Close call for Hersheypark...Tornado

Tonight it was reported on Channel 13 in Baltimore that a tornado touched down a couple of miles south of Hersheypark in Campelltown. Aerials from 13's copter showed dozens of homes leveled and dozens more heavily damaged.

Was anyone at Hershey Wednesday...what did you see?

That sucks, I hate it for those familes who lost their homes, hopefully nobody was hurt. I know several theme parks have had near misses with bad weather. Inevitably, one will get wiped out one day.

The news said there were 50-some homes damaged and/or destroyed and I think about that many injuries. There was 1 critical injury and (I'm 95% sure) no deaths reported.

That was the report on 13...no known deaths but still looking...and several people taken to Hershey Medical Center which was on disaster alert.

A look on Mapquest shows Campbelltown about 3 miles SE of the park.

I live less than a mile from where the Tornado touched down at. I work nightshift, and was sleeping. The storm woke me up at 3pm. It was pretty bad.

I haven't seen the damage that the tornado had caused due to 322 being shutdown, and the traffic being rerouted to 422. Our electricity was off until between 10 & 11 pm.

I am an employee at the Hershey Medical Center and we were on stand by for natural disaster. Should it have been any worse we would have been mandated for 24 to 48 hour disaster relief. It was very scary! At the time it happened we had a doctor that was stuch in an emergency trauma surgury and his clinical nurse specialist was seeing his patients. Unfortunately ahe was called by a neighbor on her cell phone and then the police relating to her that her home was gone along with 12 others. 322 was closed so I was forced to drive up hershey park drive . Looked like everything was ok there I didn't see any trees down. And storm runner was still up . yes hershey was lucky!

I started work at the park at 3:30 that day. I wasn't there for the first storm , but I did hear on the way to work that they did issue a tornado warning for the county just miles from the park.

I was there however for the second storm that started around 6:30. I had to walk back to my ride in it and in a short distance, I got completely drenched. I also heard on my way back that there was a possible tornado in the area, so I ran as fast as I could. It was by far one of the worst storms I had ever seen.

In Pennsylvania are there alot of Tornado's cause you guys make it seem there is one like once a month?

In the midwest we sometimes get 1 or 2 everyother day? Just there not always majorly destructive, just hit a few houses.

Seeing one tornado a day or one tornado a year makes very little difference to people who're affected by them, I'd imagine. I'm thankful to have never been close to a storm like that.

There are usually very few tornadoes here in PA... Especially this caliber. It was reportedly an F3. The last time an F3 touched down in PA was 1998. The main reason we don't get many tornadoes is because of all of the "mountains" we have. If you've ever visited PA, you'll understand. :)

In other words- yes, tornadoes are a big deal here. ;)

Yes, plus in numerous areas, here in PA, it's more of a suburbia environment, lots of homes to hit, less "open space" as commonly understood in the mid-west. Plus, yes, it's rare that tornadoes make the news out here.

I even had a friend from Pittsburgh call me (i'm near Philly) because she heard we had bad storms and she wanted to check to see if I was ok. She's sooo sweet to me :)

im from a suburb just south of philly but my dads a state trooper in lancaster the report they got said no deaths, 1 person left in the hospital, the latest report said that the tornado was an F3 with speeds nearest to 200 mph (11 o'clock local lancaster news). it was on the ground for 7.5 miles *** Edited 7/16/2004 3:16:56 AM UTC by falcon89***

Having been the victim of a tornado (November 2002), I feel the pain of those who lost anything in those tornadoes. I'm still thankful that I still have what wasn't lost.. My family.

*hug*

She's far more than a pretty face or even a Stalkette.

She's a survivor.

I can't even imagine going through what you have, Jess.

-'Playa

What I find funny (as in Funny Strange, not Funny Ha Ha) is that a funnel cloud that does not touch down is not considered a Tornado. Only funnel clouds that touch down (hit the ground) are considered Tornados... even though a "funnel cloud" can be just as destructive.

This morning in the York Daily Record there was a little article of all of the reported Tornados that hit York County PA since 1956. There were about 15 listed... many were F0 tornados (the weakest) some were F1's, and I think there were one or two F2's and one F3 (the highest, most destructive is an F5). in PA we usually don't get the big ones that Tornado Alley in the mid west gets. The ones we get can cause havoc in a small localized area, but we don't get ones that whipe out everything in a path half a mile wide by 300 miles long.

They do not seem to build up the power that the midwest storms do, and, with our topography, they can't get a good run on flat ground. They actually skip more... in a way using the hills and ridges as ramps. A funnel cloud can touch down (becoming a tornado), run for a few hundred yards, then hit a rise or hill and sort of "skip" off into the air, becoming a funnel cloud again, and then land a few miles away, touching down for a few hundred yards to a mile or so, then skip again. Loses a lot of power this way and causes a very spotty pattern of damagy.

We had one that hit York County in 1989 that tore through some woods, hit a few buildings (roof damage, etc, and a large tree limb being thrown through the wall of a church, but not total destruction of buildings)... skipping across the area as it hit hills and ridges. When it hit the hills near the Susquehanna river, it really skipped, and then landed in Lancaster County in a rather flat area... and really caused damage in the Millersville area.

As of today they are still cleaning up, and part of 322 is still closed.

Here is the local site for the fire company helping out the disaster....just thought I would post this for those intrested....just missed hershey by a few miles, and our home by less than a half mile.

http://www.campbelltownfc.com/pages/1/index.htm

In Pottsville Pa (where I live) We never had a tornado because we have many hills to protect up! the only way we would get one is if the tornado goes through the valley's! there was a tornado somewhere in 1998 or 97 by Hometown Pa, But none in pottsville! plus I heard the tornado was by Lebanon and the Gap!