VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia was spared doomsday forecasts of record-breaking storm surges from Hurricane Irene, but a daylong pounding by the storm left three dead, millions without power and thousands more wondering what to expect when they return home.
Officials say the full extent of the damage may not be known for days, as some roads could remain impassible and swollen rivers will take time to reach their crest. But flooding was widespread and officials said it could take a week or more to restore power to a third of the state left in the dark.
Irene weakened to a Category 1 storm Saturday, but Gov. Bob McDonnell warned it still could be "catastrophic" with 80 mph winds hitting during high tide, expecting to produce record storm surges of up to 8 feet.
National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Montefusco said Norfolk came closest, with a storm surge of 7.55 feet. Six to 8 inches of rainfall fell over the region, and more was expected as Irene slowly moved away from Virginia.
"I think it's a little strong to say we dodged a bullet, however it certainly could have turned out worse for the Hampton Roads area," Montefusco said.
Emergency crews around the region prepared to head out at daybreak to assess the damage. This much was known: three people were killed, at least one tornado was confirmed in Chincoteague and another suspected tornado ripped roofs off homes in Sandbridge. About 100 roads were closed due to flooding or downed trees.
Toppled trees were to blame for all three deaths.
In Newport News, 11-year-old Zahir Robinson died when a tree crashed through his apartment. In Brunswick County, 67-year-old James Blackwell of Brodnax was killed when a tree fell on the car he was riding in. The driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries. In Chesterfield County, a man whose identity has not been released died when a house was hit by a tree.
The more than 1 million power outages, which affected more than 2 million people, were expected to last for days. The slight majority of the power outages were in Richmond, where a 71-mph guest was recorded at the airport more than 100 miles away from the storm center.
"There are numerous reports around the state of houses and cars with fallen trees," McDonnell said late Saturday. "At the first light of day as people start to make reports of what they can see, we're going to hear a lot more."
Several cities imposed curfews through 6 a.m.
In Virginia Beach, the city posted on Twitter late Saturday that initial reports were promising, with the resort area suffering minimal damage.
In Poquoson, where most of the city is 2 to 3 feet above the sea level of the nearby Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, Irene fell far short of the city's worst flood — Hurricane Isabel eight years ago.
The water reached its high point at 8:45 p.m. and was receding by 9 p.m., said Poquoson firefighter Joe Breeden. And in a city so scarred by flooding that red-and-white signs mark the levels of Isabel and a punishing nor'easter in 2009, Saturday's results could be measured: Irene fell 17½ inches short of Isabel and 8¼ inches shy of the two-day November 2009 storm.
But with dire warnings in the day and hours before the storm hit, hundreds evacuated their homes. Most took shelter with relatives or friends on higher ground. At a shelter at nearby Tabb High School in York County, 103 people from throughout the region waited Irene out.
Saturday would have been far worse if not for the lessons of Isabel, Breeden said. In its aftermath, residents spent thousands of dollars to raise the foundations of their homes by several feet, putting them out of the reach of all but the most catastrophic flooding.
"There's a lot of single-story houses that are now two story," Breeden joked. He was among those who elevated his floor level after water climbed three feet up the walls of his home during Isabel. "If water gets in my house now, the rest of this city is in bad shape."
With the water still high, police closed roads where high water lapped just short of door levels of homes Saturday night. Muscular pickup trucks with jacked-up suspensions and huge tires plied flooded roads where most vehicles could not pass, kicking up wakes of 6 to 8 inches, just enough to push the water inside houses that would otherwise be dry.
"We always get sightseers in big trucks who want to see the water," Breeden said. "These are people's homes being affected, not a sideshow."
Officials said more than 4,000 rode out the storm in nearly 80 shelters scattered across the state. About 150,000 to 200,000 Virginians were subject to mandatory evacuations, and thousands of others left voluntarily, McDonnell said.
In Sandbridge, where evacuations were ordered by noon, officials said a suspected tornado badly damaged five homes. The National Weather Service had not confirmed the damage came from a tornado, but hoped to check that further on Sunday. A tornado was confirmed in Chincoteague on the Eastern Shore, Montefusco said. There were no injuries, only downed trees and power lines.
In Richmond, 10 motorists were trapped for more than seven hours near the Richmond National Battlefield Park after downed trees blocked them in both directions on Route 5. Virginia National Guard soldiers used chain saws to clear a path early Sunday.
The Virginia Department of Transportation was expected to reopen the Midtown Tunnel, which was closed Saturday because of the threat of flooding, and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, which was closed because of high winds.
Bob Lewis reported from Poquoson. Larry O'Dell, Michael Felberbaum, Hank Kurz and Dena Potter contributed from Richmond, and Steve Szkotak reported from Virginia Beach.