WV STORM UPDATE: 150,000 Without Power, Wind Hits 70 MPH

(02/12/2009)

A roaring wind storm swept over the Mountain State Wednesday evening. The Hur Herald wind gage recorded wind gusts at about 50 mph. No injuries reported in Calhoun County. One person was killed in McDowell County after a gymnasium roof collapsed during a funeral wake Wednesday evening. The NWS says winds of more than 70 miles an hour ripped down trees and left 150,000 West Virginians without power. A woman was killed while attending a wake for her brother at the Twin Branch Pentecostal Academy in Davy. Davy Mayor Kenneth Gentry said the wake was in a church and the gymnasium was across the street. The wake was for Kevin Shirley, 29, who was arrested over the weekend and allegedly grabbed a sheriff deputy's gun and killed himself while he was being booked. Yeager Airport saw gusts up to 63 miles per hour during the storm. Parkersburg recorded gusts at 73 miles per hour.

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