No injuries reported after suspected tornado strikes Mahanoy City’s west end
School campus severely damaged, closed; plank driven deep into rooftop
PHOTO COURTESY / JACK HURST, MASD -- A plank is seen driven into the Mahanoy Area High School roof on May 27, 2024 after a reported tornado.
MAHANOY CITY – The school district campus here as well as several homes were damaged and, miraculously, no one was hurt in the first tornado to strike the Mahanoy Valley in many decades, if ever.
The National Weather Service at State College issued a tornado warning around 8pm Monday for what they called a tornado confirmed on the ground by emergency management.
Video submitted to the Sentinel and posted to social media showed the funnel cloud rolling through Mahanoy City borough, with debris swirling around it.
Dave Truskowsky, public information officer for the Mahanoy City Fire Department, said several roofs were taken off homes, mainly off vacant homes.
He said “bricks were all over the place, siding is everywhere,” and there was severe damage to the Mahanoy Area High School.
John Blickley, Schuylkill County Director of Emergency Management, said “The main damage appears to be the school district.”
“There was a home that was uninhabitable,” and that a family of four was displaced.
The Emergency Management Agency and first responders in the Mahanoy area set up a command post at the Dollar General, whose sign was damaged in the incident.
No injuries were reported in the area.
SHERRY STREETER / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – A plank is seen embedded in the grass at the Mahanoy Area High School. 
SHERRY STREETER / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – A window is seen busted at the Mahanoy Area High School. 
SHERRY STREETER / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – Debris is seen on Centre Street. 
SHERRY STREETER / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – Wires were downed atop this Jeep. 
SHERRY STREETER / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – Debris is seen down between two parked cars. 
SHERRY STREETER / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – Damage seen to a roof in town. 
MICQUELYNN KAPUSCHINSKY / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – Debris and a damaged window at the Mahanoy Area High School. 
SHERRY STREETER / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL – Damage seen to the window at the Mahanoy City Lumber Company building.
Mahanoy City borough and Mahanoy Township declared disasters and the full extent of damage is still being assessed.
The National Weather Service stopped short of confirming a tornado later in the evening, but said they would be in town around 11am for a storm survey.
A final assessment is expected to be completed and sent out by 4pm Tuesday.
The American Red Cross set up a shelter at the Citizens Fire Company for anyone in need, as over 600 PPL customers were without power from Catawissa Street west to the end of town. Buck Mountain was without power as well Monday evening.
Schools in the Mahanoy Area School District are also closed Tuesday.
Superintendent Joie Green shared photos of the damage to the district’s roof, taken by Business Administrator Jack Hurst.
On the roof, a piece of wood was seen driven deep into the structure, and a similar sight was seen by a Sentinel photographer in the grass elsewhere on campus.
A tree was also thrown onto campus, destroying a fence.
Elsewhere in town, the front window to the former Mahanoy City Lumber Company was shattered.
If confirmed as a tornado, it would be the first in the Mahanoy valley since at least 1950, and only the third in northern Schuylkill County in that timeframe.
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