Transcripts For WSLS WSLS 10 At 530 PM 20160226

Cleanup continues tonight after a powerful tornado tore through Central Virginia with winds up to when hundred 65 mi. h. Homes were destroyed leaving families without any place ago. Today the National Guard came in to assist those in needs. Rachel lucas has been in appomattox all day and joins us now. There is still a lot of damage and a lot of down trees and debris scattered across the field. Ive been here since early yesterday morning and i can tell you in that amount of time there is a noticeable difference. A lot of work has been done and a lot of progress is being made even if theres still is a long way to go. That could never been done without the National Guard. We have a lot of great volunteer groups that a been for the storm victims but there is been a lot of heavy lifting that still needed to be done. Says the governor declared a state of emergency that has allowed the National Guard to be activated and send here to help with the cleanup. I spoke with soldiers as they help areas homeowners to work that they never wouldve been able to do on their own. I definitely think it has lifted the spirits to those who of definitely needed that help. The young lady over here was grateful to have her house clear. Thats why i joined, to help people. Not only where the more than 50 soldiers here that put in a lot of equipment. They had chainsaws and humvees and thats made a big difference. I will have more of their story coming up tonight at six. Live in evergreen im rachel lucas wsls 10. Thank you to all the guard troops out there and all the hapter providing. Appomattox county where we have just had a which assessing the damage. Somewhat from a meteorological perspective so jeff how are things looking. Frankly ive never seen any damage like this. This was an ef three tornado and we dont get those here in our viewing area. This was absolutely devastating to see. After seeing devastation like this it has always amazed me to see communities come together. Youre seeing that tonight here in evergreen. Upon entry into evergreen we ran into the Appomattox County High School Softball Team assistant in the cleanup after the storm. A few of the Team Name Team members had family members our hugely impacted by the store in. Heres what jillian had to stay. This is where our parents these are the people they know and this is their home. For them to see the devastation brings sadness for a community of parents. Were doing whatever we can to get it back to the way it was. Coming back into evergreen, i talked to quite a few people who were impacted by this. No ones that i hear awards me attitude. Rather when you get into evergreen you hear chainsaws and see People Holding hands and prayed. It is so touching. Im storm team 10 chief meteorologist Jeff Haniewich. They give, jeff. He would say this is about the same of the last you saw in terms of damage . I noticed this domain tornado was worth. Thats exactly right. If memory serves the p lasky tornado was a very strong el vuong. This is an ef three. The when thing i will say about this tornado is the path is wider and the length of the tornado is longer. As youre traveling along for 60 you cant miss it. It is the most amazing thing in the world and its jeff and i worked in irving appomattox county we were silent. Going to this devastation, we did not know what to say. You dont expect to see this here in virginia. You just dont. And other parts of the commonwealth people are we living the horrific moments when that storm hit. Security cameras at an Auto Parts Store including a twoyearold boy. He immediately started searching for people after the storm hit. He says what he found was something he never wants to experience again. I fell in the woods and what i got up i saw a body there. I called for help. The bodies he found as you heard larry turner and divine springfield were found. Someone else from the toddler about 10 minutes later. The boys 30yearold mother was seriously hurt. Seven other people had nonlifethreatening injuries. We will turn our attention to the weather that still hasnt found that yet. We want to turn things over to jonathan. Certainly nothing like what weve been seeing in appomattox. Sunday is looking nice. Much quieter and just along temperatures on the cool side afternoon a few western slopes and very light snow showers ongoing with a few clouds trying to spell over the mountains but mostly clear skies for us. It is on the chillier side with temperatures back into the middle 30s and 43 in danville. Were in the middle of 20 for us in hot springs but there is relief for and and cipher is from the cold and we will talk about that in our full forecast. News making National Headlines police are still looking for answers following a shooting that left three dead and 14 injured in kansas. Cedric ford armed with a rifle at a handgun shot two people and stole a car and opened the fire at a plant where he worked. He was served with a protective order by his girlfriend hours before the shooting. President obama spoke about thursdays incident saying america cannot go numb to gun violence. Anybody who says they want safe have to care about this. Is happening in far too many towns and affecting far too many innocent americans. There are some things we can do about it. Ford was later killed by police. Back in our area police have identified a man who was killed earlier this week. Police say the victim is 23 yearold the Vontae Johnson of danville. As we previously reported police were called to the 200 block of Halifax Street after someone had been shot just after midnight on wednesday. He was pronounced dead at the scene and the investigation is ongoing. It has been 2 1 2 years in 17yearold Alexis Murphy went missing. Forced her family into the media spotlight and now her aunt is on a mission to keep other teens safe and to help other families who find themselves in the same situation. Morgan dean has the story. After her niece disappeared from the Nelson County gas station in broad daylight her and is still looking for answers. Theres not a day or moment that goes by where shes not far from our hearts. Shes not searching for purpose. One of the few things i can do to honor my nieces legacy is to reach out to other people going through this and try to prevent this from happening again. The community turned out to search for alexis using Surveillance Video Police Identified randy. Alexis his body has never been recovered. Having the person who committed this offense behind bars for the rest of his life is huge for us. Its huge for us in several ways. He will never be able to exact this kind of pain on another family. On some levels she does that justice. She has turned the sorrow the help save the next school movement. She is now taking the victim advocacy was step further. She started a new nonprofit called be Aware Foundation which stands for always watch and recognize your environment. Her Facebook Page is full of missing people that could be won share away from being found. I wanted to do something in her honor. This is what was born out of it. She wants to be a resource for families with a missing left won. You confused and dont know what to do next. Theres some key points the families need to know. One of those is media contact. When you have someone missing, the last thing you want is a camera shoved into your face to talk about it. Unfortunately, that is exactly what you