In Gene Dziak’s 15 years as director of the Wyoming County Emergency Management Agency, he doesn’t recall ever having to activate the emergency operations center for tornado warnings in two consecutive days.
“That’s just insane. Two days in a row we activated the EOC for warnings,” Dziak said. “Not watches, warnings.”
The National Weather Service called EMA to survey Wyoming County following the nasty weather on Tuesday and Wednesday (May 28-29).
“What they were trying to do was connect Bradford, Wyoming and Lackawanna County together for a tornado,” he said.
A debris field appeared to be active in Laceyville, but other than some fallen trees and powerlines, no damage was found.
Falls Township had similar damage, however, it was confirmed that an EF-0 tornado came through there on Tuesday.
“From Evergreen Drive over Windy Hill Lane over Spring Hill Drive, over Buttermilk Road to Country Road, we found an EF-0 tornado went through there,” Dziak said. “So we did have a tornado down, but no structural damage. It was all trees and one utility pole on Post Hill Road.”
The National Weather Service took the data back to Binghamton.
“Wednesday, we did go under a tornado warning because there was activity coming from Sullivan County into Wyoming County,” Dziak continued. “Nothing came down and everything stayed high, so it didn’t really affect us.”
Nevertheless, EMA still advised schools to let students out early on Wednesday afternoon.
“We didn’t want to have school buses out because that would have been the prime time for buses to be on the road,” he said, noting that he didn’t want to chance an incident like a tree or powerline falling. “We were thinking of the safety of the students.”
“We had wind, we had rain, and thankfully the tornado stayed high in the atmosphere,” he added.
Some areas also experienced hail, which plunged into Lake Winola on Tuesday and left dents in vehicles outside.
Dziak also said no injuries or deaths were reported from Tuesday or Wednesday, and he hopes this can be attributed to people paying attention to the tornado warnings.
Looking back at the 1998 tornado in Lake Carey, he also appreciates improved technology that continues to be an asset in these emergency situations and allows EMA to make good calls.
“People really need to continue to pay attention, especially for a tornado,” he said. “Get in the center of your home if you don’t have a basement, and if you have a basement, get into it. Tornadoes are super dangerous and I think that information being passed as quick as it did contributed to not having any injuries.”
by Brooke Williams (2019, June 5) Wyoming County Press Examiner
