Tornado sweeps through region

BY MICHAEL J. RUDOLF

A severe thunderstorm that passed through Susquehanna County and took its toll on trees, power lines and buildings was actually a tornado, the National Weather Service said.

Meteorologist Steven Ippoliti said an EF-0 tornado – the weakest type – touched down shortly before 6 a.m. on Thursday in Herrick Township, about two miles northwest of Uniondale.

Ippoliti said the estimated top wind speed of the tornado was about 75 miles per hour. Its path was about 1.2 miles long.

The tornado did its worst damage along Lewis Lake Road, Ippoliti said, where it uprooted several trees before it left the ground. It touched down again a short distance away, where it damaged a mobile home. The roof was torn off and thrown about a hundred yards away.

There were no injuries as a result of the tornado, Ippoliti said.

Fallen trees and power lines were responsible for electrical outages in many areas.

A tree on a line cut electricity to about 675 customers in the Gibson and Lenox areas from 5:30 to 10:30 a.m., said Penelec spokesperson Jodi Place

Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative reported a total of about 300 outages in Wyoming and Susquehanna counties.

The storm knocked out electric service to 329 PPL customers in Herrick Township, of which none had been restored by Thursday afternoon. In neighboring Clifford Township, 116 customers lost power, with 20 restored.

Trees and wires falling also resulted in a number of road closures on Thursday.

The same damage that cut electricity in Herrick Township also affected roads. Route 374 was closed near Lake Avenue. A home in the area was also damaged, PennDOT reported, and traffic had to be detoured.

SR 3023 in Springville Township was shut down due to pond flooding, and SR 2073 in Gibson Township was briefly closed but reopened early Thursday afternoon.