Tornado Rips Historic City in Virginia; 3 Dead, 148 Hurt : Storm: Twister destroys Petersburg buildings that withstood Civil War. Two people are missing. Shopping center is hit.

A tornado charged through this historic city Friday, toppling buildings and killing at least three people in a shopping mall that witnesses said was sliced open. Nearly 150 people were injured.

The storm devastated this economically depressed city’s most precious quarter, a historic district known as Old Town Petersburg, which has several Civil War-era buildings that withstood Union troop barrages from 1864 to 1865.

Police Officer M. L. Clarke said “one large tornado” touched down at the Southpark shopping mall just outside the city limits in Colonial Heights. Doctors and hearses were summoned to a triage center in the mall parking lot.

Three people inside the mall’s Wal-Mart store were killed, including one who died at a hospital Friday night, authorities said. Two people in Colonial Heights were still unaccounted for late Friday, and authorities searched door-to-door through the area.

Authorities said that 148 people were sent to area hospitals with various injuries, which included broken bones and complaints of head and neck problems.

The storm cut a swath through the Wal-Mart discount department store, from front to back.

“The lights went out, then came back on, and immediately the roof started caving in,” said Pam Barden, who was shopping in the store. “People were screaming and crying.”

Gov. L. Douglas Wilder activated the National Guard before heading from the capital in Richmond by helicopter to survey the damage, said spokeswoman Lisa Katz. The Army said it sent at least three helicopters to help with evacuations.

Tornadoes are uncommon in Virginia, where the last one hit near Augusta Springs in the Shenandoah Valley in 1989, killing two people.

No tornado warning was posted Friday until 1:35 p.m., about five minutes after the twister smashed the area, officials said.

As the tornado crossed the James River to the north of Colonial Heights, it threw up a wall of wind and water that knocked over two tractor-trailers on the Interstate 295 bridge across the river, authorities said. A third truck collided with the first two, and two smaller trucks were flipped over by the wind. Five people were hurt in that incident, said state police Sgt. Robert A. Johnson.

Tornadoes also were reported in several other parts of the state Friday, including the counties of James City, Surry and Sussex.

At Langley Air Force Base, two planes and several buildings were damaged and one person was slightly hurt, said Sgt. Mike Brown, a base spokesman.

But hardest hit was Petersburg, where City Manager Valerie Lemmie estimated damage at $10 million.

“The Old Town district of Petersburg is for the most part destroyed,” said Brian Soule, a photographer for the Progress-Index newspaper. “There are some store fronts standing and a couple of buildings look for the most part flat. Old Town Station is leveled.”

The twister also struck a 15- to 20-block area of Hopewell, causing heavy damage to several apartment buildings, said Bob Brown, the city’s emergency services coordinator.

He said that from 50 to 100 people were being evacuated to the Hopewell Community Center. He added that he was not aware of any injuries.

“It’s taken a lot of roofs off, and a lot of trees are across apartments,” Brown said.

In Petersburg, South Side Station, an old train depot converted into a flea market, was leveled but no one was hurt, said Charles Patton, whose family owns the building. The flea market is open only on weekends.

“You think about the historical aspect of the building,” Patton added. “It’s lasted 150 years and all of a sudden it’s gone in 10 seconds.”