Gov. Glenn Youngkin had a rocky reception in Southwest Virginia on Thursday.
Not politically, but geologically.
Overnight rainclouds moved across Southwest Virginia. The National Weather Service measured half an inch in Abingdon, just one-tenth of an inch in Saltville. However, Cardinal News weather journalist Kevin Myatt says there were “localized torrential downpours.”
One of those loosened some rocks on a hillside along U.S. 19 about 10 miles west of Abingdon in Washington County, near the John Douglas Wayside. Sometime between 4 and 4:30 a.m., one of those rocks came crashing down onto the westbound lanes of the roadway, according to Virginia Department of Transportation spokesman Joey Barker.
This was no ordinary rock, either. VDOT described the obstruction as “a 10-foot by 10-foot by 25-foot boulder” that was also accompanied by some downed trees. VDOT estimated the boulder at 200,000 pounds — or 100 tons. According to the website The Measure of Things, that’s 10 and a half times heavier than a Tyrannosaurus rex, 15 times heavier than a modern-day elephant and 55 times heavier than a typical automobile.
No cars — or elephants or T-rexes — were passing by when the hillside collapsed, so no one was injured, but the traffic delays Thursday morning that restricted westbound traffic as crews worked on the rockslide came at a bad time for one particular motorist: the governor, or, more properly, his police escort.
Youngkin was scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Southwest Virginia Economic Forum at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. He had planned to fly into Lonesome Pine Airport in Wise County, but low clouds caused his plane to divert to Abingdon instead. Then his motorcade was delayed by the boulder, although he did eventually make it to the school. By then, many of those in attendance had heard about the boulder and were showing off photos they had found on social media. The governor’s press secretary, Christian Martinez, said the rock-induced delay was about an hour.
VDOT’s Barker said crews spent much of Thursday chiseling away at the rock and assessing the condition of the hillside to make sure there was no danger of further collapse. During the afternoon commute on Thursday, westbound traffic on U.S. 19 was backed up almost 6 miles as traffic was restricted to one lane past the rockslide. Barker said VDOT hoped to have the road reopened about midday Friday.
