PKD Area Hit By Tornado

Just some breaking new guys, the PKD area has gotten hit by tornados, and there have been some electrical outages and downed trees. If you are visiting PKD this weekend, I'd go to their website to make sure everything is ok.

---

needless quote removed

---

did the report specifically mention Doswell VA? *** Edited 9/9/2004 1:43:24 AM UTC by Jeff***

Some Tornados also passed by Carowinds yesterday, but I don't think they did any major damage to the park.

I heard Bowling Green. However, there were Tornado Warnings out for Caroline and King George Counties in VA. I think PKD is in Hanover County or on the Hanover/Caroline County border.

I was down in Va last year after that one hurricane hit around Oct. I saw lots of down trees and stuff. I hope the park and people in the area are ok.

Hanover county did in fact get hit by a tornado this afternoon,it's not known wether or not the park itself was in the path of the tornado....I hope to god that PKD wasn't hit.

We've been dealing with alot of severe weather in the mid atlantic today thanks to what's left of hurricane francis,already the DC metro area has been under several tornado watches,my area (in prince william county) was under a tornado warning this afternoon & the entire metro area remains under a tornado watch til midnight.

I just don't get all the recent concern for amusement parks, especially considering that most of the parks that have been worried about don't contain any classic coasters (and even then, they can be rebuilt). Most of the parks are run by extremely wealthy companies who can easily bounce back from a disaster. Why don't we try worrying for once about people who've lost their homes or businesses instead?

Who says we are not worried about people in the storm's path? I have family in the Charlotte, NC area, and there have been close to Twenty reported tornado touchdowns in the state over the last 24 hours...

This is a Coaster Enthusiasts forum, so why shouldn't we discuss things such as this? It's not like we are saying "Just as long as it didn't tear up the theme park"

West Virginia is getting a lot of flooding as well. Frances is going for broke isn't she?

-Tina

... and here comes Ivan ...

Dukeis#1 said: "It's not like we are saying "Just as long as it didn't tear up the theme park"

Well, some of the phrasing in some posts does sort of sound like that is exactly what people are saying... like this little clip from BATWING SFA: "....I hope to god that PKD wasn't hit."

*** Edited 9/9/2004 2:27:42 PM UTC by SLFAKE***

Nobody says they aren't worried about the people concerning the storms.

This is a Coaster/Park forum though and despite parks that may or may not have insurance. Those parks may not recover if something major was to happen.

Chuck, who remembers a Hurricane that put two railroads out of buisness in the early/mid 70's and thats in Central PA. *** Edited 9/9/2004 3:39:23 PM UTC by Charles Nungester***

Chuck...I miss the Erie-Lackawanna......

Hurricane Agnes flooded my hometown when I was 4 years old...that b***h.....

I think Reading was the other one SVL.

I find it ironic that one of the best routes was and has never been a major player since. EL went out of thier way to Bridge over and around things that slowed it down.

Chuck, who couldn't remember the name and thanks you. Agnes!

Don't say anything bad about BATWING FAN!! He's our reliable rumor contact in what SFA is getting every year!

+Danny :)

---

Charles Nungester said:

Chuck, who remembers a Hurricane that put two railroads out of buisness in the early/mid 70's and thats in Central PA.

---

Yep... Hurricane Agnes, June 1972. I was only 6 years old at the time, but I do remember that storm.

The rail line between York PA and Baltimore MD was pretty much destroyed, as were many bridges in York County with parts of the city of York beign flooded when the Codorus over flowed its banks. Lancaster, Harrisburg and points north along the Susquehanna river were also hit pretty hard to.

To take this back to parks, Hersheypark took some pretty heavy damage... the Lost River (formerly Old Mill) was so badly damaged that it never reopened. Knoebels also took some heavy damage as did the Cyclone at Williamsgrove.

Looking for web sites to find the path of Agnes (in my memory the storm stayed in this area for nearly 3 days before moving on), I found a link titled "Hurricane Agnes and the Loyalhanna Limited" that shows some of the damage that Idlewild took during that storm. http://ferrari3.tripod.com/Littletootagnes.html

Keep in mind... the damage from Agnes in PA was due to maily flooding. While the winds were high, they were not the major problem. I even believe that when Agnes struck PA she had already been downgraded to a Tropical Storm. This storm was a rain maker... much like Bonnie turned into.

It sounds like Ivan (as with Charley) is packing wicked winds (160mph at ground level in some places). A report on the radio this morning stated that an rock walled prison on I believe Grenada that has stood up storms dating back to the late 1600's crumbled under the wind and rain. This one is a bad one.

Uh, Correction, Make that three railroads.

Thanks for that page :)

Chuck

I can vividly remember the effects of all the rain, and the flooding. I lived just north of the PA border in Elmira NY when it happened.

I used to ride the EL local out of Elmira when I was 7-8 years old (can't imagine that now in todays legal climate...). The storm also destroyed the Pennsy Sodus Point line out of Williamsport. I believe Agnes was the end for the Reading as well as the Lehigh Valley (or at least the beginning of the end)

For those coaster enthusiasts still reading...the storm destroyed Eldridge Park and the Speedway coaster. It was reopened for a few years, but the park never recovered from the damage and closed in the early 80s...

Thanks for the link SLFake...very interesting and informative....