Kaine visits Norfolk, Hampton to assess storm damage

NORFOLK -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday visited two cities hit especially hard by a drenching storm and flooding and heard appeals from residents for assistance.

In Norfolk, Kaine stopped by the Ocean View section of the city. Part of the main thoroughfare, Ocean View Avenue, and a number of side streets, remain under water. Downed trees and power lines blocked other streets.

"There's no substitute for seeing it personally," Kaine said. "It's heartbreaking to see people suffering like this."

One Ocean View resident grabbed Kaine's hand and pleaded for help.

As he did earlier in Hampton, Kaine assured residents that he will seek federal disaster aid, as well as examine the state's contingency budget.

"We're going to try to help them," the governor said.

In Hampton, Kaine and members of the area's congressional delegation visited the Riverdale neighborhood, where officials estimate the structural damage was $3 million. Area officials have said they will have to wait until floodwaters recede before they can tally the damage from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida.

"There's a cost to it, but there is also the sheer physical effort to do the work," Kaine said. "You lose a lot of stuff you don't get back."

At the height of the storm, more than 170,000 customers of Dominion Virginia Power were without electricity. That number was about 16,000 last night. Four highway deaths were linked to the rain and high winds, which gusted to 75 mph.

A 570-foot barge being towed from Puerto Rico to New Jersey that broke free and drifted to shore in the storm is now grounded off the Sandbridge section of Virginia Beach. The Coast Guard said yesterday that the runaway vessel, primarily carrying container cargo, was secure and that it is making plans to tow it away.