Thunderstorm Wind in McDowell County, West Virginia

The gym roof of the Twin Branch Pentecostal Christian Academy was lifted up and shifted by the wind. The entire roof fell back down onto its cinderblock support walls. This caused the walls to collapse. Debris fell onto nearby vehicles. A 35 year old female was killed by the falling debris as she was standing in the parking lot near the building. She was attending the wake for her brother in the church across the street.||The narrow and steep valley along the Tug Fork River may have helped funnel the winds through this Twin Branch location. However, trees in the valley were not damaged.

A National Weather Service storm survey team found considerable damage near Dan and Bradshaw in McDowell County. The damage was determined to be due to a microburst. Multiple businesses and power poles were damaged. Funneling through the terrain enhanced the winds, causing roof damage to numerous homes. A small travel trailer was flipped and suffered severe damage. The survey team estimated the path length of the microburst to be about half a mile, and the width to be about 500 yards.

Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms dumped one and one-half to three and one-half inches of rain in 36 hours. The morning thunderstorms caused wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph across much of southern and central West Virginia. Power lines and trees were blown down, a few onto homes. In Charleston, hundreds of bricks were blown off the facade of a county building, damaging four vehicles below. One person was injured when a tree fell on a school bus. In the evening, wind damage was concentrated over the extreme south. Widespread minor stream flooding occurred. Small headwater rivers, such as the Mud, the Pocatalico, and the Hughes also flooded. Damage was mostly to culverts and roads. A few people were evacuated from trailer parks along Route 95 in Wood County and along Spring Creek in Roane County. Flooded basements were most common in the urban area around Parkersburg.