Clearfield County’s summer included tornado, flooding
— Photo Courtesy of Krause Tree & Excavation.
By Andy Stine
astine@altoonamirror.com
To say that the weather in Clearfield County has been crazy this summer would be an understatement.
The county has dealt with flooding on three separate occasions, plus a tornado that ripped through the small town of Morann in July.
On Aug. 22, for the second time this summer, the southern part of Clearfield County received a tornado warning.
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado landed in Morann on July 18, which resulted in many trees down, but avoided serious damage and no injuries.
While the National Weather Service was out just a few miles down the road in Madera on Aug. 24, reports of another tornado are still unconfirmed. Still, there was similar damage like the one in Morann.
“I was out there. The county commissioners were out there. The fire department was out there, and we have the National Weather Service in,” said Scott Mignot, Clearfield County director of emergency services.
Severe weather such as what central Pennsylvania has seen this summer is becoming a little more common, according to AccuWeather senior Meteorologist Tom Kines.
“If you were out (on Aug. 22) before the storm hit, it was on the humid side,” Kines said. “Any time you have very humid air masses, those can produce very heavy rains in a short amount of time.”
Kines said larger pockets of humidity have become more common just in the last 10 years in the summer months.
Mignot has spent time over the most recent storm in Madera and in Ashland. Most of the damage has been limited to trees down in those areas, but there have also been reports of roofs damaged in Madera.
MIgnot reported a tree landed on a car while traveling through Ashland. The driver suffered a broken nose and some lacerations.
Has Mignot ever seen anything like this in his five years as the director of emergency services in the county?
“We’ve had our share,” Mignot said. “We had flooding early in July. We had a lot of rain come through, and then we had the tornado in Morann, and then we had that big storm at the end of July. That was just July. That’s a lot.”
Mignot said the county has a disaster assistance set up at the Glendale Fire Hall in Coalport for those affected by the recent storms. FEMA, the state of Pennsylvania, and the Small Business Association all have representatives from their disaster recovery assistance programs ready to help residents.
Residents of Beccaria Township, Burnside Township, Chest Township, Coalport Borough, Gulich Township, Irvona Borough, Westover Borough, and Woodward Township are eligible for assistance.
Assistance information will be available at the fire hall, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays until Sept. 9.