Tornado damage in Colonial Heights and Petersburg killed four people and tore the roof off a Wal-Mart store in 1993.

One tornado, rated three on a six-step intensity scale, first touched down around the renovated warehouse district of Old Towne Petersburg on Aug. 6 of that year, its 200-mph winds belting the historic buildings and damaging or destroying most of the houses on nearby Pocahontas Island.

The storm then headed northeast toward Southpark Mall in Colonial Heights, where it hit the front of the Wal-Mart, causing much of the building to collapse.

Two cashiers and a shopper were killed, and the parking lot was filled with the injured and those trying to help them. A fourth person was killed when a wall collapsed at a construction site about 5 miles away.

A second tornado hit the Interstate 295 bridge over the James River between Varina and Enon with a wall of water and winds estimated at 75 to 90 mph. Five trucks, including three tractor-trailers, overturned or crashed.

-- Wendy E. Addison