Lancaster County
MOUNT JOY Too much rain
or too little rain has been a per
sistant problem in Pennsylvania
this year. The northwest sections
of the state records record rainfall
while the southeast suffers a
record drought.
Rainfall in inadequate
proportions was magnified last
Saturday in Lancaster County
where the northern portion was hit
with flash floods that were more
severe that those that Hurricane
Agnes deposited on the area. Up to
eight inches of rain fell in the
county according to the weather
station at WGAL television station,
Lancaster.
John Yocum at Penn State’s
Research Lab in Landisville
reported over five inches fell at his
post. The normal rainfall for July
is 23.67 inches. With Saturday’s
storm, 26.5 inches of rain have
fallen in July this year, Yocum
said. Normal rainfall for July
stands at 4.04 inches, with the
weekend rain, 9.06 inches have
fallen this July, he added.
While crop damage was limited
at the Landisville lab, high winds,
ranging up to 50 mph at the Lan
caster Airport, hail and flooding
caused some crop damage
throughout the county, especially
in low lying areas.
The farms of Mel Metzler and
Harry Hershey suffered the most
storm damage. Metzler, East
Petersburg, lost 125 pigs when
lightning ignited his two-story
bam.
Harry and Joan Hershey, Mount
Joy, lost their entire flock when
flood waters collapsed their laying
house.
Both farms were victims of a
storm that dropped eight inches
and lasted from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on
Saturday. Harry Hershey ex
plained that it was a very heavy
electrical storm that didn’t go
away. At approximately 10 p.m.
Saturday a siren, which goes off
when something is wrong in the
laying house, began sounding the
alarm. Harry went out to in
vestigate and check on the
generator.
While he was in the egg room,
the laying house collapsed. Rain
water had risen over the 40 inch
wall that the tri-deck, high-rise
house set on. Without warning, the
pressure of the water collapsed the
foundation and the entire 44-by-500
building caved in. “It was a
nightmare, I saw my whole life
swept away in a matter of
minutes,” Hershey said.
The water rose swiftly which
prevented any preparation. Joan
Hershey explained that the flood
came with such a force and volume
in a concentrated area that
preventative measures would have
been difficult. A waterway did
surround the building, but the
volume of water was too much for
it to handle.
This was the first time the area
has ever flooded. There are no
streams in the near vicinity and
the ground surrounding the farm is
relatively flat.
Following the collapse decisions
had to be made promptly. By 4:30
a.m. Sunday morning crews to
haul surviving chickens away were
contacted as well as a crane
operator to aid in removal of the
roof trusses to get to the surviving
birds.
Approximately one-third of the
54,000 birds that were in the house
at the time of the cave in drowned.
The first order of business on
Sunday morning was to get out as
many live birds as possible. To get
to the birds the roof and then the
roof trusses had to be removed.
The birds that survived the
ordeal were sent off to be
processed, tallying a total flock
loss for the Hersheys.
The Hersheys only contacted
family members about the
disaster, however, over 150
friends, relative, church people,
and fellow farmers showed up to
help with the clean-up on Sunday.
“It was a overwhelming,
tremendous response,” Joan said.
“They were concerned people who
wanted to help. Word-of-mouth
started the process,” she added.
Presently their main concern is
clean-up. They are looking at
many options and are leaning in
the direction of rebuilding.
The storm which caused a large
amount of damage throughout the
county was termed worse than
Hurricane Agnes because of the
swiftness that the water level rose
near marks set by Agnes in 1972.
Saturday’s storm was not coupled
Flood waters collapsed the foundation of the high-rise
laying house owned by Harry and Joan Hershey. The roof of
the 44-by-500 house was removed to get to surviving birds.
Records Flash Flood Damage
by any hurricanes, it was not
uncommon either. According to
Paul Knight, Penn State
meteorologist, approximately six
storms such as last Saturday’s
occur per year.
What happens durings these
storms is a slowing or stopping of
strong upper level winds that
normally push a thunderstorm
along. The thunderstorm which
normally dumps its rainload along
a 20 to 30 mile route, rains the
entire amount on one locality,
Knight explains.
Last weekend that locality
happened to be Lancaster County.
He added that no area of Penn-
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sylvania is prone to these storms, inches on the parched Georgia soil
however, thunderstorms without earlier this week,
strong upper level winds are No rain of any substantial
common in the deep south. A amount is predicted for early next
similar storm deposited three week.
A crane was brought in to safely and quickly remove roof
trusses. Following the removal of the trusses live birds were
evacuated from the flattened laying house.
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