High Wind in Pennsylvania, March 19, 1996

High winds developed during the late afternoon and evening of the 19th as a low pressure system intensified across the central Appalachians and its associated occluded front moved through the region. The winds were strong enough to down trees, power lines and large limbs throughout Eastern Pennsylvania. In the Poconos, hardest hit were Kidder, Lehighton and Penn Forest in Carbon County. In the Lehigh Valley, about 10,000 customers lost power during the evening. In all 46,000 Pennsylvania Power and Light and 13,000 Metropolitan Edison customers lost power. While most had power restored by 10 p.m. it took about 24 hours to restore power to everybody. In Northampton County, a measured wind gust of 60 mph was recorded in Williams Township. Hardest hit areas included the south side of Easton, Raubsville and Williams Township. Within Easton, a 29-year-old motorist was injured when he drove into a fallen tree. The metal roofing was ripped from a house. A fallen tree smothered a station wagon and blocked a street. In Wind Gap, a downed sign blocked part of Pennsylvania State Route 33. In Bethlehem, a 5 by 12 foot Payless Shoe sign was shattered. The winds blew out two display windows at Serge's Furniture. In Lehigh County, downed trees closed a couple of roadways in Upper Saucon Township.In Berks County, an old 38 foot by 60 foot hog barn and a 18 foot by 46 foot corn crib were knocked down about 615 p.m. in Bethel Township. Half of Metropolitan Edison's 13,000 power outages occurred in Boyertown. A 3 foot wide tree crashed through the front of a two story home in South Heidelberg Township. Other hard hit townships included Blandon, Boyertown, Exeton, Hamburg, Muhlenberg, Mohnton, New Jerusalem, Shillington, Shortlesville, Sinking Springs, West Lawn and Windsor Castle.Around the Philadelphia area, 69,000 Philadelphia Electric Company customers lost power including 12,500 in Chester County, 11,000 in Delaware County, 9,500 Montgomery County and 6,000 in Bucks County. The U.S. Route 202 corridor was particularly hard hit. In Montgomery County several roads in Pottstown were closed because of fallen trees. Aluminum siding was also ripped from one house. In Franconia Township 15 roads were closed because of downed trees. One large pine tree at 9 p.m. landed across a home. In Bristol Township in Bucks County the wind gusted to 60 mph. In Delaware County a female motorist's vehicle was struck by a flying road construction sign. No serious injuries were reported.