CALLAO—In all too familiar scenes, many Northumberland residents were cleaning up after Mother Nature when an EF1 tornado with peak winds of 95-100 mph swept through the Luttrellville, Callao and Lottsburg areas of the county just after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3.
Although not quite as strong as the May 2021 EF2 tornado that took a similar path through the upper part of Northumberland County, it, too, left a five-mile path of downed trees and damaged buildings beginning near Luttrellville Lane and ending between Glebe Road and Coan Harbour Drive in Lottsburg, according to the National Weather Service in Wakefield.
Northumberland chief of emergency services Calvin Balderson said dispatch was alerted of a possible tornado by a member of the Callao Volunteer Fire Department. “A command center was established at the Callao VFD to coordinate the response efforts which included multiple agencies from Northumberland in addition to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Virginia Department of Transportation and the Virginia State Police.” Balderson added that mutual aid was received from Cople District VFD and Lancaster County Emergency Services.
Multiple homes and structures were damaged in the tornado, and one home in the Owl Town Road area was “condemned due to the severe damage it received,” Balderson said. One person was evaluated by EMS and refused transport to the hospital. No other injuries were reported.
One property in the path was Quinton Oaks Golf Course. Owner Dean Sumner and crew spent the following day cleaning up….
