Severe Weather of May 11, 1996

Pennsylvania damage--

Flash flooding occurred in parts of Warren, McKean, Potter, Tioga, Elk, Cameron, Forest, Mercer, Lawrence, Venango, and Jefferson counties. Sheffield in Warren county was probably hardest hit, with evacuations needed as water threatened houses. In Lawrence county, streams exceeded their banks, causing flood damage to several cottages. Numerous roads, fields, ditches, and culverts were flooded as streams and creeks came out of their banks.

Juniata, Perry, Cumberland, Adams, and Franklin counties: Severe thunderstorms produced scattered severe weather in these areas. Dime size hail fell in Thompsontown, with a couple trees down in East Salem. Trees and power lines were also blown down in Chambersburg, Blain, Aspers, Bloserville, Carlisle, Camp Hill, west of New Bloomfield, and near Newport. Thunderstorm winds also blew down a Mobile gas station sign in Shippensburg, and tore a roof off a shed. Falling trees completely demolished a car just south of Carlisle and punched a hole in a home in Camp Hill (on Yale avenue).

Dauphin, York, Lancaster, and Lebanon counties: A 63 mph wind gust was recorded in Dillsburg, trees were downed in Elizabethtown, and trees and power lines were downed near Harpers Tavern. A 60 mph thunderstorm gust was reported in Newburg. The first tornado, an F1, touched down within the city of Harrisburg, and had a very short path length... about half a mile. The siding was peeled off a three story building, the east end of a truck parts factory was destroyed, and a 16 ton railroad caboose was overturned at the start of the path. At the end of the path, a second building was damaged, and numerous trees were uprooted.

Northumberland, Columbia, Schuylkill, and Berks counties: Dime size hail covered the grass in Herndon. In Mount Carmel, ping pong ball size hail fell for ten minutes, and in Centralia, golfball size hail fell. A roof was also taken off a building in Mount Carmel. Thunderstorm wind gusts were recorded over 70 mph in southern Northumberland county, south of Sunbury. Reading and Wernersville had large trees uprooted, some landing on cars. Power lines were also down. Lightning started a fire which damaged a balcony of an apartment building in Reading. Hamburg, Muhlenberg, Kenhorst, Kutztown, Mount Penn, Pennside, Exeter, Topton, Boyertown, Adamstown, Mohrsville, and Wyomissing all reported wind damage from thunderstorms. Interstate 78 was closed for about an hour when a construction sign was blown over, and powerlines were down. The second tornado occurred in Schuylkill county, traveling along a 10 mile long path length, from near New Philadelphia to 1 mile south of Tamaqua. Heavy tree damage occurred in some spots along the path. Roughly two dozen buildings suffered damage. In Brockton, a roof was blown off a home, siding ripped off another, and roof tiles were blown off a church. In Mary-D, a tree fell lengthwise across a trailer, completely destroying it. Another falling tree also split a mobile home in two. Just south of Tamaqua, at Rabbit Run Reservoir, many trees had their tops twisted off. Cars were buried in the debris.

Luzerne, Carbon, Monroe, Lehigh, and Northampton counties: A severe thunderstorm downburst hit the western parts of Jim Thorpe, with most damage on the upper end of Broadway, near the water plant. A half mile wide swath of 50-100 foot trees were uprooted. One garage was crushed. A tree also blocked a road in Mahoning township (Carbon county). Trees were down in Breinigsville, Hokendauqua, Wescosville, Gilbert, Wilson, Hellertown, Easton, Bangor, and Raubsville. Down trees from thunderstorm winds closed roads in Easton, and a car was crushed in Wilson. A fence was blown over in Wescosville, while a falling tree damaged a house in Hokendauqua. A woman was critically injured when a tree fell on the car she was driving in Salisbury township (Lehigh county), and several large trees were blown down in Buck township (Luzerne county).

