NWS confirms pair of EF-1 tornadoes hit Union County

Jul. 3—Two separate teams surveyed damage from powerful storms that swept through the Valley on Sunday afternoon, confirming three tornadoes touched down in the region, including two in Union County.

The teams reviewed the paths of four possible tornadoes, officials from the National Weather Service's State College bureau said. The reviews are conducted to confirm if tornadoes did touch down, or if it was straight-line winds that tore the roof off buildings and rolled a camper over.

One team confirmed an EF-1 tornado near Hartleton was on the ground for eight minutes, covering more than an a mile and a half with a max width of 150 yards. The preliminary survey said winds from that tornado hit 100 mph.

That tornado was on the ground from 3:48 to 3:56 p.m., NWS officials reported. It dissipated just north of Kaiser Run Road.

Three minutes later, NWS says another touched down near Mifflinburg, damaging trees and causing a garage collapse. That tornado was on the ground for 2.15 miles with maximum winds of 105 mph. There were no injuries from the tornado that had a maximum width of 50 yards.

"They came to look and they said they were going to do some calculations and get back to us," said Union County EMA Director Michelle Dietrich, who accompanied NWS officials on the surveys.

One of the survey teams confirmed an EF-0 tornado was on the ground for nine-tenths of a mile in Millersburg on Sunday afternoon. NWS officials said the tornado had winds of 75 mph, covering an area of 50 yards wide.

Dietrich said hard-hit spots in Union County included the Just Lite It fireworks shop along Route 15, and a section of the nearby market at Silver Moon. Pine Valley Trailer Court in western Union County was also hit hard, Dietrich said. She said about 10 properties were damaged in Union County.

Brian Toon, of Muncy, a vendor selling various items including homemade art at Silver Moon, said he left the parking lot Sunday just before the extreme weather hit and destroyed their camper.

"We left and came back and all the roads were closed," he said.

The camper was totaled and Toon said they will eventually replace it when they can.

Along Route 45 near Millmont, a large, empty chicken barn was heavily damaged and workers were pulling the barn down on Monday afternoon. Dozens of people were on hand to help clean up the property.

One NWS team surveyed damages in Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties. A second team reviewed storm damage in Juniata, Perry and Dauphin counties.

Three potential tornadoes were tracked across Union and Snyder counties on Sunday. One of the areas surveyed covers the entire border between Snyder and Union counties and stretches into Northumberland County as well. The other two tracks are in Union County, with one crossing over into northern Northumberland County.

Northumberland County Emergency Management director Steve Jeffery said the county suffered some downed trees, part of a roof came down near the Milton Plaza, and a house suffered some roof damage, but nothing major occurred.

"Majority was tree damage and some shingles at some houses and a house in Milton lost part of the roof," he said.

Jeffery said he met with the National Weather Service who said they would get back to him with more information.

Jeffery said officials from the National Weather Service said it was a tornado, but they are doing calculations to classify the storm.

Robert Inglis contributed to this report.