Courtesy of Judy King

Organizers of the Gemini Fest in Franklin County said a tornado knocked trees onto the stage at their outdoor theater, Blue Mountain. They said the production would continue.

About 10 minutes before a tornado touched down in Franklin County's Snow Creek district, Rob King was outside, working at his outdoor amphitheater, Blue Mountain.

King went back to the site adjoining his home near Martinsville at 6:30 a.m. Friday. He saw his 320-square-foot stage in ruins.

Trees were down everywhere.

Two of them -- a sycamore at stage right and a walnut backstage -- had fallen, sending the stage roof crashing down onto the floor, he said.

"I felt sick to my stomach, pretty much," King said. "Not angered. Just sick."

Although the worst of the damage from Thursday's storms seemed to land in North Carolina, Southside and Southwest Virginia also took some hits.

The National Weather Service said Friday that storm damage surveys revealed a tornado touched down for about a mile-long path in southern Franklin and northern Henry counties. Within the two counties, the storms damaged four homes and felled numerous trees.

At Blue Mountain, a newly added wiring system is destroyed. Poplar trees from which the crew hung house lights are down. The roof was largely undamaged, though the tornado broke its support posts. A tall wooden fence that stands in front of the backstage area is "mangled" but not destroyed, King said.

"Fortunately, our house lights, mounted to the roof system, were still intact," he said.

Yet Blue Mountain's upcoming, two-day Gemini Fest will begin as planned on June 20 -- with a rebuilt stage, King said.

Crews were already at the 109-acre grounds on Friday, and will continue work at least through the weekend. King said he'll have to get a crane in to remove the fallen trees.

"We got a whole lot of damage, but we've got six weeks before Gemini," he said. "Everything will be back intact by Gemini. It won't interfere with our production. We've just got a lot of work to get us there."

King and some friends replaced an older stage three years ago. He said it is worth about $20,000.

He added that there are still many trees standing on the site.

"It's a beautiful place," King said. "For people who haven't seen it before, they won't know any different."

The National Weather Service also reported that the storm, a mix of strong winds, heavy rain and hail, left areas in the region with some mudslides and flooding.

Meteorologist Steve Keighton said at least a dozen storms, which caused the 13 tornado warnings across the state, moved over the region.

"I'm looking at the evolution of this and they formed one big line that had strong circulations embedded around that line," he said.

Keighton said the weather service is still compiling data from the storm to determine if the tornado touched ground again in Pittsylvania County.

The tornado in Henry County was categorized as EF1 with wind speeds between 85 to 95 mph. The scale for measuring tornadoes ranges from 0 to 5.

tad.dickens@roanoke.com 981-3474

marvin.anderson@roanoke.com 981-3340