CHECK FOR UPDATES ON THIS STORM: VIEW RECENT STORM REPORTS | GET THESE REPORTS IN YOUR EMAIL BOX
From: Jonathan E. Anschutz (janschutz{at}yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Jul 14 2004 - 23:53:40 EDT
As many of you may know by now a possible tornado struck a small
rural town outside Hershey PA. In fact, those of you who may want
to look on a map, it is right to the south of the intersection of PA
117 and US 322.
HERSHEY, PA - 14:40 PM I was at work in Hershey PA and noticed it
was starting to get rather dark to the north, so dark, the sky
appeared to by a deep purple color. Only mere minutes later there
were numerous cloud to ground lightning strikes within feet of my
location along Chocolate Ave. At one point I counted 18 strikes in
less than a minute.
It was very humid outside and there was no wind at all, yet there
was a thunderstorm raging overhead. The storm seemed to cease for a
minute or two, the rain stopped, the lightning and thunder seemed
more distant but this time the sky was green (greenage for
you "Twister" fans). Once again the sky became black, but this time
to the west. High winds (estimate 60+ MPH buffeted my location as
did rain. The weird thing was even though the winds started from
the west, the turned to the north, back to the west, and then from
the south in about 2 minutes. You could also watch as small low
clouds rapidly moved toward the storm from all directions. I can
only assume this was a rapidly forming updraft.
The storm continued to rage for about 10 more minutes in which time
a tornado warning was issued for a tornado between Hershey PA and
Lebanon PA.
The storm soon ended and did little damage to the west side of
Hershey, however a chorus of sirens blared out as emergency
responders from all over the Harrisburg/Hershey area responded east
on 322 toward the town of Cambelltown.
Arriving in Cambelltown I first got to a municipal parking lot next
to the fire station. Life Lion had just landed its 2 Dauphin
helicopters and numerous fire companies were converging on the
station as a shelter and triage are was set up.
I walked east along Main St and saw a small grove of trees to the
south of town on top of a hill. This grove caught my eye as it was
speckled with light dots, as I looked closer, I realized many of the
trees had been snapped off about 3/4 of the way up. Looking to the
east of the grove, there were more trees, these ones stripped of
everything and bent in a sickening direction.
I got into the development that had been directly hit by the storm.
The first thing I noticed was in an area North of the damage path
small things like umbrellas, flowers, flags, were all bent or blown
over, pointing toward the damage path. Moving closer I saw roofs
with shingles blown off. Then I got to "ground zero", some homes
were fine, some had their windows blown out, others were completely
leveled. I'm talking cement foundations covered with rubble with
water spraying from broken pipes. The smell of natural gas filled
the development, this mixed with the sweet smell of fresh wood and
tree sap made for an interesting aroma.
White and pink insulation littered the ground as well as pieces of
shingle, siding, wood and even crops. I walked down a road and saw
a small stick from a tree, leaves still on it had blown right
through a metal mail box, with the mail still in it. A street sign,
marking the intersection had been snapped off, blown across the
street in the direction of the damage path, gouged marks into the
road and wrapped around a basketball hoop pole.
I walked back out of the development and onto the top of the rise
with the grove of trees. This rise also had a field between the
trees and the housing development. All the hay had either been
stripped from the ground or layed over toward the storm path. A 2X4
from another building was wedged so far into the ground that I could
not move it. Further down, I found a branch in a similar position.
This one I was able to pull up and it had been sunk to the clay.
That is about everything that I can report at this time. NWS will
be in tomorrow to survey the damage and confirm deny the tornado.
My guess based on my amateur knowledge would be a strong F2, weak F3.
The tally is as follows, 30 homes destroyed, 25 severly damaged
(unliveable), 50 moderate - minor damage. This accounts for about
1/2 of the homes in the development. 6 people were treated for
trauma injuries, one remains in critical condition. 25 or more for
moderate - minor injuries.
Not much info on this, but also a possible tornado south of
Mechanicsburg/Camp Hill area along I-83. One industrial bldg, one
West Shore School District Admin Bldg and numerous vehicles
destroyed. Also a radar confirmed tornado (public reports of funnel
clouds) near Dover York County PA. For more info, check the
following websites:
http://www.wgal.com
http://www.abc27.com
http://www.pennlive.com
Jonathan Anschutz
Mechanicsburg/Hershey PA
====================================================================
StormReports Email List -- TO UNSUBSCRIBE, EMAIL A BLANK MESSAGE TO:
stormreports-unsubscribe{at}wxmatrix-membersonly ; For Options Including
1 Per Day, Temporary Suspending, And More, Visit This Web Address:
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/stormreports/join
THESE REPORTS ARE MADE PUBLIC ON THE WEATHERMATRIX.NET WEBSITE!
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://wxmatrix-membersonly/group/stormreports/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
stormreports-unsubscribe{at}wxmatrix-membersonly
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
