Storm collapses Kennywood's Whip - 1 fatality

Fox 2 up here in Livonia, Michigan reported another fatality.

I also just turned one year old during the Beaver county tornados, I aplogize as I have never heard those before. I do remember coming home from CP and seeing that damage 5 years ago and remember that the Pirates still played at the now defunct Three Rivers Stadium that night too. I hate to speculate on how long the park will be closed but I assume that the Lost Kennywood area would probably be closed for weeks. Anyone hear anything about a possible pavilion over by the Log Jammer sustaining damage? or any other damage in the park?

Believe it or not, I actually was at Kennywood today. It was one of the scariest days of my life. Check out my trip report here -http://www.coasterbuzz.com/forums/thread.asp?ForumID=13&TopicID=21351

Also, my friend says one of the girls at my school broke her leg. I hope it's not true.

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Now, WPXI has just came on and said that a 30 year old is the confirmed fatality. Either the report of the 8 year old dying is wrong or this is a second death.

It was a 30 year old woman who was waiting in line for the ride. Reported that the building was picked up and MOVED 20 FEET and she was crushed under the debris.

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AIM: Pritti Kittie

Here's a few links for you guys:

Video from WTAE - http://cf.ibsys.com/pit/sh/videoplayer/video.cfm?id=1491265&owner=pit

Photos of the damage from WPXI - http://www.pittsburgh.com/partners/wpxi/news/2002/kwood1.html

Those tornados 17 years ago also ripped through southern parts of Butler county - I was 12 and remember how huge of a story that was.

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www.coasterimage.com

*** This post was edited by Lord Gonchar on 6/1/2002. ***

Such a sad way to cap off an awful week in the industry...this seems very unfortunate at such a small, classical park.

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My two favorite coasters are named Superman.

This is such terrible news. Thanks to all that have posted with information for those of us that will not get this on local news. My prayers go out to all that have been affected by this tragedy.

The first accident of the week that isn't rider malfunction. This is horrible, I hope this stops soon.

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http://tycoonkingdom.rct-central.com
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My best wishes are sent out to those involved and injured or fatally injured. This is truly a tragic event.

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My Top 5
(1) Shivering Timbers(2)Millennium Force(3) Magnum XL200(4) Apollo's Chariot(5) Volcano: TBC

Hi everyone, first post.

I had alot of friends that were going to there today, it was Penn Trafford's (A local high school) day, hope they're all fine. I read on yahoo that many of the injuries were of broken bones from the hail, a 4 year old had a skull fracture, and many others were parents that were sheilding their young children from the hail.

My heart goes out to the family of the victim.

I think you are supposed to subbmit this into the news section, but this is VERY sad news, a very bad week for the amusement industry, last week New Jersey limits, this week 5-6 accidents. Horrible.

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Veck
http://pumpingrct.topcities.com/

Wao !! this storm certainly did come on quickly. In between the time I entered the garage where my car was parked and I exited, it went from being a calm sunny day to a day of unbelievable craziness. I was supposed to be meeting a friend of mine for dinner but he works for UPMC hospitals and was called back to work in a state of emergeny as a result of the situation at KP. the storm was short lived, but incredibly intense. I myself had to drive around 6 downed trees and one downed power line. My condolences go out to the victim's family.

fellow pittsburgher

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"Looks like you've been missing quite a bit of work lately"
"Well, I wouldn't say I've been MISSING it, Bob."

This is just awful, the damage just looks plain awful. Just to think, I've been on that before, and somebody just died on it. That is VERY sad news, I don't even think a certain senator could possibly be low enough to point fingers here, mother nature can be extremely violent here, and it's just too bad that sometimes people fall into her destructive path. My sympathy goes out to everyone who was injured, their family and friends, and to the family and friends of the one that lost their life. A very sad thing to happen.

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"You can't kill what's stronger than death" - Zakk Wylde

*** It seems that even if the rides were closed, the same injuries would have likely resulted. It seems that everyone seeks cover with a storm and rain, so people would have gone to the Whip (and other covered rides) regardless of if it were open or not.

Zimm

http://www.msnbc.com/news/760297.asp

Here's another story....this is really just bad.

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TiM Schroll
gocubs7@hotmail.com
LED ZEPPELIN

What other damage occured? Is the Log Jammer damaged badly? What about the coasters? My prayers go out to the injured and the family of the dead.

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800,000 years in 7 seconds: Time Machine the movie or next S&S creation?

That is really sad.I am sorry to hear of that person dying and the other injured.I hope that those injured are going to be ok and the family of the deceased as well.My symapthies are with them.I just think it is weird that just last summer was my first ride on The Whip and I liked it and just yesterday I had signed up for a trip to Kennywood on the 27th.

I have a few friends that work in the park including one guy who's "higher up". The one fatality was a 30-year-old woman. The Whip is the obvious damage (how ironic that the ride was a historical landmark and the only thing that could allow it to be removed from the park was a natural disaster ... ) but there was also a gigantic tree that fell on the Paratrooper flat ride, rendering it structurally unstable, and a stop-gate blew over on the Raging Rapids. He described the entire park with trees down and all as "a demilitarized zone"

I think it will be a while before kennywood is up and running again, but we'll get through this. That storm had to have been one of the worst in Pittsburgh history. I live about 15 min. from Kennywood and although Oakland is a mess, Shadyside is ten times worse. Every street has a major tree down, there are two on my street. My roommate and I were out throwing branches from the street right after the storm ended. Bad day for parks and Pittsburgh.

What kind of ride is Paratrooper?

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800,000 years in 7 seconds: Time Machine the movie or next S&S creation?