"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: Jan. 10, 1978
WINTER STORM SNOW, ICE BLANKET AREA AS MECURY DROPS.
By John Clark and Bill White The Morning Call
The rage of winter moved across the Lehigh Valley and Eastern Pennsylvania yesterday forcing
temperatures down and blanketing much of the area with up to three inches of snow in some areas.
The impact of the winter storm was compounded by the heavy rains that belted the area Sunday and
Sunday night, causing some flooding and extremely slippery conditions that resluted from falling
temperatures.
According to Charles Giannetta of the National Weather Service at the A-B-E Airport, the conditions
were caused by a rapid moving cold front that moved through the area yesterday morning.
Giannetta said the situation developed as a reslult of a low pressure system that orginated
over Virginia Sunday night. That system he said continued to move north across Pennsylvania and
portions of Canada last night.
Giannetta said the cold will continue for at least another several days, along with occassional
snow flurries.
Lehigh County Civil Defense officials maintained a flood alert until 4 p.m. yesterday after waters
of the Lehigh River failed to reach the predicted 10-foot crest at Walnutport and 24 feet at Allentown.
Police alerted residents of Adams Island yesterday morning to the potential flood danger. Most of the
residents moved vehicles onto the mainland and belongings out of their cellars.
Severe winter conditions also were reported in Carbon, Schuykill and Monroe counties. In Berks and
Bucks counties, high winds and light flooding caused scattered problems and interuptions in telephone and
electrical service to several hundred residents.
A Pensylvania Power & Light Co. spoksman also reported scattered outages in the Lehigh Valley. He said outages
were caused by high winds. Area police reported a number of weather related traffic mishaps.
State policat at Hamburg reported that a tractor-trailer operated by Ronald A. Smith, 44, of Stroudsburg, Va. was
blown off course and into the path of a car operated by Linda S. Mohrey, 18, of 18th St. Allentown.
Police said the tractor-trailer was westbound in the right lane of interstate 78, about two miles
east of Strausstown, Berks County, when a strong gust of wind hit it, forcing the driver to lose control
and move into the path of the car, which was traveling in the same direction.
The rig jackknifed, crashed through the medial divider, and blocked one lane of traffice in each
direction of the highway.
James W. Pauler, 23, of Harrisburg, a passanger in the Mohrey vehicle, was admitted to the Reading
Hospital with injuries to the right shoulder and elbow. His condition was listed as fair.
State Police at Hamburg also reported that a car operated by John A. Beljacic, 35, of
Carlisle, ran out of control, into a ditch, up an embankment and rolled back onto the roadway.
Beljacic, who was eastbound on I-78, was thrown about 35 feet from his car. He is listed in poor
condition at the Reading Hospital with broken teeth and fractured wrist, arm, pelvis and ribs and
facial cuts.
In Allentown, police were plagued by an unusual number of burglar alarms that were apparently triggered
by the high winds.
A spoksmand for PP&L said an electrical gererating plant at Lake Wallenpaupack was shut down at
10 p.m. because the gererating water was being dumped into the cresting Delaware River.
Volunteer fire fighters at Shawnee, Monroe County, remained on the alert into the night as the river
reached a danger point. Several families in the immediate area were placed on standby evacuation alert,
it was reported.
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"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"