Winds rip up R.B. Winter State Park, drop tree onto Sunbury home

May 30-- May 30--A series of super-active storm cells, and possibly a tornado, tore across parts of the Valley Wednesday causing extensive tree damage to a wide swath of R.B. Winter State Park in Union County, and dropping a tree on top of a house in Sunbury.

Reports of a possible tornado at R.B. Winter, downed power lines, and damaged trees caused Michelle Dietrich, Union County Emergency Management coordinator, to visit the area late Wednesday. PPL and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation crews joined Dietrich at the scene, and closed off Route 192 at the Forest House Hotel.

"I was looking at a mile-long path of damage," Dietrich said at about 7 p.m. "Fifty to 75 trees were down, some trees were sheared off at different levels."

Dietrich said the tornado -- if it was a tornado -- apparently began at the Ranger cabin, "and the damage all seemed to be in one distinct line, in one direction."

"Everyone at the campground is safe," Dietrich said. "They've reported no injuries."

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service (NWS) will determine whether or not it was a tornado, she said. "I'll send them photos, and we'll have a conference call and discuss it. At some point they'll decide whether or not to come and actually see the damage."

NWS meteorologist David Martin confirmed that he had been talking with Dietrich on Wednesday.

"The process is that we'll talk with Michelle, look at photos, talk with some other experts at NWS and decide what to do next. I expect we'll make that determination in a day or two," he said.

The storm system was similar in strength to Tuesday's thunderstorms, Martin said Wednesday night. The storms formed around noon, Wednesday, "and due to the heat conditions, we saw the same rotating winds at high altitudes. Those supercells are conducive to forming funnel clouds, or tornadoes."

All along Route 192 and at certain points on Route 15 in Union County, trees toppled and debris covered parts of the roadway.

In Sunbury, where winds and heavy rain battered the city all afternoon, a tree was ripped from its roots and fell onto the roof of a home at 940 Masser St.

Homeowner Norma McKinney was home at the time, but didn't feel the impact of the tree on her roof.

"A neighbor came out with her dog and first saw the damage," McKinney said Wednesday evening.

"I heard a lot of noises but it never dawned on me that a tree fell on me," she said.

"I heard some jingling of glass," she said. Her first thought was, "did my dog knock over a dish? Well, that wasn't it."

The tree made a few holes in the roof, she said upon inspecting outside. The extent of the damage is unknown, as of Wednesday. McKinney does have insurance.

When she went outside to survey the damage, "I was just shocked at the extent of the damage.

She said she would be staying with relatives for the night.

PPL customers across the state remain without power following the storms.

According to PPL's outage map, the largest number of outages in the Valley as of 7:55 p.m. were in Union County, where 693 customers were without power, including 372 in West Buffalo Township.

In Northumberland County, 310 homes and businesses were in the dark. The largest outage was 141 customers in Upper Augusta Township. PPL listed 170 customers without power in Snyder County and 74 in Montour County.

As of 8 p.m., the company had not posted estimated repair times. Six Pennsylvania counties had more than 1,000 customers without power, including 2,904 in Perry County and 2,358 in Bucks County, and a total of 13,768 customers without power.

Citizen's Electric, which serves customers in the Lewisburg area reported 33 customers in Buffalo Township and 22 customers in East Buffalo Township without power. A notice on their outage website said the company expected to have most outages restored by midnight Wednesday.

Valley residents should remain on watch for some random quick-forming rain and windstorms in the afternoon Thursday as well, Martin said. "But things will dry out on Friday."

Eric Scicchitano and Robert Inglis contributed to this report.

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