© Eric Conover/Staff Photo Crews work to restore power Friday on Route 54 near Lake Hauto. The storm knocked out power to more than 700 PPL customers.
The wind uprooted trees with root bags 6 feet tall - some of which landed on homes and power lines - cut a path about 50 feet wide into a wooded area, and knocked out electricity that won't be completely restored until late this afternoon.
The storm brought heavy winds and hail into the lake development, which straddles the Schuylkill-Carbon County border and is partially in Rush Township and partially in Nesquehoning, but injured no one.
While the storm had characteristics of a tornado, it likely would not be designated as one, according to Pete Young, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in State College.
"We didn't get any indications of a tornado on the radar last night, or any indications from people there this morning," he said. "It was probably a strong line, what we call a downburst. There was severe, localized damage, and winds probably were between 60 and 80 mph, considering the way the trees were damaged."
While most residents in the development have electric service restored, some don't.
Paul Canevari, a spokesman for PPL, said crews will be working into today, as they did Thursday into Friday, to get all customers back on line.
"The outage affected 700 customers," he said. "We have restored approximately 530 customers as of 2 p.m. (Friday). The remaining 170 will be restored by 5 p.m. (today)."
On Friday, trees were either uprooted or split along nearly every street in the development. The scene looked like a log-cutting contest, with sawdust and the sound of chain saws everywhere.
The worst damage seemed to be along Lake Drive - the main road into Lake Hauto from Route 209 on the Hometown side - and Blueberry Place. Late Friday morning, both streets were blocked by trees that dragged utility lines down - about six feet from the ground along Blueberry Lane and even closer along Lake Drive.
Jim Witkowski, assistant chief of the Quakake Volunteer Fire Company, said he had no reports of any injuries.
"Nobody was hurt," Witkowski said. "We (fire company personnel) and EMS spent the night knocking on doors to make sure everybody was all right and to see if their homes had any structural damage."
Witkowski said personnel from the fire company, along with ambulance units from Tamaqua and Ryan Township, knocked on doors all night. As one crew tired, another crew took over, he said.
Bob Issermoyer, a resident of Great Oaks Drive, escaped the damage. He said the storm hit as he and his wife were watching a movie.
"It was between about 9:30 and 9:45 (p.m. Thursday)," Issermoyer said. "We thought it was just lightning and thunder. The trees took wires down, so we had no electricity or cable. The movie was almost over, but we missed the end because we lost the cable and power."
Jim and Gail Jordan didn't escape damage, but feel lucky they weren't hurt. Three trees landed on their home along Dogwood Lane, next door to Agosti's home.
Gail remembers the sound of at least one of the trees hitting their home.
"I heard a loud bang," she said.
One tree smashed the roof overhang on the side of the house facing a one-story garage. Another tree struck and damaged one part of the deck in the rear of the house. The third also struck the deck.
By 11 a.m., Dunn's Tree Service of Lansford almost had the Jordans' property cleared after three hours of work. The couple now have a lot of firewood for their outdoor stove.
Matt Dunn of the company said the storm will keep him busy for a few weeks.
"I left the house about 7 (o'clock) this morning," he said. "There were already seven messages on the phone. My wife is manning the phone. There had to be more calls. This was the first stop."
Bryan Stine, a former Lake Hauto resident who returned to attend a family reunion, said "the house started to shake" when the storm rolled in.
"It snapped these trees like a large lawnmower had gone through," he said. "Luckily, the (falling) trees didn't hit any of the cars in the driveway."
Near the road, a large tree lay on its side, after striking and splintering several other trees on its way down. Closer to the home, trees had struck the rear of the home and a deck.
"There wasn't any damage inside but the deck was just about destroyed," Stine said.
"The grill was destroyed," said Kimberly Schmidt, another family member.
"But we have a grill pit," Stine said. "We can use that. Thank God we got the power back. We have a refrigerator and freezer full of picnic food."
Katie Floyd and sisters Samantha and Chloe had just returned to their home farther down Great Oaks Drive when the storm hit.
Trees struck a deck and the roof in the back of the house. On one side, an uprooted three lay there after narrowly missing the house.
"We left about two minutes before it happened," Katie said. "We just missed it. We didn't think it was this bad."
The residents along great Oaks Drive said they had their electric service back by about 2:30 a.m. Friday.
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