MORGANTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Residents in Morgantown are surveying the damage left behind by a tornado that ripped through the Berks County town Tuesday night.
The National Weather Service is sendign a team to the area to determine the strength of the storm.
The twister did much of its damage in the Valley Ponds community. Wednesday morning's daylight revealed huge trees uprooted like weeds. Cars were lifted and relocated. Sections of roof and shingles and lawn furniture littered the area.
This is damage in the Valley Ponds development. pic.twitter.com/a4aacHbnYc
— Mike DeNardo (@_MikeDeNardo) May 29, 2019More tornado damage in Morgantown. pic.twitter.com/Ukyzrv0aK8
— Mike DeNardo (@_MikeDeNardo) May 29, 2019The tornado in Morgantown even picked up parts of a speed bump and tossed it aside. pic.twitter.com/tIyJNwCzfe
— Mike DeNardo (@_MikeDeNardo) May 29, 2019Judy Slaughter's house sustained only minor damage.
"Some of the siding's gone. All my patio furniture is gone. The tree that's by my front door is split in half," she said.
But she was still shaken to see the destruction in her neighborhood.
"It seemed unreal," she said. "It just seems ... I'm just speechless. To see how the trees are just bent like twigs and broken in half, and the roofs are torn off. And how some sections are so damaged, but others haven't even been touched."
Karen Quartapella said, for her, there was no doubt it was a tornado.
"My husband said maybe it was straight winds, but there was no way. I lived in North Carolina for six years, so you get to see the devastation. It looks like a war zone," she said.
Tree crews already clearing tornado debris from a pool in the development. pic.twitter.com/2bJ4K3GNYP
— Mike DeNardo (@_MikeDeNardo) May 29, 2019One resident named Becky, who didn't want to give her last name, said she experienced the full force of the tornado.
"I got home about 10 minutes before it hit. I got the dog outside, and I was talking to my son on the phone who lives in North Carolina, and the next thing I know, I'm going, 'Oh my God!' I thought my back windows were breaking. I live right here, and it just basically went right over my house," she said.
A metal fence around a pool in the development was left crumpled by trees thrown down by the high winds. Work crews have made quick work of clean-up. Crews with chainsaws and woodchippers are on scene to clear the broken trunks and branches.
CORRECTION: In a previous version of this story, Judy Slaughter's name was misspelled.
