What to Know
- A tornado touched down in Allentown, Pennsylvania, during Monday's severe storms, the National Weather Service confirmed on Tuesday.
- The tornado touched down in Allentown's Midway Manor section, according to the National Weather Service.
- On Tuesday, residents assessed damage throughout the region after severe storms led to tornado warnings and widespread power outages on Monday night.
A tornado touched down in Allentown, Pennsylvania, during Monday's severe storms, the National Weather Service confirmed on Tuesday.
The EF1 tornado began near East Pennsylvania Street between North Ulster and North Van Buren streets in Allentown's Midway Manor neighborhood on Monday at 7:21 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
The tornado damaged the roof of a church and a neighboring shed while causing a large hardwood tree to fall.
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The tornado then continued northeast towards East Lily and North Wahneta streets, causing tree damage along the way. As the tornado crossed North Wahneta Street, a shed was removed from its foundation and tossed about 50 feet while multiple trees were damaged.
The tornado then continued northeast and crossed East Fairmount Street, reaching its maximum width of around 160 yards. It also reached its maximum intensity, damaging multiple homes with the most significant damage along the west side of Club Avenue.
The tornado then continued northeast across Club Avenue and crossed into Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where it began to weaken while still damaging more trees. The tornado then dissipated as it approached Pennsylvania Avenue, the National Weather Service said.
The tornado reached an estimated peak wind of 100 mph and traveled .30 miles in a two-minute span.
The National Weather service also confirmed an EF0 tornado touched down in the nearby Holland Township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
No injuries or deaths were reported in connection to the tornado or storms that hit the area Monday.
Monday's Storm
On Monday evening, a Tornado Warning was in effect for Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties.
A Tornado Watch was also in effect for Philadelphia, Chester, Lehigh, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware, Berks and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania as well as Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer and Salem counties in New Jersey and all three counties in Delaware.
The Tornado warnings and Tornado Watch as well as multiple severe thunderstorm warnings were issued amid a First Alert for our entire region Monday due to severe storms that brought damaging wind and heavy rain.
Cloudy skies Monday morning broke for some sunshine heading into the afternoon, warming temperatures into the mid to upper 80s. The warm and moist conditions led to severe weather with strong and damaging winds. Before the storms moved in, the NOAA Storm Prediction Center expanded much of our area to the "enhanced" risk, higher risk than we normally see in our area.
The first round of thunderstorms moved in overnight into early Monday morning. Those storms produced lightning, thunder and downpours.
The second round moved in Monday afternoon and brought powerful winds, heavy rain and a potential tornado as storms developed from west to east of the Philadelphia region leading to widespread power outages and damage. The storms reached the Jersey Shore and Delaware beaches by 9 p.m. before moving out to sea by late Monday night.
Storm Damage
Storm damage was reported in several parts of the region, including Center City, Roxborough and Manayunk in Philadelphia as well as Upper Hanover in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
In Roxborough, a tree fell on a power line which then fell on a pickup truck on Domino Lane, causing the vehicle to catch fire.
Some houses in Pike Creek, Delaware, were destroyed by straight line winds on Monday.
Mark Sanford's home was crushed by two large trees. He said the sky looked and sounded different and he had only seconds to react to get to safety.
Bill Mock of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, told NBC10 the storm lasted about three minutes in his neighborhood but was so severe that it knocked down large trees along Heyburn Road.
"Limbs started coming by sideways," Mock said. "It was nasty. I'd say 70 to 80 mph easy."
In neighboring Glenn Mills, Pennsylvania, trees and debris were scattered up and down Andrien Road. Several homes were damaged by downed trees.
"When it came through it was just a big gust of wind," Riley Bushey of Glen Mills said. "It was kind of like a wall of rain almost."
No major injuries were reported in connection to the storms.
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