Published Tuesday, November 12, 2002
school damaged
While the cleanup effort continues in Clark, which was hardest hit by an F-2 tornado Sunday night, residents of other areas of Mercer County are also dealing with the effects of the storm that swept through at about 7:30 p.m.
"I was watching the television and it showed the storms going through Cortland and that they were heading towards Reynolds. I have a daughter in Cortland and a daughter that lives in a trailer in Reynolds," said Sally Adler, 80, of 4115 Wynwood Drive in South Pymatuning Township. She added that she also has a son living nearby off state Route 18.
"We opened the front door and it was like a roar, like a freight train, everything was coming so we ran down to the basement," she said, referring to herself and her 85-year-old husband, Russell.
Their property had major tree damage, a pine tree on the roof of the house and downed wires and spouting, but Mrs. Adler said it was nothing like the damage across and up and down her street. Her family made it through safely. "As long as lives are OK, material things can be replaced," she said.
Her next-door neighbor Tim Reeher, 4131 Wynwood, was also thankful to be alive. The home he shares with his fiancée will probably be a total loss because the storm took off the roof and blew away many items in their home, but no one was injured.
"We were just sitting in front of the television. We had our doors open because it was nice out, then we saw things flying outside. I yelled at Rebecca (his fiancée) to get away from the glass and the next thing you know, we had a skylight," he said.
Reeher described the tornado as "the loudest noise. It's what they say, it sounds like a freight train. Then, next thing we know, debris was falling. I know Thanksgiving is in a couple of weeks but we've got Thanksgiving today because we're alive."
Across the street from the Adlers, the home at 4114 Wynwood, owned by David and Diane Haywood, was a complete loss.
No one was at home when the tornado took the roof off and downed several trees in the yard. Rick Haywood, David's brother, spoke for the family on Monday.
""They just got done remodeling," he said. "Now the house is a total loss."
Haywood said the family was at a football party, returning home shortly after 10 p.m.
They began moving out valuables and sentimental items immediately, Haywood said, and returned Monday morning to save what they could. They will either stay with relatives or in a hotel, he said.
A barn fell on the property of Paul McBurney, 2550 Trout Island Road, South Pymatuning Township. He was in North Carolina at the time, according to family members on the property Monday morning.
The two-story barn was decimated with bits of wood, cement blocks, tree branches and stones twisted together and flattened. An outbuilding was moved a foot or two off its foundation.
"It's amazing that the house doesn't look like it's been touched," said relative Evelyn McMond of Pittsburgh, referring to the farmhouse about 15 feet away. "The cows are fine, even though the barn has been disintegrated."
Another farm -- in Delaware Township -- may have sustained at least $100,000 worth of damage.
John Vanderstappen of 1699 Rutledge Road, who owns a 200-head dairy farm, said that every building on his property had roof damage.
"Two buildings are just junk," he said. Two of his four silos had their roofs crinkled up like foil and a third was lopsided. "My biggest worry is how to get the roofs down. Everything on that (north) side was pounded pretty hard," Vanderstappen said. "The cows weren't too affected. We were trying to hammer down the (calves) hutches before the storm, but the hutches blew away and the calves were just standing there in the rain without any hutches."
Though Sharon was not hit as hard as some areas of the county, many neighborhoods saw downed trees, minor property damage and lots of debris scattered around. Firefighters and police were busy most of Sunday night responding to calls of downed wires and trees. Police said they blocked Connelly Boulevard from South Myers to Spencer avenues because of a downed tree and wires.
Joe Dovutovich said a tree limb went through the front window of his Cedar Avenue home at about 8 p.m. Sunday while he was watching a football game on television. He said his wife, Jean, was standing at the window when the limb went through. Her face was cut in several places but she did not need medical treatment, Dovutovich said.
The Dovutovich mailbox was blown off its post, and the siding was dented from debris that pelted the house. Houses on both sides of the Dovutovich home had damaged windows, chimneys and power lines.
Just down the street, at 434 Cedar, a large pine tree fell into the front of the house and blocked the entrance. Neighbors said there were live power lines around it.
Wally Sumner, who lives in the 500 block of South Oakland Avenue, was waiting for an insurance agent to determine the amount of damage to his and his neighbor's home from a large tree that fell. Sumner said his home had electricity despite the fact that all the power lines were on the ground.
Mary Kathryn Bartholomew spent several hours Monday morning cleaning up debris on the lawn of her Memorial Drive home. Mrs. Bartholomew said the storm hit her Sharon neighborhood with a lot of force. "I never heard wind like that before."
"I have the biggest tree. My leaves are everywhere," she said. "My neighbors probably love me," she added sarcastically.
In Farrell, heavy winds extensively damaged a number of trees outside Farrell Area High School, where a window was blown out and a skylight over the auditorium stage was blown open, Superintendent Richard R. Rubano Jr. said. The stage sustained some water damage he said.
School officials notified Southwest Mercer County Regional police of the tree damage and lines down and, fearing for the safety of students walking to school, had foot traffic routed away from Roemer Boulevard, Rubano said.