Tropical Storm Hanna clears Richmond, no serious damage is reported

Tropical Storm Hanna moved through Richmond Saturday morning and afternoon, dropping between one and three inches of rain and bringing strong winds, but no serious damage.

Hanna is now moving rapidly and is expected to clear Virginia by early Saturday evening.

At the University of Richmond, members of the outdoors club jury-rigged a makeshift slip-n-slide on the Intramural Fields while half a dozen others played a game of soccer nearby.

The club had planned a camping trip to First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, but with Hanna threatening eastern Virginia, the group rescheduled for next weekend, said senior Brandon Cieniewicz, president of the outdoors club.

A few members bought a clear tarp at a hardware store, covered it in soap, then took it to the fields -- dressed in swimsuits -- as a steady but heavy rain fell.

"I was surprised it worked so well," Cieniewicz said of the slide.

Minor problems with leaky ceilings were reported elsewhere on campus, but the university didn't sustain any serious damage, said Andy Gurka, area coordinator for the University Forest Apartments. Water levels in Westhampton Lake were also high, and water was gushing over the spillway behind Tyler Haynes Commons, Gurka said.

A flash flood warning has been discontinued for Richmond and the immediate surrounding area, but a tropical storm warning remains in effect in eastern and northern Virginia as well as Washington, D.C. Portions of northern Virginia, including Prince William County, received up to 10 inches of rain.

At 3:12 p.m. Saturday, the James River was 4.34 feet at the Richmond-Westhampton station near the Huguenot Bridge, according to the National Weather Service in Wakefield, Va. The James is expected to reach flood stage around 2 p.m. Sunday and crest at 14.6 feet early Monday morning.

In an afternoon conference call with reporters, Gov. Timothy Kaine said about 96,000 Virginians had lost power -- 45,000 of which are customers of Dominion Virginia Power, the utility that provides electricity to the University of Richmond. Heavy rain is proving to be the most significant challenge, and at least three traffic fatalities in Chesterfield have been blamed on hydroplaning, Kaine said.

"As the storm moves out of Virginia, we'll continue to monitor the flood situation," Kaine said from the Virginia Emergency Operations Center in Midlothian, Va. "For any of these storms, you always prepare for the worst case."

The extent of damage throughout the state was not immediately clear, Kaine said, but assessment teams were combing the state to determine it. At Hanna's peak, storm shelters were providing housing for about 140 people, Kaine said.

Contact staff writer Dan Petty at dan.petty@richmond.edu