HARRISBURG, Pa. — An afternoon of severe thunderstorms left its mark in neighborhoods across Central Pennsylvania. Portions of Hummelstown saw strong winds and rain, knocking trees into buildings and cars.
“The tree out back actually got struck by lightning and came down really quickly," said Sean Hughes, a Hershey resident.
Hughes was away from his apartment when lightning struck this tree, but says the moment shook up his neighbors.
“We weren’t sure what the damage was going to be like," said Hughes. "It was definitely frightening coming home to everyone out here and the fire department out here.”
Communities in Hershey weren’t the only ones impacted by the rain and strong winds. In Middletown, several power lines were brought down along the Harrisburg Pike. It was scenes like that that caused thousands of Pennsylvanians to lose power Saturday afternoon.
“You don’t want your lights out because you have to wait on them to come and turn yourself on," said Steven Davis, a Harrisburg resident. "So, you’re really messed up, especially when you don’t know what conditions someone is living in.”
PPL’s outage map shows more than 9,700 hundred homes and businesses in Lancaster County were still without power as of Saturday night. The same goes for around 100 MetEd customers in York and Dauphin counties.
Davis says his neighborhood was spared from any outages; however, he’s hoping power is restored to the homes left in the dark, fast.
“I hope everything goes well with that, praise God that everything goes well with that," said Davis.