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Storms leave damage

Nathan Urie Abington Journal Reporter

ABINGTONS – At about 3:30 p.m. on Friday, June 26, a thunderstorm blew through Clarks Summit and other areas of the Abingtons, leaving damage to houses and other buildings. For the brief period it was here, many residents feared it was a tornado, not a thunderstorm that touched down.

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Lily Huckabe, 6, walks along a tree which was uprooted on the campus of Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit during Friday’s thunderstorm.

Abington Journal/Christy Clarke

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Brian McDonnell of 228 Claremont Avenue in Clarks Summit, drove home to find a tree uprooted and leaning on his house from Friday’s thunderstorm.

Abington Journal/Nathan Urie

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“It was terrible,” said Joan Kost who lives inside the borough of Clarks Summit. “I was afraid the trees would fall on my house.”

For others in the borough, this is exactly what occurred.

Brian McDonnell, who lives on 228 Claremont Avenue in Clarks Summit, drove home to find a tree leaning on his house. The tree was pulled out by its roots, along with pavement from the street.

“Fortunately no one was hurt,” McDonnell said. “The force that would require this tree to come down is unbelievable.”

Char-Anne Lyon, who lives across the street from McDonnell at 223 Claremont, said she was upstairs with her daughter in her bedroom shutting her windows when she saw the tree in her back yard lean over. The top of the tree hit the roof of her house, she said, narrowly missing the windows where she was standing.

“I’ve never experienced wind like that,” Lyon said. “We were both at the window when this came down. Some of the rafters are just split like toothpicks. I’m happy that just my house is hurt.”

On the campus of Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, several trees surrounding the pond were uprooted while others remained stationary and snapped in half.

“The wind was extreme. I’ve never seen the affects of wind like that,” said Matt Pollock, Dean of Students for the school who pointed to the trees. “All of a sudden it snapped off, twisted, flew out and dropped. They were kind of sucked in the wake of it.”

Niall O’Neill, a former student at the school, said he was standing on the third floor balcony of Jackson Hall when he saw the wind.

“When the storm came across it was almost like a shockwave,” O’Neill said. “I never saw anything like it.”

Andy Harkleroad, Director of Facilities at the college, said he was thankful there were no injuries to anyone or the buildings.

“We only lost one light post,” Harkleroad said. “It had a definite path. I didn’t see it, but people said it was really eerie.”

John Voigt of 105 Apple Valley Circle, South Abington Township, reported the large tree at the rear of his family’s residence, an oak five feet in diameter was blown over. Voigt said nine additional trees from 10 to 20 inches in diameter were blown down on the same property.

Tom Ksiak, a patrolman for the Township Police Department said he experienced a wind speed which “nearly knocked me off my feet. We had numerous calls. There was a lot of damage. I’m not aware of any injuries but a lot of property damage. People are calling for tree service.”

Beginning on the same day, the Dalton Community Library also took on effects of rain and stormwater damage. A pipe leading into the library burst and flooded the lower level of the building, damaging books, carpet and other equipment, said Shu Qiu, library director. Qiu said repair estimates were made by insurance and water services on the damage at the library but they will not know the full extent until early July.