Date: Wednesday, January 15, 1992
Page: A01
Edition: FIFTH
Section: NATIONAL
THUNDERSTORM CLOUTS REGION WINDS UP TO 70 MPH REPORTED
The Morning Call
Thousands of people throughout the region were without power for hours yesterday as a
thunderstorm raged across the state, downing trees and snapping power poles and lines
with winds of up to 70 mph, officials said. Rock slides were reported on two busy Carbon
County roads, and the weather sent ceiling tiles tumbling to the floor of Allen High School's
gym. The school canceled a basketball game there last night. Severe thunderstorm and tornado
watches were in effect for east-central and southeastern Pennsylvania from 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
but there were no reports of tornados in the area.
Jay Henry, a Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. spokesman, said winds raced up to 70 mph and beyond
during the height of the storm. At Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport, wind speeds of 50-55
mph were measured about 10 a.m., said Ed Van Cott, area supervisor at the control tower. Gusts
of 90 mph in Lancaster and 87 mph in Gettysburg were reported as the storm front passed early
in the morning.
Meteorologist Charles Giannetta of the National Weather Service at the
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton Airport said the winds could be classified as severe.
But only 0.43 of an inch of rain fell at the airport, while 0.73 fell in Moore Township,
he said. Yesterday's high was 60 degrees at 11 a.m., but the temperature had dropped to 33
degrees by 9 p.m. and was expected to drop into the low 20s last night.
"It was an unusual day," Giannetta said. "It's not common to have 60 degrees in January ...
nor is it common to have thunderstorms in January." Giannetta said the wind today won't be
so fierce as yesterday, but "it should be breezy. Winter's here with a vengeance."
About 35,000 customers in the PP&L service area were without power because of the storm, Henry
said. About 11,000 of those were in the northern division, which covers Lackawanna, Carbon,
Monroe and Wayne counties. Repair crews in the Lehigh Valley were quick to return service
because Mother Nature got her act together with warm, clear weather by late morning. A power
outage affecting 2,374 Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. customers in Lehigh Township, Northampton
County, was reported at 1:16 p.m., company spokesman Jim Burns said.
High winds toppled trees, which apparently hit a main power line from the Treichlers
Substation along Route 145, Burns said. He said the outage affected the Cherryville,
Treichlers and Berlinsville areas. Power was restored about 3 p.m. From 10:27 a.m. to
12:25 p.m., 360 PP&L customers between Moorestown and Nazareth without electricity, Burns said.
About 2,100 South Side Easton customers of Metropolitan Edison lost power about 10:30 a.m.
Most received power through switching stations by about noon, Met Ed spokeswoman Maria
Frederick said. Schuylkill County was hit by outages about 10:30 a.m. that interrupted power
to more than 7,400 PP&Lcustomers, including most of Tamaqua.
"Lightning and very strong winds caused damage to a 69,000-volt transmission line between
Frackville and Lake Hauto," said Robert Behling, PP&L's Hazleton area manager. "This caused
the line to shut down," and took out power to substations at Tuscarora and Greenwood and at
the Atlas Powder Co. in the Clamtown area. About 7,400 customers were affected. Power was
restored to much of the area before noon.
Other than the Tamaqua area, there were only minor outages in Schuylkill and Carbon counties,
Behling said. "The others were widely scattered and there was no significant damage," he said.
The storm also uprooted a trailer in Washington Township between Summit Station and Pine Grove.
Stroudsburg had five trouble spots because of tree damage to power lines. Most of the 498
customers without power were back in service by noon. About 20 customers in Clearfield lost
power for a short time, Met-Ed's Frederick said.
In the Coffeetown Road section of Raubsville, 69 customers who were without electricity were
back on line by about 2:30 p.m. Wind whipped a wire loose from an insulator pole in Topton,
causing a power outage for 327 customers in Maxatawny Township and areas north of Topton for
about 45 minutes yesterday morning, Frederick said. No major traffic accidents were reported
in Lehigh County yesterday, but dozens of felled trees posed problems.
A utility pole on Hamilton Boulevard across from the Charcoal Drive-In was snapped off about
11 a.m., Wescosville Fire Chief William Whitehead said. The pole carried Bell Telephone and
PP&L wires. Fire police rerouted traffic for about an hour and the damage caused a local power
outage, Whitehead said.
In Chapel, Berks County, a 65-foot pine tree was hit by lightning and fell onto another tree
in a woman's yard, Hereford Township Fire Chief Dean Marks said. In Carbon County there were
rock slides on a number of roads, including two busy thoroughfares: Mansion House Hill between
Jim Thorpe and Lehighton and Route 248 between Parryville and Bowmanstown. Another occurred on
Hazard Road, which parallels Route 248 from Palmerton to Bowmanstown. Mud slides were reported
in parts of East Penn Township.
Officials at the sewer plant in Coaldale reported a temporary loss of electric power yesterday.
Also in Coaldale, there were reports of a partial collapse of a dwelling roof on 1st Street.
A tree fell across a road in Summit Hill, another one came down in the 1100 block of Center
Street near Jim Thorpe High School, one on Fire Line Road in the Palmerton area and one near
408 Laurel Road in Mahoning Township. Brief power outages and downed power lines and tree limbs
were reported throughout the Easton-Slate Belt area, but the storm caused no major problems,
dispatchers said.
"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"