THE TORNADO IN PENNSYLVANIA
STORMS THROUGHOUT THE STATE--ALARM IN ALTOONA--FURIOUS WIND IN
WILLIAMSPORT--HEAVY STORM IN SHAMOKIN--COLUMBIA IN DARKNESS--A
VERITABLE TORNADO IN SCRANTON.
The disturbances in the atmosphere which wrought such havoc in Nebraska,
Iowa, Illinois and Indiana were also at work in Pennsylvania. Altoona,
Williamsport, Marietta, Columbia and Scranton were among the towns
suffering the greatest damage. The flood situation throughout the
Keystone State will be treated in a later chapter.
ALARM IN ALTOONA
The storm struck Altoona on Tuesday, March 25th. With a crash that
alarmed the entire neighborhood, eighty feet of the 162-foot steel stack
at the Pennsylvania Central Light and Power Company's plant was blown
down. The wind tore madly through the city and the rain fell in
torrents. Many houses were unroofed and a number of smaller buildings
were entirely demolished. No one was injured, but damage to the extent
of at least $2,000 was reported.
FURIOUS WINDS IN WILLIAMSPORT
A heavy wind and rainstorm swept through Williamsport on the same
afternoon, following a few hours of clear weather that came in the wake
of twenty-four hours' rain. It unroofed a number of houses in the west
end of the city, blew away the roofs of several cars in the Newberry
Junction railroad yards, partially demolished a car inspector's office,
sent twenty men in a panic from the second story of the New York Central
offices, which they feared would be blown to pieces; blew in the front
of a store on Grove Street and scattered canned goods for a block down
the street and swept a path through a grove in the same section,
prostrating a dozen giant oaks.
Train service through Williamsport was seriously deranged all day
Tuesday. A landslide that covered both tracks of the Pennsylvania
Railroad for sixty feet, with a mass of mud five feet deep, three miles
east of Renovo, completely upset the train schedule on the Susquehanna
Division.
The slide occurred about seven o'clock in the morning, and it was not
until eleven o'clock that the eastbound track was opened and passenger
trains were let through. The westbound track was not cleared until the
morning. While the blockade existed special trains were run from
Williamsport.
HEAVY STORM IN SHAMOKIN
A terrific wind storm from the northwest swept through Shamokin Valley
and Shamokin, followed by rain, which fell in torrents. This storm also
occurred on Tuesday. Crops in country districts were torn up and badly
damaged, while lowlands were flooded. Roofs on a number of barns and
out-dwellings were blown away, and telephone and telegraph wires were
put out of commission.
COLUMBIA IN DARKNESS
Columbia was struck by a severe electric storm accompanied by a downpour
of rain on Tuesday evening. Lightning struck the local electric plant,
doing considerable damage and putting the town in total darkness for the
night. Many residents and storekeepers were compelled to resort to
candles to help them out during the evening.
A VERITABLE TORNADO IN SCRANTON
In Scranton the storm of March 25th amounted to a veritable tornado. The
Round Woods section of the city suffered most. The Clemons Silk Mill,
owned by D. G. Derry, of Catasauqua, was unroofed and a 150-foot section
of the roof was deposited on the adjacent engine room, partially
demolishing the structure. The two sixty-foot smokestacks in the rear
yard fell on top of the engine house. The roof of the warping department
also fell on the engine house. The back walls of the warping department
fell into the yard, while the upper part of the front walls fell in. The
machines were six feet from the walls. The girls crouched under their
machines and escaped serious injury. Several fainted and were carried
out by foremen.
Amelia Davis, a warper, was hit on the head by a brick as she hurried
from the second floor. Tessie Carey, of Minooka, sustained a black eye
and lacerations of the left side of the face by falling bricks. Gus
Minnick, a repairer, working in the engine room, had just set his dinner
pail where one of the stacks fell. There were altogether one hundred and
fifty girls at work, but outside of bruises and scratches they were
uninjured. The property damage was about $20,000. Much silk on the looms
was ruined.
A large tower was blown off a school. Three houses in the neighborhood
were also badly damaged by the wind. The storm caused destruction in all
parts of the city and adjoining places.
Trees and fences were blown down in all parts of the city and in the
adjoining country.
The storm came from the west and its approach was preceded by an inky
black sky which, coupled with thoughts of the havoc of Sunday's storm in
Nebraska, caused a general consternation. A heavy downpour accompanied
by thunder and lightning followed the tornado.