"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: TUESDAY, November 21, 1989
Memo:
ELECTRICAL STORM CHARGES ACROSS VALLEY, POCONOS
by KAREN YURCONIC, The Morning Call
Roofs blew off, trees fell on vehicles, motorists hit trees that were felled, and power went out all around the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos last night as a fast but furious electrical thunderstorm hit the area.
Winds gusting to 78 mph were reported at the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport at the height of the storm, about 8:34 p.m., according to Charles Giannetta, meteorologist with the National Weather Service at the airport.
A severe thunderstorm watch was issued at 6:45 p.m. It was to have been in effect until 11 p.m. but, less than 30 minutes later, was changed to 2 a.m. Then, what appeared to be a slow-moving storm suddenly ''picked up a lot of speed,'' Giannetta said, and the watch was dropped at 10:15 p.m.
It took only an hour for the storm, which traveled from central Pennsylvania through the eastern portion of the state, to move through the Lehigh Valley, Giannetta said.
Storms like last night's are highly unusual for this time of year, he said, being more common in July or other summer months.
The storm was caused by a fast-moving western cold front that clashed with unusually warm temperatures in this area, Giannetta said. Violent weather results when cold and warm air mix too rapidly, he explained.
Yesterday's high was 60 degrees at 2 p.m. and 56 degrees just before the storm hit, Giannetta said. By 9 p.m., the temperature had dropped to 47 degrees, and was still falling. It was expected to be in the low 30s overnight.
By this weekend, Giannetta said, records could be broken, with temperatures possibly dipping down to 15 degrees Saturday night.
Winds of 20-25 mph with gusts ''probably over 40 mph'' were expected to continue through the night, as the colder air displaced the warm air.
Giannetta said he heard of violent lightning strikes, including some fires caused by lightning in the Poconos, Schuylkill County, and in the Lehigh Valley.
Lehigh County Emergency Management reported extensive damage in the county.
A radio dispatcher said damage was widespread, ''from Coopersburg to New Tripoli,'' and there were numerous accidents, but none with injuries.
An Allentown Communications Center operator who began his shift at 10:30 p.m. said the West End and East Side of the city seemed hardest hit, but that things at that point were ''starting to settle down.''
Jay Henry, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., said 13,333 customers - the majority, 6,240, of them in Allentown - were without power as of 12:15 a.m. today. Damage was also heavy in Bucks and Montgomery counties, where 3,738 people had power outages. The remainder without power were in Bethlehem, Henry said.
That number was down from an hour earlier, when about 15,000 customers had lost power, Henry said. There are about 200,000 PP&L customers in the four- county area, he said. Throughout the 29-county PP&L system, more than 80,000 people had power failures, including those in central Pennsylvania, indicating high storm damage there as well, Henry said.
Customers are encouraged to call PP&L's emergency number to report a power failure, but shouldn't expect an exact restoration time. Crews were being called in as Henry spoke. No transformer fires were reported, and he confirmed that most of the damage seemed to be caused by falling wires or tree limbs falling on lines.
In Northampton County, there were reports of downed wires, poles and trees, including a large one in the 1000 block of Jersey Avenue in Hellertown, and power outages and minor injuries because of high winds, emergency personnel said.
Vic Dennis, a spokesman for the Metropolitan-Edison Co., said that as of 10:30 p.m., a dozen locations in Northampton County and eight in Monroe County had service problems, including 700 customers without service. Damage was reportedly ''major'' in Forks Township, said Dennis. He said all available people would be working through the night to restore power.
Besides in Allentown, wires were reported down in Coplay, Slatington, Emmaus and Washington, Heidelberg, Lower Milford and Lower Macungie townships.
In Quakertown, borough Manager David Woglom, reported problems at several municipal wells. Because of the widespread power outage, pumps at several locations were out of service. It was unknown whether a threat to the water supply exists; however, the borough's reserves were at capacity as of yesterday.
There were more electrical wires down than could be counted. ''We got poles and wires down all over the place,'' said Quakertown Fire Chief Fred Guenst. At many of the locations, the wires were pulled down as a result of large trees being toppled onto them by the high winds.
Travel along Route 309 near Quakertown and through the borough streets became a near impossibility, with many roads blocked by either trees or wires. Making travel even more difficult and dangerous was the loss of traffic signals at numerous locations from Coopersburg south. Signs ripped from utility poles and traffic signals that threatened to fall from their overhead poles compounded an already dangerous situation through the evening.
In one incident, at 11th and Juniper streets in Quakertown, a car became entangled in a downed wire that flipped the vehicle onto its side. The driver of the vehicle was uninjured. Quakertown fire personnel frantically sought help from firefighters, police and work crews in areas less ravaged by the storm.
Guenst reported that Perkasie electrical crews were responding at 10:30 p.m. to assist in the repair of widespread damage to the borough's electrical system.
Sellersville, which last Thursday sustained more than a million dollars in damage when hit by a tornado, reported significant damage from last night's storms as well.
Though at first blush the damage didn't appear as extensive as it was last week, Sellersville Mayor Joseph Hufnagle said that electrical wires were down at numerous intersections and that the northern and southern ends of the borough were without electricity for several hours.
Hufnagle reported trees down throughout the municipality, and windows blown out. ''We won't know the full extent of the damage till morning,'' said Hufnagle last night.
In Emmaus, trees and wires were down ''pretty much all over,'' a dispatcher said, including the north and south sides of town. There were no accidents or injuries reported, although part of a roof was ripped off on S. 2nd Street, a dispatcher said.
Power outages were being checked on Allentown's East Side and West End, police said.
A spokeswoman for the Northampton police said the only storm report in the borough that she had received by 10 p.m. was a damaged sign at the Allen House tavern at 21st and Main streets.
Driving was hazardous as traffic signals were knocked out completely or set blinking. Allentown police reported signals out near the AT&T building on Union Boulevard, Carlisle Street and Hanover Avenue, and along Dauphin and Maxwell streets.
In Carbon County, areas affected by downed trees, wires or both were Normal Square; Fireline and Sand Quarry roads near the Blue Ridge Country Club, Lower Towamensing Township; at the intersection of 7th and Iron streets in Lehighton; and at 2nd and Coal streets, Lehighton. Siding reportedly was ripped off a house along 3rd Street in Lehighton.
No injuries were reported in an accident in which a tree crushed a car in Mahoning Township.
Electrical power was disrupted in Palmerton and affected the Palmerton Hospital, although the hospital was using an emergency generator as of 9:30 p.m.
Monroe had damage throughout the county, a radio dispatcher said. ''I'm so dazed and confused,'' he said when asked if the worst of it were over.
Dispatchers in Schuylkill County also were busy and reported heavy damage throughout the area.
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"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"