Severe thunderstorm causes damage across the county
Published: June 27, 2009
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
e-mail this
share this
Photo Courtesy of TRICIA RICHARDS A line of fast-moving thunderstorms uprooted trees and toppled power lines throughout Northeast Pennsylvania on Friday afternoon. Conal Richards, 6, and sister Katy, 3, stand by one of those trees behind the house of John and Karen Voigt on Apple Valley Circle in South Abington Twp.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DONNA TALARICO Storm clouds roll into Wilkes-Barre on Friday afternoon. A powerful thunderstorm knocked down trees and power lines across the region.
Severe thunderstorms buffeted the region Friday afternoon, dropping heavy rain and hail and downing trees and wires throughout Northeast Pennsylvania.
Some of the hardest hit areas included the South Abington Twp., Clarks Summit, Glenburn Twp. and Dalton, said Lackawanna County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Flanagan.
Reports of trees and wires on roads inundated the county communications center, with a high volume of calls from the Abingtons, according to dispatchers.
Northern Lackawanna County saw the heaviest rain, Mr. Flanagan said.
Dispatchers in Luzerne, Wayne, Monore and Wyoming counties received similar calls regarding downed trees and wires, but no injuries or serious structural damage were reported.
PPL Electric Utilities reported 7,500 customers without power in Lackawanna County at 4:45 p.m., most of them in the Abingtons. By 10:30 p.m., nearly 3,800 customers were still without power in the county, about 550 in South Abington Twp. and about 600 in Dalton.
Keystone College reported all Friday evening classes were canceled at the LaPlume campus because of a power outage there. More than 1,600 PPL customers in LaPlume were still without power late Friday.
The comm center fielded calls of trees down across roads in front of the Abington Twp. building, on Main Street in Dickson City, in the southbound lane of Interstate 81 near mile marker 195, and near Weston Field and the Scranton Animal Hospital. Traffic lights were out in some sections of Business Route 6 in Dickson City and at the intersection of Routes 6 and 11 and Ackerly Road in Glenburn Twp.
The 800 block of Gino Merli Drive in Archbald near Carol Road was closed for several hours because of downed wires.
Elsewhere throughout the region, about 320 homes were without power in Pike County, about 270 in Wyoming County and about 180 in Wayne County.
Contact the writers: llegere@timesshamrock.com, cbaress@timesshamrock.com
1 posted comments