—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. June 5, 1976
18
Severe storm
[Continued from Page 1|
to the west and north it was
nearly black.
Around the small town of
New Kingstown, Cum
berland County, the evidence
of this being a killer storm
was strewn all over the
streets. Trees were stripped
of their leaves; brandies
were scattered all over the
place; an ambulance was on
the scene where a tree had
toppled; and water was
nearly everywhere. Still,
there wasn’t enough rain
coming down when 1 passed
through to give the wind
shield wipers a fulltime job.
Evidently there was a storm
ahead of me, and another
one coming up the rear.
With much of the area
around Harrisburg being
concrete and blacktop
anyway, there wasn’t much
damage to be seen. Once the
highway had wound its way
back into farming country,
the trail of the storm could
be easily picked up.
Fields were absolutely
saturated with water. So
much, in fact, that they had
to pass some of their
moisture on to the air. A very
low and dense fog hung over
most fields, giving them an
out-of-this-world ap
pearance. Water stampeded
out of fields and areas which
weren’t adequately prepared
through conservation
practices were torn apart.
One farm pond near
Middletown had actually
ruptured and a sea of muddy
water raced to lower ground,
taking a sizable portion of
the bank with it. One field
after another was soaked.
Lower and flat fields had
been turned into lakes.
South of Elizabethtown,
along Route 283, the first
evidence of hail became
apparent. No significant
amount of any form of
precipitation was falling at
the time this reporter passed
through, but the flooding and
white accumulations of hail
proved that something had
happened.
Between Mount Joy and
Lititz the storm had really
left its marks. Water across
the roads was nearly a foot
deep in some places. Some
fields were ripped up and
swept away by the raging
water. Visibility was poor
due to the darkened sky and
light gray mist hovering
over fields.
Lightning struck hard and
the thunder cracked again as
the second storm of the
evening passed through the
area. The wind was powerful
enough to topple buildings
and trees. Sheets of rain
caused traffic to crawl and
even come to a standstill.
Water carried mud out of
fields; wind and hail
shredded plants and
property. Wednesday
morning the victims woke up
from a genuine nightmare to
assess the damage.
Charles Snoke of the ASCS
office in Carlisle estimated
the storm came through
Cumberland County in a
path which was two to three
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Entire fields and adjoining areas were turned
into lakes by Tuesday evening's cloudburst This
area between Mount Joy and Manheim was
miles wide. He noted that
barley fields were ex
tensively damaged with
many stems broken by hail.
Half or more of the crop
from those damaged fields is
probably lost. As much of a
third of the wheat was
damaged so badly that it
cannot be picked up.
As far as com is con
cerned, Snoke said it was
still too early to make an
accurate judgement as of
Thursday afternoon. like
Bair, he advises fanners to
take a wait and see attitude.
“No doubt it will be hurt, but
a lot of it will come back,” he
said.
Hay was hammered to the
ground, and although much
of it is still flat, it’s expected
to come back for the most
part. In addition to crop and
vegetable damage, Snoke
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also reported damage to
roofs, silos, and trees.
According to Bair, some of
the tobacco crop between
Intercourse and White Horse
can be written off as a total
loss. “Small grains were
chopped off ... looks as
though they went through a
chopper,” the Lancaster
County Extension agent
said. Hay and com should
come through, Bair con
tinued, “give it at least a
week to see.”
Associate Lancaster
County Extension Agent Jay
Irwin was quoted as saying
that potatoes in the area
“were pretty well broken
down.” Some fields of
tomatoes were nearly wiped
out.
The combination of high
winds, rain, and hail also
blasted orchards which were
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flooded. Note the partially submerged car to the
left of the house.
Joanne Spahr
joins staff
change social committee,
and active in English and
forensic clubs, winning
various awards in speech
contests.
In addition to writing, her
interests include sewing, and
needlework, antique
collecting, caligraphy,
camping, hiking, and
photography.
in the storm’s path, with
some estimates of losses
exceeding 50 per cent.
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SESSION 2
SESSION 3
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[Continued from Page 1|
SESSION 3
Saturday - June 19-7:00 P.M
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2. 7000 Modified
3. 12,000 Open
Joanne M. Spahr
$4.00
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