Montgomery, Bucks, and Philadelphia counties: Nickel size hail fell in Harleysville, and dime size hail fell in Horsham. Trees and powerlines were downed in Riegelsville and Gladwyne. The combination of heavy rain and winds associated with thunderstorms, caused the collapse of 10 row-homes in Philadelphia.

New Jersey damage--

Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Union, and Hudson counties: Severe thunderstorm winds were directly responsible for at least one injury in New Jersey. A man in Ramsey, Bergen county, was injured when a hotel revolving door was blown onto him. A 58 mph thunderstorm gust was measured in Newark, and a 75 mph gust was recorded in West Orange. Trees and power lines were downed across the above named counties... with isolated areas having large hail. Dime size hail was reported in the town of Sussex.

Warren, Sussex, Morris, Hunterdon, Somerset, and Middlesex counties: In Hackettstown, a few roads were closed due to fallen trees, and several houses were damaged by the uprooted trees. A small vestibule at the rear on the municipal building in Franklin township (Warren county) was severely damaged. A 50 foot piece of steel trim was torn away from another building. Fallen trees damaged at least one home in Sussex county, and crushed a couple cars. In northern Hunterdon county, two very large trees were uprooted, each about 100 feet tall and a few feet in diameter. A few smaller trees were also downed, with one crushing the corner of a house. Outside of Morristown in Morris county, lightning struck a tree, causing it to fall on a house. Uprooted trees from thunderstorm winds damaged the roof, gutter, and eave of one home, and crushed the front end of a vehicle. In Stirling, another tree crushed a vehicle, and the strong thunderstorm winds blew out the store front window of a department store. Downed trees and power lines littered roads across all of these counties, with dozens of roads closed, including some major ones.

South Carolina, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York state damage--

Severe thunderstorms produced isolated severe weather in these states. Although there was a solid line of thunderstorms, only a few became severe. Marion, Dillon, Cherokee counties in SC has isolated trees and power lines down, with winds of 55-58 mph. Charles and Harford counties in MD reported winds of 55-60 mph, with trees and power lines blown down. A small boat in Talbot county was capsized by thunderstorm winds along the Choptank river. In MA, Hampden, Hampshire, and Berkshire counties reported trees down, some large. Power lines were also ripped down. Hartford, Litchfield, Fairfield, and New Haven counties in CT had trees and powrlines snapped.. as well as utility poles in one place. NY experienced damage in Orange, Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Columbia, Ulster counties. Orange county had 56 trees damaged/downed, along with several house roofs damaged. Funnel clouds were sighted at Stony Ford and Warwick. Heavy rain flooded route 300 at Newburgh (Orange county), and the Saw Mill River Parkway at Chappaqua (Westchester county). Dime size hail was also observed at White Plains. The roof was blown off a 6 unit apartment building in Dutchess county. It landed in the parking lot, damaging 15 vehicles. Trees and power lines were downed in the areas as well. A mobile home was crushed in Ulster county, with many trees down. Damage in other counties consisted of blown down trees and lines.

