ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Robin Belles stood outside her house and surveyed the damage – a path of destruction that snapped trees, tore off pieces of roofs and tossed belongings everywhere.
“I was finding things two blocks down and across the street,” said Belles, who has lived on Club Avenue for 21 years in the Midway Manor neighborhood, not far from the Bethlehem city line.
- A severe storm that knocked out power to thousands devastated Allentown's Midway Manor neighborhood
- No injuries were reported but damage was extensive
- A National Weather Service survey team planned to inspect damage to determine if it was a tornado
The sound of chainsaws ripped through the neighborhood Tuesday as cleanup crews got to work after a severe storm that swept through the Lehigh Valley, knocking out power to more than 40,000 people.
In Midway Manor, residents reported seeing a twister as the storm hit just before twilight Monday.
Belles says she has no doubt her husband, who died in April, was watching over his family.
“My windows were open and it went through my bedroom,” she said of the storm. “Everything in my bedroom was flying. My husband just passed away and I caught his picture, honest to God. Everything in my bedroom was flying up in the air and was sucked.”
While the storm brought down dozens of large trees in the community and tore the roof off her porch, the little apple tree that Elwood Belles planted in the yard survived.
“We’re safe. That’s all that matters,” Robin Belles said.
The National Weather Service stopped short of declaring it a tornado.
A survey team is headed to the Lehigh Valley to inspect damage, said Sarah Johnson, a weather service meteorologist in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Another place the team intends to visit, based on damage reports, is the Afton Village neighborhood in Upper Saucon Township, Johnson said.
She said the survey team is coming “to make a determination if this was straight-line winds or tornadic, and the estimated maximum wind speeds.
“We’ll be out later today and probably won’t have a determination until later in the afternoon or evening,” she said.
Here are the locations of where storm survey teams are headed for today in relation to the severe thunderstorms that moved through yesterday. A final assessment, including the results of the survey, will be made available by this evening. #NJwx #PAwx #DEwx pic.twitter.com/rJSGj6ZYAB
— NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) August 8, 2023
Power trucks and tree service crews arrived in Midway Manor on Tuesday morning. Stephen Csanadi of Tree of Life tree management service said his phone was ringing off the hook all night.
“Everything in my bedroom was flying. My husband just passed away and I caught his picture, honest to God."Robin Belles, Midway Manor resident
He said he was surprised by the extent of damages.
So was Noah Gomez, who rushed to his family’s home Monday night after getting a call from his daughter. The storm shredded a large magnolia tree and flipped a tractor on his property.
“I got an alert on my phone, but what are you going to do?” said Gomez, who said he hadn’t seen anything like it in the 10 years he’s owned the house.
No serious injuries were reported and power remained out Tuesday morning, with no estimate on a return. Neighbors took orders for one another as they headed out to get coffee.
Capt. John Christopher of the Allentown Fire Department, who was in the neighborhood Tuesday morning, said Midway Manor appeared to get the worst of it. He said he was shocked by the extent of damages.
By Tuesday afternoon, city public works crews had worked hours on cleaning up streets and other areas of the neighborhood. Nearly a dozen city trucks were involved. Residents lined up to say thanks and shake their hands.
Mayor Matt Tuerk was due back in town late Monday from a trip to Puerto Rico with a delegation that included U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh Valley. Tuerk told LehighValleyNews.com he was trying to get home but having a hard time getting a flight into Philadelphia.
