Brief Storm More Damaging Than Irene

Sandwiched in between the earthquake and the hurricane, you may remember that

According to information from the Fredericksburg Fire Department, Thursday's freak thunderstorm, which lasted all of 30 minutes, did far more damage to the area than Hurricane Irene did over 24 hours. 

On Thursday afternoon, around 4 p.m., Fredericksburg stood at the Nothern end of a strong band of thunderstorms which swept west to east through the area of south central Virginia. The storm didn't receive much attention from the Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia media outlets much beyond Stafford County. 

But in its aftermath, the Fredericksburg 911 Center was flooded with phone calls reporting damage in the storm. Perhaps most apparent was the damage done to the Virginia Deli at the intersection of William and Sophia streets. The winds, which peaked out at 57 mph according to the University of Mary Washington, peeled the roof back like the top of a sardine can. A large portion of the roof ended up wrapped up and entangled in a neighboring tree canopy. 

In all, the Fire Department responded to 31 calls for service in a four hour period following Thurday's storm. 

"These numbers are calls for service, and in no way reflect the number of actual phone calls that flooded the 911 Center during the freak Thursday storm," said Natatia Bledsoe in an email. 

For Irene, the Fire Department responded to 13 calls for service directly related to the hurricane between 9 a.m. on Aug. 27 and 9 a.m. on Aug 28. 

Hurricane Irene weakened considerably as it blew through the Carolina and Virginia mainland. Its far reaching storm bands brought winds averaging between 20 and 30 mph, with gusts in the low 40s. Despite the duration of the storm, the winds didn't do as much damage, perhaps because Thursday's storm shook everything loose already.

"For the two hour window surrounding Thursday's storm, we had more calls for emergency service than during the whole hurricane event," said Bledsoe in an interview. "If it was going to come down, it was going to come down on Thursday. Kind of an interesting effect."