Powerful Northeast Storms Kill 5, Leave 200,000 More Without Power
Multiple states in the Northeast were hit by powerful, fast-moving storms Tuesday night that killed at least five people and left almost 200,000 others without power.
The storms brought severe thunderstorms, drenching rains and strong winds that exceeded 100 mph in parts of upstate New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
In New York, four people died, including a mother and daughter, when the storms hit the rural town of Smithfield. The high winds also completely destroyed at least four homes and damaged many more, said Undersheriff John Ball, according to USA Today. By Wednesday morning, almost 56,000 utility customers in central and northern New York remained without power.
The National Weather Service released a statement through its Binghamton, New York office saying, "Our thoughts are with the families. We will have multiple survey teams across central New York and NEPA (northeastern Pennsylvania) ... to determine the cause of damage."
In Maryland, one child was killed while nine others were injured when a tree fell at the River Valley Ranch summer camp in Manchester. Organizers said about 100 children were in an outdoor pavilion at the Christian camp when the storm hit. Although staff members tried to get everyone to shelter, the high winds struck before all the children could take cover, reports NBC News.
"Our staff noticed a storm that was quickly approaching and immediately began moving the campers from the pavilion to the nearest secure building," reads a post on the camp's Facebook page. "The storm came upon them in a very quick and severe manner before all the children reached the building."
"This is something that has never happened in our history," said camp director Jon Bissett, reports USA Today. "A freak storm came up. Obviously it was pretty traumatic for the campers. A lot of them were there when it happened."
Three small tornadoes were spotted in Ohio and at least one other was reported in Pennsylvania, where over 300,000 people suffered from power outages during the peak of the storms. More than 135,000 homes and business remained wihout power by Wednesday.
Green Mountain Power also reported that more than 13,000 people in Vermont lost power, but fortunately most power had been restored by Wednesday morning.
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