North Carolina damage--

Ashe, Alleghany, Surry, Caswell, Madison, Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Rowan, Davidson, Johnston, Forsyth, Randolph, Durham, Harnett, Vance, Warren, Halifax, Franklin, Person, Sampson, Duplin, Nash, Bertie, Hertford, Chowan, Perquimans, Pasquotank, Currituck, Robeson, Bladen, and Granville counties: Nickel size hail fell in the Erwin area (Harnett county), coating the ground of some yards and ripping off leaves of trees. Half dollar size hail fell in Lexington, dime size hail fell in Archers Lodge, Jefferson, Laurel Springs, Sparta, Bladenboro, and Clayton, while quarter size hail fell in Wendell, 5 miles south of Pink Hill, and Randleman. Trees and power lines were down from Tabernacle to Randleman to Liberty, and 6 houses were damaged. Mount Airy (Surry county) was hit with a downburst, which ripped the roofs off of a house and restaurant. Several other houses and mobile homes were damaged by the thunderstorm winds, and one house and mobile home were damaged by falling trees. Many trees were knocked down across the area. Trees were downed in Sparta and Jefferson, and part of a mobile home roof was torn off by thunderstorm winds a few miles west of Mount Airy. Henderson and surrounding rural areas of Vance county had numerous trees down. Western parts of Durham has trees down along interstate 70. Thomasville had many trees down across the city, with several houses damaged. Several trees were downed in Winston-Salem, with one falling on and destroying a car. Crews worked all night to clean up many downed trees and limbs across Granville county. A few trees were downed in extreme southern Person county. The towns of Franklinton and Youngsville in Franklin county reported power lines and trees down, some on houses. 3 houses had trees fall on them on the Warren/Halifax county line. 6 large trees were downed along with power lines. Trees were blown down around Nashville (Nash county) on interstate 64, and in Salemburg (Sampson county). A vinyl roof was blown off a storage building in Coinjock. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in Weeksville, Hertford, Merry Hill, Murfreesboro, and Windsor. A grain elevator had its roof blown off and a tractor trailer was destroyed in Valhalla by thunderstorm winds. An F0 tornado was briefly sighted 3 miles southwest of Bladenboro. No damage was reported from the tornado, but thunderstorm winds downed many trees and power lines in Bladenboro, with one large tree on a house. Trees were also downed in St Pauls (Robeson county) as a result of thunderstorm winds. Along a line from Charlotte to Harrisburg, many trees and power lines were blown down by thunderstorm winds. At the Charlotte International Speedway, a large, sturdy piece of metal siding was ripped off, falling and crushing a walkway. In the Spencer/East Spencer area, numerous trees and power lines were downed. A large number of houses were damaged, and sheds were blown away by thunderstorm winds. In Granite Quarry, garages and carports had roofs blown off. At High Rock Lake, a boat was overturned, and unfortunately two people died.

Guilford, Chatham, Orange, Wake counties: The Raleigh-Durham Airport recorded a 64 mph thunderstorm wind gust, which ripped a portion of the roof off a terminal building. Water damage occurred from the rain falling into the building. Trees were downed from the airport into the city of Raleigh. Along interstate 85 in western Orange county, trees and power lines were blown down, and cars were overturned by thunderstorm winds. In Chatham county, at the Pittsboro Elementary school, a roof was ripped off a baseball dugout building and large tree limbs were broken off trees. Trees were downed throughout the city of Greensboro, 2 houses had major structural damage, and a business under construction was destroyed. An NWS employee recorded a 60 mph thunderstorm gust with the passage of the thunderstorms.

Virginia damage--

Fluvanna, Louisa, Mecklenburg, Prince Edward, Lunenburg, Brunswick, Amelia, Greensville, Emporia, Nottoway, Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Prince George, Henrico, Charles City, Southampton, New Kent, Sussex, Surry, King William, King and Queen, Isle Of Wight, James City, Northumberland, Lancaster, Middlesex, York, Gloucester, Mathews, Accomack, Augusta, Alleghany, Grayson, Carroll, Roanoke, Franklin, Floyd, Campbell, Pittsylvania, Halifax, and Charlotte counties: Severe thunderstorms downed many trees, power lines, and utility poles across the above named counties. Roads were blocked in some areas. Some of the trees were large, falling on, and damaging, homes and vehicles. Although most of the damage was to trees and lines, some building damage also occurred from thunderstorm winds. In Lawrenceville (Brunswick county), windows were blown out of numerous buildings, including at the Sheriff's office. A roof was damaged behind the police station in Emporia (Emporia county), and a roof was damaged in Jarratt (Greensville county). At Fort Pickett (Nottoway county), a screen door was ripped off the military police building. At Hopewell, the Family Dollar sign shattered from the thunderstorm winds. The metal roof was peeled off a storage building in Mathews (Mathews county). Just west of Galax (Grayson county), part of the porch was ripped from a house, and a truck severely damaged by a falling tree. Throughout VA, thunderstorms winds were reported around 60 mph, but the Wallops island airport reported a 70 mph gust. Dime size hail was reported in northwestern Campbell county.