"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: SUNDAY, July 14, 1985
STORM CUTS POWER TO 5,000 IN L.V FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED IN KREIDERSVILLE AREA
The Morning Call
A rapidly moving thunderstorm, during which there was an unconfirmed funnel cloud sighting, left about 5,000 Lehigh Valley residences without electricity yesterday.
During the height of the storm, about 4,000 Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. customers were without power, PP&L spokesman Bert Daday said. Late yesterday, power had been restored to about 1,300 customers, but a large block of homes in South Allentown and Emmaus were still without electricity.
Daday said the outage was due to heavy rains and downed tree limbs on power lines. PP&L crews would work through the night to restore power to customers, Daday said.
Metropolitan Edison Co. had about a thousand customers without power in Bath, Nazareth, Forks Township, Easton and Upper Bucks County, according to Met-Ed spokesman Victor Dennis. Additional crews were called in from Stroudsburg last night to assist in restoring power, Dennis said.
A ''reliable source'' told the National Weather Service at Allentown- Bethleh em-Easton Airport that a funnel cloud was seen in East Allen and Allen townships near Kreidersville, according to meteorologist Charles Giannetta. He would not comment further on the reported twister but said the weather service would investigate the sighting today.
There was also a report of a transformer catching fire in the Kreidersville area.
A severe thunderstorm warning had been issued for Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties prior to the storm, which created winds at the airport in excess of 40 mph, Giannetta said. Most of the heavy damage occurred north of the airport, he said.
Northampton County Control reported that in Allen Township, five trailers in Country Club Court were damaged directly and indirectly by the storm. A heavy wooden patio roof was blown off and hit a trailer, then hit two others at the trailer park.
Also in the township, the Allen Township Fire Co. garage doors received damage from the winds.
East Allen Township reported wires down and power outages as well as trees blocking the roads. Limbs were reported on wires on Jackonsville Road, causing a power outage near the Governor Wolf School for about two hours.
Bethlehem Township had a transformer blown, causing wires and some large tree limbs to fall.
In Hanover Township, Northampton County, a 10-foot section of atree was snapped off and penetrated the roof of the McCarty residence at 1349 Woodland Circle. The roof received extensive damage.
Firefighters in Lehigh County were busy responding to calls of downed power lines caused by branches toppling onto the lines. An area around Jasper and East Cedar streets on Allentown's East Side had to be barricaded because a tree was hit by lightning and leaning precariously on wires.
A willow tree branch fell on a parked car in the north parking lot of Cedar Beach in Allentown, causing extensive damage to the hood, roof and windshield. Nancy Ehrnman, 17, of 2711 Allen St., Allentown, was inside the car at the time but was not injured. She was able to drive the car away from the accident scene.
Traffic became snarled in Dorneyville as Dorney Park goers fled once the storm hit. South Whitehall Township police were called in to assist.
In the only storm-related injury reported, a Schnecksville man was treated at Lehigh Valley Hospital Center for a cut on his head after a screen door flew off in heavy winds and struck him. Phillip Toll, of 821 Old Post Road, was taking furniture into his house off his back porch around 5:30 p.m. when a screen door flew off its hinges and hit him in the head, according to his son, Mike.
He was taken by North Whitehall Township ambulance to the hospital, where he was treated and released.
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"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"