Looking Back 1980-First tornado in a century hits Chambersburg area
Monday, May 12, 1980, was winding down. Families were sitting down to dinner. Some people were just returning home from work. It has been a warm day so many people had opened their windows to allow the fresh air in. Then just after 6 p.m., a large black cloud moved in over Chambersburg, the wind began gusting to incredible speeds and rain fell, sometimes very heavily. “It was like fire rolling over the top of the building. The power lines started snapping like candy,” said a motorist who pulled into The Lumber Yard when the rain became too intense to see through, according to the Public Opinion. Another Chambersburg resident, Ida Beard, said, “I was driving home (via) Radio Hill around 6 and saw a round ball in the sky to my left. It kept getting smaller. I looked like a tunnel Read more…
My new local history column debuts!
For all you lovers of interesting history story of interesting people, unique events, mind-boggling crimes and just feel-good slice of life stories check out my new Looking Back column in the Chambersburg Public Opinion. It will run twice a month in the newspaper and is the sister column to my original Looking Back column in the Cumberland Times-News, which looks at history of Cumberland, Allegany County and the rest of Mountain Maryland. The debut column looks at Chambersburg Day at Pen-Mar Park in 1906. It’s a nice slice-of-life story about the area. Up next will be a look back at the 1980 tornado that touched down in Chambersburg and caused a lot of damage. Check out the column if you get a chance and let me know what you think.
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