The National Weather Service on Tuesday night confirmed that a tornado touched down in the Penns Valley community of Rebersburg on Monday night.
The tornado first touched down at 6:44 p.m. near a wooden pallet factory just outside of the community of 494 residents then moved rapidly to the northeast before lifting, according to an NWS public information statement. It was on the ground for about one minute.
Several dozen homes and outbuildings were damaged by the EF1 tornado, which had a maximum wind speed of 110 miles per hour. Several dozen trees were snapped or uprooted and one utility pole snapped.
One person was injured when he was trapped after the work shed he was inside collapsed.
The tornado had a maximum path width of 100 yards and length of 1.1 miles.
Rebersburg, with a population of 494, is part of Miles Township, which reported a significant amount of property damage throughout the municipality of nearly 2,000 residents.
@jmnese Extensive damage in Rebersburg on the NWS Survey today. pic.twitter.com/4wn5xEaeuQ
— Quinn Lease (@QuinnLeaseWX) May 2, 2017
Though Rebersburg was the site of the only confirmed tornado in Centre County, Monday night’s storm caused damage, downed trees and extensive power outages throughout the county. Nearly 20,000 homes and businesses were without power on Monday night.
As of Wednesday morning, West Penn Power reported 2,993 customers remained without power.
In Harris Township, which also was struck hard by the storm, more than 90 percent of the township was without electricity into Tuesday morning. By Wednesday morning, 712 customers were still without electricity, down from more than 2,600 on Monday night.
