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© Public Opinion/Markell DeLoatchTornado damage: Debris and uprooted trees litter a yard on Wayne Road in New Franklin. An F-1 tornado was confirmed for that area.
Winds accompanying a tornado knocked down trees in a path from Marion to Fayetteville.

A tornado with maximum winds of 90 mph touched down briefly in New Franklin and caused little damage compared to widespread down bursts of wind.

The National Weather Service in State College confirmed that a tornado around 6:10 p.m. damaged a pine grove just east of Wayne Road (Pa. 316) in Guilford Township. The EF-1 tornado packed winds of 90 mph and barely missed Dwaine Martin's home and garage, and knocked down a dozen white pines behind his house.

The tornado cut a path 25 yards wide and 200 yards long, according to meteorological technician Tony Mach. The damage area was at the southern end of down burst wind damage that went from just west of Marion eastward through Brownsville, (southeast of Fayetteville).

Martin said the tornado apparently touched down on his driveway and hopped over the garage and came down in the woods. Two small outbuildings were damaged.

The tornado is the seventh confirmed tornado to hit Franklin County since 1974, according to the county Department of Emergency Services.

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© Public Opinion/Markell DeLoatchCleaning job: Lance Kegerreis clears brush from downed trees in front of his home on Stoney Bridge Drive, Guilford Township.
Residents throughout the county reported heavy downpours and hail up to the size of half-dollars.

Twenty-four hours after the storm West Penn Power indicated that fewer than 1,000 homes in the county were without power. More than 3,000 were without electricity immediately following the storm.

Chris Newcomer's home on Springview Drive was in the path of the wind. He watched the storm develop and saw marble-sized hail around 6:20 p.m. He and his wife prepared to stay in the fruit cellar for a while, and Newcomer went out to look at the sky.

Newcomer said he saw turbulent circles form in the cloud. He saw five of the circles at one time. "That's when I got scared," he said.

He took shelter in the cellar and heard the sound of a freight train, then a loud crash. After the storm passed, he went outside again. "It looked like a war zone," said Newcomer, a veteran of the Vietnam War.

He lost 10 locust trees, some of them 90 feet tall.

His wife went upstairs to open the windows in the stuffy house and found a tree branch poking through the bedroom ceiling and the bed mattress soaked. A falling limb had broken through the roof.

The winds tore up trees. Some residents in the South Guilford Hills area, including Newcomer, were still without power 17 hours after the storm.

A falling tree branch demolished David Mason Jr.'s porch off Falling Spring Road. He struggled to pull the window air conditioners into the house during the storm.

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© Public Opinion/Markell DeLoatchDamage: Crist Newcomer inspects damage to a camper in front of his home at 3120 Springview Drive, Chambersburg. The storm knocked down several trees in his yard - sending part of one through the roof of his home.
A 200-year-old tree was uprooted in front of his neighbor's house. Owner Lance Kegerreis said the house escaped serious damage, but a stone wall of the 200-year-old well house collapsed. His wife took cover in the basement during the storm. The weather forced him to halt his golf game at Penn National on the 17th hole.

Kim Dillard, co-owner of Dent Guy, said vehicles were damaged with hail the size of quarters and half-dollars. Her husband had given more than a dozen estimates by 1 p.m. Friday. She figured he would be spending part of the Memorial Day weekend working.

"I'd say it's pretty severe," said Dale Mull, owner of Collision Connection. "Customers tell me hail was the size of golf balls. It looks like somebody took a ball peen hammer to it."

Two of Mercersburg's police cars were damaged by hail more than an inch in diameter, according to Mercersburg Borough Manager Tammy Oberholzer. A cruiser's windshield was cracked. Attic windows in borough hall were broken.

She said there are reports of a sudden two-inch rainfall in the Mercersburg area.

Chambersburg weather observer Jerry Ashway recorded more than two inches of rain in five minutes during the storm.

Greencastle weather observer Robert Wertime measured less than three-tenths of an inch from the storm. The size of hail ranged in size from marbles to golf balls. The peak gust was about 60 mph just before 6 p.m.

He said the storm activity reminded him of July 1996 when Greencastle got more than 10 inches of rain following a June with more than 10 inches.

Greencastle has had 22.8 inches of precipitation to date, compared to the normal 16 inches, Wertime said. It almost makes up for the 8-inch deficit the area suffered last year.