| Boston.com | - |
SMITHFIELD,
N.Y. (AP) - Severe thunderstorms packing strong winds swept through a
number of Eastern states, killing five people, destroying or damaging
numerous houses and leaving nearly 200,000 without power Wednesday,
officials said.
Weather service: Tornado hit homes where 4 died
SMITHFIELD, N.Y. (AP) — The National
Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado destroyed the homes in
upstate New York where four people were killed.
Barbara Watson, the meteorologist
leading the agency’s survey team says that the violent winds Tuesday
were at least 100 mph and reached undetermined higher speeds to cause
the damage they’re seeing in the town of Smithfield, between Syracuse
and Utica.
She says Wednesday that one two-story home is gone, the structure blown away and leaving only the foundation.
Madison County Sheriff Allen Riley says the home was blown hundreds of feet before it landed on an unoccupied house.
He identified the victims as a 35-year-old woman and her 4-month-old daughter, a 70-year-old woman and a 53-year-old man.
Severe thunderstorms packing strong winds swept through a number of Eastern states on Tuesday, killing five people.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
Severe thunderstorms packing strong
winds swept through a number of Eastern states, killing five people,
destroying or damaging numerous houses and leaving nearly 200,000
without power Wednesday, officials said.
In central New York, four people died
after the storms hit the rural town of Smithfield, between Syracuse and
Utica, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said. At least four homes
were completely destroyed and numerous others were damaged. Nearly
56,000 utility customers in central and northern New York were still
without power early Wednesday.
Injuries and damage from Tuesday’s
fast-moving storms were not limited to New York state. In Maryland, a
child at a summer camp was killed by a falling tree. Three small
tornadoes touched down in Ohio and at least one other was sighted in
Pennsylvania, where more than 300,000 lost power at the peak of the
storms.
Madison County Sheriff Allen Riley did
not identify the victims. He told The Post-Standard of Syracuse he was
still notifying their families.
The storm destroyed four homes, ripping
one from its foundation and tossing it onto another house, the
newspaper reported. Three other houses nearby also were damaged. The
National Weather Service said the winds were likely stronger than 60
mph.
Riley said in a television interview
late Tuesday that search dogs were being used to go over the rubble at
the Smithfield site and that neighbors were being interviewed.
‘‘We’re just picking up parts of the house to see if anybody is underneath them,’’ he said.
National Weather Service meteorologist
Joanne LaBounty said investigators will be in the area to determine if a
tornado touched down.
The spokesman for the emergency
management office said there was widespread damage in the towns of
Sullivan and Lenox, between Syracuse and Utica.
In Maryland, a tree fell at a summer
camp during a strong thunderstorm, killing one child and injuring six
others. The children at the River Valley Ranch camp in Manchester were
headed to a shelter when a tree fell on them.
Also, severe thunderstorms spawned at
least one tornado in Mercer county in northwestern Pennsylvania. Early
Wednesday, more than 123,000 across the state remained without power,
including 66,000 in Philadelphia and its suburbs. The NWS said possible
tornadoes were also reported in Perry, Bedford and Sullivan counties in
central Pennsylvania.
The National Weather Service said three
small tornadoes touched down in northeastern Ohio, causing minor
damage, as strong storms moved across the state.
In New Jersey, nearly 15,000 homes and businesses remained without power Wednesday.
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