CHERITON, Va.- The sun was shining, but the mood was somber at the Cherrystone Family Camping & RV Resort on Virginia's Eastern Shore one day after a tornado leveled campsites.
The number one task at hand now is cleaning up.
Friday morning Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe got a first hand look at the damage himself.
He said, “When you walk around you see these trees that are just snapped like twigs, and all these campers just ended up upside down.”
The Governor praised first responders.
"I'm very proud of the team here. They were on. We were here within literally, immediately. The folks here had no warning. They had about eight minutes for those who got the warning," said Governor McAuliffe.
Campers like Rudy Draper were the true first responders of the day.
Rudy says he helped administer CPR to the teenager who was critically hurt.
"It was tough. I'm in law enforcement so we see that kind of thing everyday. When you're camping out here and they're your neighbors. You hear them singing around the campfire and things like that. It makes it a hundred times harder to work that scene and prioritize and take care of those people and watch family members die," said Draper.
Rudy's week at Cherrystone started on a very high note. He proposed to his girlfriend two days before the tornado.
"I'm glad I did it when I did, because all my stuff is everywhere. That rings really special. It has some of her moms jewelry in it. If I lost it that wouldn't have been good.
