-Edition
Font Resize
A brief but powerful storm swept through the York area Saturday night felled trees and brought down a wall at West Manchester Township strip mall.
A section of a four-foot high façade wall in the strip mall, which contains Runkle's Notary & Insurance at 1120 Roosevelt Ave., collapsed about 8:30 p.m., said Mike Johnson, who owns Runkle's and a number of store space in the building.
Bricks and mortar went crashing down on the sidewalk in front of a former State Farm office that is now vacant.
"Luckily it went outward instead of inward. If it didn't, (damages) would have been much worse," he said.
On Sunday, the parking lot and sidewalk was cordoned off with yellow emergency tape. That same day a Met-Ed crew restored power to the building, including to Runkle's.
Johnson said Runkle's will be open for business as usual on Monday but a beauty salon and another insurance office in the strip mall will likely be closed.
The interior of the building was not damaged during the storm, he said.
Outages: The storm's power was evident on nearby Fahs Street in York City where a massive tree limb fell on a pickup truck, smashing its roof.
Tree limbs also fell on a home on Kelly Drive and downed tree limbs lie in yards throughout the neighborhood.
The storm caused power outages throughout York County. At the height of the outage, roughly 300 Met-Ed customers were without power.
Scattered outages were reported in several municipalities, with most of those in York, Chanceford and Windsor townships.
By Sunday night, power had been restored to all but 36 customers, according to Met-Ed.
Gusts: Alan Reppert, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist, said wind gusts of 25 mph were recorded at the York Airport in Jackson Township during the storm.
However, gusts could have been greater in other parts of the county.
"Some gusts could have been up to 40 mph," Reppert said.
The storm not only brought strong winds and rain, it also ushered in cooler temperatures after five days of temperatures in the 90s.
The high on Saturday was 99, just shy of the record of 100, Reppert said.
"It fell one degree short of hitting the record," he said.
-----------------------
Forecast
The start of the week will usher in noticeably cooler temperatures compared to last week.
Monday will see a high of 82 and less humidity with lots of sun, according to AccuWeather.
Tuesday through Friday will be much the same, with temperatures in the 80s an sunny but will be slightly more humid.
Alan Reppert, an AccuWeather senior meteorologist, said that forecast is more in line with York County weather in the summertime.
- Reach Greg Gross at ggross@yorkdispatch.com.
