajawea is closed. Gay Lodge took some damage and the archery range was leveled by high winds. Ranger Marc and his family are safe and sound. It will take a few weeks to get things cleaned up so we are asking people not to visit/drive through camp."
Deb Trum (archery director at Camp Sacajawea) statement about Camp Sac archery range: "My heart hurts. Archery is gone. I am praying we can find the curtain and re hang it. ($1500 to replace) The tables were brand new built and painted on 3/24 by our Juniors. Brownie Camporee is cancelled for this weekend as it is not safe to even go in to assess damage. I am thankful we are all safe and can eventually rebuild."
Leecy FInk Facebook statement on April 15 at 7:41 PM: "We are alive and safe. These are pictures of our home in Elon area of Madison Heights, VA. We were in the basement under the stairs. Three of our five children and our dog were w my husband and I. Our adult children were safe elsewhere. God protected my family tonight as He always does. Please pray for our community, our amazing first responders and everyone as we rebuild. There is no greater place on earth to raise my family than in this precious community. Your love for our family astounds me tonight. We are grateful. So so grateful."
Leecy Fink Facebook statement on April 16: "Where do we begin? A wise man reminded me today of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. The base of that triangle is food, water, warmth and rest. Thank you God for making sure that the 007 had all of these needs met tonight. We are safe and secure in our new apartment in Lynchburg. We have been well fed by amazing volunteers all day. Our basic needs are completely met.
We moved into a furnished apartment tonight after they laid carpet and furnished a new place for us in less than 5 hours! Did i mention they cut a door between two apartments to accommodate our large family!!??? Our newly furnished 6 bedroom, two kitchen, 4 bath apt is better than perfect!!! Our church family, old friends, new friends, family and so many volunteers helped go through layer by layer of debris. They found my wedding rings! They found my purse, our safe w important papers, Garys guns, and so many other things. The ladies from our church took clothes that were salvageable to their homes to wash for us. The second shift showed up to clean our apartment, make our beds, feed us dinner and get us settled for the night.
We are set with clothes for now until we inventory what we have. If you wish to donate directly to the families in my community - you can mail a gift card (walmart, food lion, sheetz, visa) to:
Amherst County Chamber of Commerce
328 Richmond Hwy, Suite A, P. O. Box 560
Amherst, VA 24521
Please consider helping in this way as there are so many families in need.
So thankful for the Amherst Sheriffs Dept, VA State Police and so many others serving in our neighborhood today. God Bless You tonight. #007finks #iheartelon"
This link is from The News & Advance: How to help neighbors in need following Sunday's storm
The following donation requests are listed in the article above and on social media:
Amherst County Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center
328 Richmond Hwy, Suite A
Amherst, VA 24521
Donations of Walmart, Food Lion, and Quik-E Food gift cards; paper products; plastic utensils; and Clorox wipes will be accepted at the center from 9 AM-5 PM on Wednesday, April 18 and from 1PM-5PM on Sunday, April 22, 2018
Loose Shoe Brewing Company
198 Ambriar Plaza
Amherst, VA 24521
Evening donations of the same products may be taken to Loose Shoe Brewing Company.
Gleaning For The World
PO Box 645
Concord, VA 24538
Financial donations (credit card donations on site or checks mailed) to Gleaning For The World.
Sam's Club
3912 Wards Road
Lynchburg, VA 24502
Gleaning For The World will be on site at Sam's Club and will accept financial donations as well as the following new, unused products: nonperishable foods, baby supplies, and hygiene supplies from 10AM-6PM on Wednesday, April 18, 2018.
Elon Strong
***Updated Information*** Due to the outstanding success of over 560 volunteers on Wednesday, April 18, there will be no organized volunteering for the foreseeable future. This is at the request of Amherst County Officials and local residents.
WHAT THIS MEANS:
No Staging area or Volunteer Shuttles
If you would like to volunteer as a group, please car pool to the impacted area.
No work orders or direction from local organizations.
If you would like to volunteer, please connect with local families in need for serving opportunities.
No food or water is provided.
If you would like to volunteer, please plan your own crew’s lunch and hydration.
If you would like to give towards the needs of local families, please go to elonstrong.com and select the MISSIONS FUND.
The Salvation Army of Greater Lynchburg
2211 Park Avenue
Lynchburg, VA 24501
The Salvation Army is accepting donations of: individual sized bottled drinks and non-perishable snack items to be given to first responders and affected residents.
Timberlake Family Pharmacy
20276 Timberlake Road
Lynchburg, VA 24502
Timberlake Family Pharmacy, which opened to serve first responders and affected residents on Monday posted the following updates on its Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon and evening:
"Gleaning For The World will be coming in the morning to take all the leftover donations and funnel them to Elon as needed. Any donations that come in between now and the morning will be dispersed to walk-in neighbors that need and then for Gleaning to the World." "Friends - we need some helping hands to help us load all of the supplies into at box truck between 9AM-10AM tomorrow morning (Wednesday, April 18) that will be going to Elon." If you can help please comment in the post on Facebook page.
Lynchburg Emergency Community Action Group
Facebook page
Those needing specific help with an emergency problem can post a request in the group, following group guidelines posted on the page. Those who are available to help may reply using the REPLY button so that all of the comments regarding a particular problem stay underneath that original post.
Camp Sacajawea Rebuild Fund
Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline
Attn: Camp Sac Rebuild Fund
3663 Peters Creek Rd NW
Roanoke VA 24019
Please help us rebuild by donating here on Facebook or send a check to the address above. As soon as the downed power lines are secured and the roads are cleared, we will be having Camp Sac Cleanup Days over the upcoming weekends in April/May. Camp Sacajawea’s damage is extensive, and requires specialized help from our local business builders community. We need help with roofing, masonry, tree cutting, etc. Please contact Ranger Marc Johnson if you can help out: 540-529-9174 or mjohnson@gsvsc.org
Additional GoFundMe pages for Families dealing with loss of homes after tornado hits Elon can be found in the WSET article at the link. Thank you to Rebecca for sharing this article on our Facebook page!
There are many additional posts on social media requesting assistance. It's impossible to substantiate and include all requests here, so I only shared those from known sources which I personally know are valid and reputable. Thank you to all who are able to reach out and help those in our community who are in need.
On a personal note, I feel blessed to be part of the Lynchburg community and to share my love of the area with local families. It was so hard to watch the images of the devastation that hit Lynchburg and Amherst County on Sunday. In the interest of privacy, I included primarily photos of downed tree limbs in the slideshow with this article.
As I drove around Lynchburg on Tuesday after work, it was both devastating and heartwarming. It would have been easy to focus only on the devastation of homes and property damaged or destroyed; however, it's important to also focus on the heartwarming sight of families, friends, and neighbors pulling together to clear brush and debris from yards, streets, and public areas, all focusing on the tasks at hand, but also on the love they share for each other and their community. In the words of the manager of Timberlake Family Pharmacy, THIS is what community is all about.
