Was it a tornado that caused widespread damage — but no reported injuries — across McKean County Monday?
Representatives from the National Weather Service will be in the area today to determine if the culprit was a funnel cloud spotted around Betula, or straight-line winds — like a downburst from a thunderstorm.
“We can’t confirm anything just now; we did get reports of damage,” said Aaron Tyburski, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “We’ll take a look at how the damage is oriented, whether it’s a circular path or a straight line.”
He added, “We did get reports of a funnel cloud, and we’ve had some pretty good reports of damage — roofs blown off houses and things like that.”
Tyburski explained that powerful winds can be just as damaging as tornadoes.
“People tend to think the worst damage always happens with tornadoes, that’s not the case,” he said. “It’s just a matter of whether the wind is straight or in a circular pattern. Straight line winds can cause significant damage as well.”
Andrew Johnson, director of the McKean County Department of Emergency Services, said weather service personnel will “investigate the damage and confirm the reports of tornado activity in the areas of Kane, Crosby, Port Allegany, Bradford and Ceres, as well as throughout McKean County.
“Fortunately, there are no fatalities or injuries to report,” Johnson said. “Countywide, we received well over 100 reports of trees down, wires down and flooding. There were only a handful of buildings damaged by wind or trees which fell onto them.”
One of the areas hit particularly hard in Bradford was the Pennhill Club on Minard Run Road, where dozens of trees were downed..
Manager Kevin Moshier said no one was injured, and no buildings were damaged.
“We have 40 to 50 trees down,” he said. “It went the full length of the course, parallel to Minard Run (Road). All of the trees that lined the road are down.”
Giant pine trees lay scattered across the course, some broken off and others uprooted. Monday evening — under blue skies — Minard Run Road was lined with cars, with people taking photos of videos of the damage.
When Moshier spoke to The Era Monday night, he said there was only partial power at the time. He said he was scheduled to open as expected today, but wasn’t sure if that would happen. In all, though, he acknowledged that the popular venue and golf course came out pretty well.
“Trees grow back,” Moshier said. “We are very thankful that no one was hurt.”
Elsewhere across the region, in McKean County in particular, emergency officials could be heard on the scanner being dispatched to multiple incidents.
Around 5:30 p.m., a 65-year-old tree, measuring around 80 feet tall, crashed into a yard along Rhodes Court in Foster Township.
“That was a heck of a tree that blew over,” said Edward Holzwarth, who reported the incident to The Era.
He said his neighbor told him that the crashing tree sounded like a train.
“Thank God it landed straight in the yard instead of the house. That was one heck of a wind gust,” Holzwarth said.
He said he has lived in the area of Foster Township for decades, and he said he has never witnessed a storm of this magnitude.
Holzwarth figures cleanup of the tree will take at least one or two days.
Meanwhile, a school bus was reported to be stuck between downed trees on West Corydon Street, and scanner reports indicated there were no injuries.
There was a reports of a tree falling on a West Washington Street home and causing a structural collapse.
On Highland Road about 1 mile outside of Kane, a crew was called for power lines on fire.
Trees and wires were also down on Beers Hollow Road in in Eldred Township and a transformer, wires and a tree were down on Jackson Avenue in Bradford, as well as Sullivan Road. Rutherford Run also saw a report of a downed tree. Also after the storm, traffic lights were out and traffic control was requested at East Main Street and Bolivar Drive in Foster Township. Meanwhile, a flare was set up at the intersection of West Washington Street and Interstate Parkway as the traffic light was out.
In Port Allegany, debris and water flooded Main Street between Chestnut and Pearl streets.
Other downed trees occurred on Route 646 near Aiken and Lindholm Road. The Kane Volunteer Fire Department was also dispatched in front of Zook Motors for multiple transformers on fire.
About 5 miles from Lantz Corners, several trees were down, and a tree was blocking Belleview Avenue. No damage or injuries were reported.
At one point, Annin Township first responders were called to three incidents at once, all on Annin Creek Road: a roof in the road in the 500-block, low-hanging lines near the intersection with Route 155 and a tree down near 1176 Annin Creek Road.
Reports of trees or wires down also came from places including Westline Road in Lafayette Township; along U.S. Route 219 in Sergeant Township; North Elk Avenue in Kane Borough; along Minard Run Road, on Shep Run Road and at the corner of Songbird and West Warren Road in Bradford Township; Skaggs Drive, Derrick Road and Fairview Heights in Foster Township; East Valley Road and Bordell Road in Keating Township; near the Penn Brad Oil Museum along Route 219; East Main Street in Smethport; Stateline Road in Ceres Township; along on West Washington Street in Bradford Township; Looker Mountain Trail in Otto Township; Sartwell Road in Eldred Township; Petrolia Street in Bradford City; and along Longhouse Drive in Hamilton Township.
In fact, hardly a fire department wasn’t dispatched to help clean up trees and lines down that had fallen and deal with flooding issues and more throughout the county.
There were also reports of water in the road along Route 46 and water across the road on Route 646 in Keating Township.
A tree also apparently struck a house operated by Evergreen Elm along South Avenue.
Amid the start of the storm chaos, the Bradford City Fire Department was called to an elevator rescue in the High Rise apartment building.
The McKean County 911 Center announced that it was back to normal operations at 6:30 p.m. But cleanup for several properties throughout region will take for many days.