need to do. The Facebook Pages are nearly 4000 fans in just a few weeks. She dreams of a point where there are aware chapters in every School Across the country. If anything, recent cases like nicole level of disappeared from blacksburg should be a that was morgan dean with that report. For more information on the Aware Foundation go to our website. Jonathan will have another check of your storm team 10 forecast in just a few minutes. Things went on wall street. The areas best weather cast as awarded by the associated press. Good evening. Heres a live look with her mountain sky cam. A gorgeous shot with some race going on. Very light and king sky back there is the sunsets. A very gorgeous shot tonight. Another blustery day out there. Things trying to call quiet down overnight. A few mountain showers. Those will be held to the western slopes am we will start to clear skies overnight as High Pressure slight send. Most of our skies are going heading into saturday afternoon and sunday. Ahead of our next system this is a cold front of across the area on monday. The warm air that will send temperatures at least into the low 60s and maybe even upper 60s especially around south side. We will keep the brees tomorrow afternoon. It wont be as strong as it has been that you will notice it tomorrow afternoon and again on sunday. We will had to the lower 30s by nine o clock and 40s by noon. We will top out in the upper 40s by around 3 00 oclock tomorrow afternoon. The brees not as strong as where it has been. It will be gusty to 20 mi. h saturday and we will have that again going into the picture on sunday. On sunday that breeze will help pump in warm air. Tonight we are partly cloudy to mostly clear with temperatures into the upper 20s. Over the next couple days middle 60s on sunday and were in the lower 60s on monday. Thats when the call for comes by and temperatures will be back in the middle 60s as well. A larger system on wednesday and we will keep track of this. In the mid50s. Ahead at 5 30 we will check back in with chief meteorologist Jeff Haniewich. He is like tonight and cleanup is underway. The cleanup continues tonight after a powerful tornado ripped through the area. People who live in the county are only beginning to sort through what is left behind. Lets head back out to Jeff Haniewich his and appomattox county for us tonight. Jeff, weve seen the pictures and is devastating to say the least. I can imagine what its like being there. Pictures, video, aerial footage, weve seen it all. The shots of been devastating to look at an incredibly sad to look at. Wanting the pictures and videos dont do is capture emotion. Emotions are raw the high here. Coming up at 6 00 oclock will talk to someone his house has a lot of damage to it. When you run the air for three hours talking about tornadoes, your Worst Nightmare, Worst Nightmare is to see the destruction that we have seen tonight in evergreen. To be that again guys. Has released Roanoke College released a poll showing virginia my help Hillary Clinton and donald trump economy and this you disputed leaders in the race. The college is getting ready sunday. Here are the details on the candidates final efforts before super tuesday. Professor harry wilson says his most recent poll is not even close. Clinton is projected to lead by 17 of the vote while trump is expected to carry virginia in more than 20. I would have expected to find them both margins being a little bit bigger since nationally at least the democratic have certain pulled tighten. The real focus will not be on trump but all of his opponents. If at this point in time trump is going to be stopped, somebody needs to emerge as the challenger to trump not three or four other challengers to trump. There has to be some consolidation in that field. If there resident those candidates will consent continue to split those board. Marco rubio will become the first president ial candidate Roanoke College this weekend. Weve been working diligently to pull this off. I know that the staff are excited. With clinton projected to win big wilson says the new office being set up as likely preparing for the general election. Assuming she gets the nomination, she is going to be and salem, wsls rocky mount is working with Franklin County to improve trails. Town leaders created this plan back in 2008 before the recession hit. The road at valley served as inspiration for the outdoor trade. If you live or work in time out here on the river. The next couple of years your experiences expected to change for the better. The people who may spend 10 hours want to get outside and get into a boat ago jogger right there bike. We want to facilitate that. The town of rocky mount is putting 50,000 in its upcoming budget for improvements. This includes developing trails and expanding the river heritage trail and the new trail held on trailhead on north main street. We want people to get to a part that leads them to a trail system. All of the improvements will be finished in about 10 years. He is working with Franklin County. The counties director of parks and recreation has also been working on improving trails like adding more signs. He says the outdoor experience is something hes going to enjoy with his family. I was running some distance its a marathon training. Im more into the family routine so i like to get outside with my kids. The plane is not the plan is not set in stone but if the budget is approved, people may start enjoying some of the after benefits this fall. And Franklin County. Your 90 minutes of news continues right now. This is your forecast 1st and 10 won wsls. A cold and blustery day today with temperatures in the upper 30s and lower 40s. We will continue to clear things out overnight. Upper 20s by eight with a mix of sun and clouds tomorrow morning. Mostly sunny skies by the afternoon. Temperatures in the lower 40s. The winds have relax but they will stay elevated over the weekend. Much warmer and we will talk this is tran110 at six. You dont see this are think its going to happen to you. At six people in appomattox county rammage to the rubble hoping to find remnants of what was. How clinging to one another is helping this community cope. As damage control continues. As clean up efforts kick into high gear, National Guard soldiers are stationed in the area tonight lending their strength and support to people in need were bringing you live team coverages countless helping hands reach across the region to provide relief to those above the among the ruins. Thank you for joining us for tran110 at six. An entire community banding together to dig through that the images you see show the first steps of the recovery process, raking, shifting and picking up the pieces. While many people survived the churn through Central Virginia, 20 homes in more than one hundred structures for damage. Chief meteorologist Jeff Haniewich made the trip to appomattox county to see the effects firsthand. Jeff, you track the store for us on wednesday from the station. Tonight your monitoring the impact and how this community is bouncing back. The mile here, there is a lot of sadness but there is a lot of hope as well. There is a lot of confidence in this rebuild and a lot of gratitude to the man upstairs because the timing of this, if theres a positive it was a timing because a lot of these folks were not home at the time that this tornado graham through evergreen. In addition to that the kids werent school