Property in Eighty Four damaged as a result of a downburst
A carport belonging to Bob Leroch was lifted up and slung across his property after a Saturday downburst.
Bob Leroch surveys damage to his barn Sunday afternoon after a downburst damaged it late Saturday afternoon.
A barn belonging to Bob Leroch of Eighty Four was damaged in a downburst late Saturday afternoon.
EIGHTY FOUR – A downburst caused by a severe thunderstorm damaged the property of an Eighty Four resident late Saturday afternoon, and brought down trees on neighboring properties.
The roof was torn off a barn belonging to Bob Leroch, who lives on Valley View Road in Eighty Four. The storm also lifted up a carport that had been in his driveway and slung it to the other side of his property, and knocked down about 25 trees.
Leroch was not there when it happened about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, but “a neighbor told me it sounded like a freight train,” he explained.
Although the roar of a tornado is frequently compared to a freight train, what went through Eighty Four was not a tornado, according to the National Weather Service, but a downburst. This happens when a downdraft from a thunderstorm causes air to radiate outward once it reaches the ground. This can cause intense, straight-line winds and great damage in isolated areas.
“It’s a thunderstorm collapsing,” according to Bob Coblentz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Moon Township.
The cost of the damaged to Leroch’s property had not yet been determined, he said.