[DiMarie]

Living in the pocono's one would not expect to hit the basement and huddle as a tornado rips through your rural town, but last night we had 5 minutes to get cover.
Just noticed they ahd coverage of us in MountainTop PA, having a tornado. You fear for friends in the areas that get this bad weather, never expected it here?

Our home was missed by a few hundred yards. Across the street and 1/2 mile away, homes are off the foundations, the highschool roof is off the Gym, a store was destroyed. Our power ahs been off, mine off and on and will be until Sunday I expect.

Our local area donates the big Christmas trees, like the one a family donated to the White House earlier this week. The huge trees are leveled in many areas. Roads are still blocked with the downed giants.

The pressure system has my pain high and body feeling like I was put through one of the old ringer washers....must have been the pressure system drop and rise or something.

I can't beleive how lucky we are when looking around us, it looks like bombs were dropped. My daughter is living in a mobile home in front of us and even that was spared. It is so odd, our side of the road is fine, the North side of the mountain is devetated.

I had my grandson, DIL , son and three other children home when the warning came on the TV to seek shelter the tornado was sited just miles from us. I did have a good basement and under the stairs pantry that was safe if it did hit. We were so terrified for the baby.
I have power off and on, we have a generator that they bought, I am off to take some antiinflamatory muscle relaxants and try to sleep.
Check in later, Be safe my friends.
Di

12/02/2006
Tornados may have torn up Mountain Top
BY ROBERT KALINOWSKI AND NICHOLE DOBO
STAFF WRITERS


A severe storm that might have spawned tornados in Mountain Top tore through the area Friday, unleashing powerful winds that toppled trees and utility poles and caused widespread damage to homes and businesses, officials said.


Some of the damage in Wright Township might provide experts evidence they need to determine if a twister left its mark.

The windows of the Mr. Z’s store off Route 309 suddenly ruptured amid the height of the storm, injuring at least five people and causing some tense moments.

Nearby, a portion of the roof of Crestwood High School peeled up “almost like a tin can,” said Luzerne County spokeswoman Kathy Bozinski.

The front porch roof of a home at Route 309 and Rockledge Road collapsed and the garage door was blown inward.

Some trailer-style homes in the Valley Stream Mobile Home Park in neighboring Rice Township were “picked up and tossed around. Some were split apart,” but amazingly no one was hurt, Bozinski said at the county’s Emergency Management Agency office while gathering reports from devastation scenes.

“The National Weather Service told us their Doppler radar had the probability of it being a tornado,” Bozinski said. “They said indictions are strong it was a tornado.”

Prior to the brunt of the storm passing the area just before 5 p.m., Mountain Top was put under a tornado warning and residents were urged to seek shelter.

Experts from the National Weather Service will visit the county Saturday to examine the damage, Bozinski said.

By Friday night, about 16,000 PPL Utilities customers in Luzerne County were out of power, said Paul Canevari, a spokesman for PPL. It is “highly likely” that some customers will be without power until Sunday, he said.

Many UGI Utilities customers were also without power, said Joe Rymar, a spokesman for the company. Hours after outages were first reported, more than 600 customers were still without power, he said.

Power outages and roads blocked by downed trees and utility poles hampered the ability to fully assess the damage and check for possible further injuries, Bozinski said.

“Our personnel on the ground said the devastation is amazing,” Bozinski said. “Trees are scattered in every direction. Homes are off their foundations.”

Though trees and poles crashed down around the county, there were no other confirmed injuries besides those at Mr. Z’s, officials said.

There were reports of scattered trees and poles down, and minor localized street flooding, but it’s clear the areas in the higher elevations, like Mountain Top, received the brunt of the storm.

Winds reached speeds of 47 mph at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, where meteorologists have equipment to monitor wind speeds, said Frank Strait, meteorologist with AccuWeather.com.

At that wind speed, called a strong gail, structural damage is possible, according to the National Weather Service.

Possible tornados were reported in the Wright Township and Dorrance areas, Strait said.

It typically takes a few days for the National Weather Service to determine if a tornado touched down, he said.

Officials said they would be working around the clock to check on the safety of residents, open roadways, and restore power.

[Curious]

di! i am so thankful you and your family are ok!!

we have had some scary times here in texas too. the town where my x was living when the monkeys were in grade school got hit hard. they were there for the weekend. i was frantic.

just a few years ago my uncle in wisconsin lost his home and his business which was a large employer for that town.

it is so scary. you take care hon. i know bad weather tends to hang around for days.

(((((((di & family)))))

[bizi]

Wow...
that sounds really scarey...tornadoes hit so quickly and are so damaging....that is what happened when we first moved here after hurricane lilly about 5 years ago...a tornado spun out and downed big trees and split a home in half just 2 blocks from us....uprooted trees allong that block...ours was completely clean.....it was like a tornado went down that street....
very scarey
glad that you are safe.
(((HUGS)))
bizi

[Nikko]

EEEKKKKKKKKKKKK That sounds real scary, I am so glad that you and your family are safe.

I have never seen a tornado, only on TV and they look like they can sure do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

Hope all is well, Hugs, Nikko

[befuddled2]

Thank heavens you and your family are okay. I have a cousin who has a cottage in the Poconos.

befuddled2

[mymorgy]

nothing like a good scare to put everything in perspective as long as the scare doesn't last. Are they giving counseling in the area? If so maybe it would be a good idea to go to it....that sounds pretty too close for comfort. I am sorry it had to happen to you and your family.
Bobby