"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: SATURDAY, August 31, 1985
STORM BRINGS POWER CUTS, FLASH FLOODS
by TAD MILLER, The Morning Call
Heavy rains struck portions of the Lehigh Valley yesterday afternoon, causing little damage but some flash flooding and brief, scattered power outages.
The most serious outage occurred at 1:51 p.m. when lightning struck a power line in the Rosemont section of Bethlehem near Nitschmann Middle School, leaving 1,102 customers without power for 14 minutes, according to Bob Boyle, Lehigh Area manager for Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. Boyle said there were also ''small outages scattered throughout the Valley.''
Bethlehem police said the 14-minute outage did not cause any significant problems.
Portions of the Lehigh Valley, including Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, received six-tenths of an inch of rain in a deluge that began at 1:37 p.m. and was most intense for about a half-hour, according to meteorologist Charles Giannetta of the National Weather Service. He said winds reached 33 miles per hour and flash flooding occurred in ''prone areas'' only.
Additional rain from later showers brought the day's total to slightly more than three-quarters of an inch, Giannetta said. Showers were expected to leave the Valley last night.
In other storm-related damage, lightning struck a chimney on a three-story frame home in North Catasauqua early yesterday afternoon, borough Fire Chief Gregory A. Loch said.
The lightning badly damaged one of two chimneys at the home, which is owned by Gary Snyder of 1228 Second St. Flying debris damaged the Snyder roof and the roof of a neighbor's porch.
Snyder's wife was at home when the lightning struck but no injuries were reported.
A home in Upper Nazareth Township was also reported to be struck by lightning but received little damage, Upper Nazareth police said.
|
"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"