Here's a story about a possible tornado that hit Burlington County, NJ yesterday. One lady died.
Posted on Tue, Oct. 28, 2003
Hurtling branch kills woman in Hainesport
The woman, reportedly 77, had recently joined a bowling league. The limb flew across the lot on a day of high winds.
By Nora Koch
Inquirer Suburban Staff
HAINESPORT - An elderly woman who had just finished bowling practice was killed outside the Holly Bowl lanes here yesterday by a wind-borne tree limb that flew across a parking lot, struck the woman and her car, then hit another car before landing.
State police, who last night were trying to notify the victim's family, said the tree struck the woman as she got in her car around 3:40 p.m. yesterday. Shortly after, the unidentified woman was pronounced dead at Virtua Memorial Hospital Burlington County in Mount Holly.
The National Weather Service said witnesses reported seeing a small tornado outside the Burlington County bowling alley, on Route 38 in Hainesport. Meteorologists will investigate today whether the damage there, including two felled trees and a downed lamppost, was caused by straight-line winds or a tornado.
Police said the woman was killed by a large limb that broke loose from one of two downed trees on the south side of the bowling alley. The limb was carried toward the woman's car, near the center of the bowling alley's parking lot. After it hit the woman and her windshield, the limb blew to the next row of parking spaces and damaged the front and windshield of another car. The limb finally landed on the opposite side of the bowling alley.
A Holly Bowl employee said the woman, reportedly 77, had joined a bowling league at the lanes just last week. She had finished one of her first practices before she was killed.
Across the state, winds were clocked as high as 55 m.p.h., with some higher speeds in areas of damage, said meteorologist Bob Wanton of the Mount Holly bureau of the National Weather Service. Wanton said the Weather Service had received many reports of tree damage and downed power lines throughout New Jersey yesterday
Thanks for posting that information Tom. I didn't see it until today, but when I left at about 4:30 yesterday afternoon we got a nasty storm that blew through here. Come to think of it, it's probably from the same line of storms that killed that lady - the wind was really whipping around!
Josh - stay safe out there! I don't know how close you are to those fires, but I've been thinking of you!
None in our 7 day forecast either.