Not So Breaking News...Disaster Strikes Home Update...
Hello again readers. Your on the spot reporter has just returned from inspecting the damage from a tornado in Halifax, PA and here is my updated report:
(Dec. 3, 2006)---Halifax, PA. A tornado struck 1.5 miles south of the central PA town of Halifax on Friday. The tornado left a path of destruction in it wake now estimated at approximately $2.5 million dollars. The tornado struck at approximately 4:15-4:30 pm. The storm is being classified as an strong "F1" tornado with sustained wind speed approaching 112 mph. The tornado damaged several business in the area, some quite severely. The businesses most affected were Accumold and Patton Tire. Accumold estimates their damage at approximately $1.3 million, while Patton Tire is estimating damages at approximately $500,000. Apart from the businesses damaged, several dozen houses were also damaged by the twister. An estimate of the residential damages comes to approx. $700,000.
The storm was responsible for one death. A woman police are now identifying as Wanda Duplassie (sp?), age 50 of Millersburg, was killed when a tree fell on the car she was driving. Fire crews took several hours to extract the woman from her car due to the size of the tree. There are no reports or estimates of other injuries at this time.
The tornado also left hundreds without electricity and telephone service. As temperatures dropped into the 30's following the storm, utility crews rushed to restore electrical service to the area, and local emergency officials scrambled to set up emergency shelters. Two shelters were set up to handle local residents, one at the Halifax Fire House and one at the Halifax Township Municiple Building. As of the time of this report, both phone and electrical services have been restore to most of the affected area.
Officials expect the clean up of the area to take several days. The rebuilding of the area is expected to take several weeks to several months with at least one business, Accumold, closed indefinitely.
Police are still asking people to avoid the area if possible. If you must travel through the area, they are advising people to exercise caution and expect delays. [End of report]
I managed to travel into the affected area yesterday (Dec 2) afternoon. After parking in the Giant grocery store parking lot, I walked few hundred yards south to the area between Accumold and Sheetz. As I walked, I passed several utility crews working on the telephone lines and a lot of house that were missing shingles. Several of the houses also had trees down in the front yard. As I got up to Accumold, things got worse. Accumold is destroyed. The Community Banks building doesn't look bad until you notice that the large billboard that stood next to it is now in the parking lot wrapped around the bank sign. Lisi's Shell no longer has a roof over the carwash, it no longer has a sign, and it looked like it no longer has several of its windows. The houses behind the old Treat parking lot were playing host to several downed trees and a great deal of roofing material. The roofing material apparently came from the large canopy-style roof at Patton Tires. While Patton Tires is still there, its canopy roof is not. The coffee shop to just to the north of Patton's was missing siding and had what looked to be a pretty sizable hole in the side of the building. Sheetz sustained some minor damage to the canopy above the gas pumps and also to the small canopy around the store. According to the reports I received from various sources, the area behind Accumold and Community Banks was pretty severely damaged with the worst damage being a tree that fell down and split a house in two. There was also a report of a small wooden utility shed that was blown into a tree. According to the report, the shed was sitting in the tree apparently undamaged, but approximately 15-20 feet above the ground! Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to venture back that way by an overzealous, underintelligent, fire cop. Apparently she thought that the downed telephone lines were just to dangerous to be around. Go figure. I did manage to take 25 pictures of the damage. The photos can be found at--- http://new.photos.yahoo.com/halifaxtornado
Well, that about does it for me. I will post any updates to this story as I get them.
Until then, I am Chuck, and this has been your on the spot report.
P.S. If anyone from Halifax is reading this and you have more information or spot an inaccuracy, please let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks.
(Dec. 3, 2006)---Halifax, PA. A tornado struck 1.5 miles south of the central PA town of Halifax on Friday. The tornado left a path of destruction in it wake now estimated at approximately $2.5 million dollars. The tornado struck at approximately 4:15-4:30 pm. The storm is being classified as an strong "F1" tornado with sustained wind speed approaching 112 mph. The tornado damaged several business in the area, some quite severely. The businesses most affected were Accumold and Patton Tire. Accumold estimates their damage at approximately $1.3 million, while Patton Tire is estimating damages at approximately $500,000. Apart from the businesses damaged, several dozen houses were also damaged by the twister. An estimate of the residential damages comes to approx. $700,000.
The storm was responsible for one death. A woman police are now identifying as Wanda Duplassie (sp?), age 50 of Millersburg, was killed when a tree fell on the car she was driving. Fire crews took several hours to extract the woman from her car due to the size of the tree. There are no reports or estimates of other injuries at this time.
The tornado also left hundreds without electricity and telephone service. As temperatures dropped into the 30's following the storm, utility crews rushed to restore electrical service to the area, and local emergency officials scrambled to set up emergency shelters. Two shelters were set up to handle local residents, one at the Halifax Fire House and one at the Halifax Township Municiple Building. As of the time of this report, both phone and electrical services have been restore to most of the affected area.
Officials expect the clean up of the area to take several days. The rebuilding of the area is expected to take several weeks to several months with at least one business, Accumold, closed indefinitely.
Police are still asking people to avoid the area if possible. If you must travel through the area, they are advising people to exercise caution and expect delays. [End of report]
I managed to travel into the affected area yesterday (Dec 2) afternoon. After parking in the Giant grocery store parking lot, I walked few hundred yards south to the area between Accumold and Sheetz. As I walked, I passed several utility crews working on the telephone lines and a lot of house that were missing shingles. Several of the houses also had trees down in the front yard. As I got up to Accumold, things got worse. Accumold is destroyed. The Community Banks building doesn't look bad until you notice that the large billboard that stood next to it is now in the parking lot wrapped around the bank sign. Lisi's Shell no longer has a roof over the carwash, it no longer has a sign, and it looked like it no longer has several of its windows. The houses behind the old Treat parking lot were playing host to several downed trees and a great deal of roofing material. The roofing material apparently came from the large canopy-style roof at Patton Tires. While Patton Tires is still there, its canopy roof is not. The coffee shop to just to the north of Patton's was missing siding and had what looked to be a pretty sizable hole in the side of the building. Sheetz sustained some minor damage to the canopy above the gas pumps and also to the small canopy around the store. According to the reports I received from various sources, the area behind Accumold and Community Banks was pretty severely damaged with the worst damage being a tree that fell down and split a house in two. There was also a report of a small wooden utility shed that was blown into a tree. According to the report, the shed was sitting in the tree apparently undamaged, but approximately 15-20 feet above the ground! Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to venture back that way by an overzealous, underintelligent, fire cop. Apparently she thought that the downed telephone lines were just to dangerous to be around. Go figure. I did manage to take 25 pictures of the damage. The photos can be found at--- http://new.photos.yahoo.com/halifaxtornado
Well, that about does it for me. I will post any updates to this story as I get them.
Until then, I am Chuck, and this has been your on the spot report.
P.S. If anyone from Halifax is reading this and you have more information or spot an inaccuracy, please let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks.
posted by Chuck | 03:51
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