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Another week, another Warren County barn collapse (PHOTOS)

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Thousands of power outages persisted into the evening across the Lehigh Valley region following strong thunderstorms. Watch video

For the second time in four days, a barn collapsed Monday during severe weather in Warren County.

"There were no injuries, no loss of life," said Frank Wheatley, county public safety director and emergency management coordinator.

Thursday's collapse along Route 519 in White Township ended up being due to a tornado, the National Weather Service said Friday. The agency had at first declined to send a crew to survey the damage, then changed course as eyewitness accounts came in of a funnel cloud.

Monday's storm showed no rotation on the radar as it moved through, weather service meteorologist Dean Iovino said.

Yet the damage was similar, with the barn destroyed this time on Smith Lane, a private road off Asbury Broadway Road in Franklin Township.

Wheatley said his office sent photos of the damage to the weather service at its Philadelphia region forecast office in Mount Holly, New Jersey.

"First blush, again you think it's straight-line winds," Wheatley said. "But then when you look at the treetops, they're all twisted up and then there are several witnesses who saw a funnel cloud."

The funnel cloud reported Monday was not seen touching down on the ground, Wheatley noted.

The barn housed several antique vehicles, and a trampoline on the property was also damaged, he said. Images from the scene showed bales of hay also stored there.

Monday's storm proved deadly elsewhere in New Jersey, as a 26-year-old Plainfield woman was electrocuted after downed wires fell on her car and she attempted to exit the vehicle in Fanwood, Union County.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Monday afternoon across the Lehigh Valley region, unlike the tornado warning issued Thursday. A severe thunderstorm watch, one step below a warning, remained in effect until 8 p.m.

More rain was possible, with lingering showers that could generate a period of moderate to heavy precipitation, said Iovino.

Barn damaged, power cut to thousands across region

The worst seemed to have passed during the afternoon, when winds peaked at 62 mph in Allentown, according to the weather service. Macungie saw pea-size hail, with nickel-size hail reported to the west in the area of Topton, Berks County.

Utility crews were working Monday night to assess damage to power lines from the storm and to restore service.

PPL Electric Utilities was reporting progress at restoring power as of 6:45 p.m., with outages down to 5,372 in Lehigh County -- primarily in Allentown -- and 2,517 in Northampton County.

Met-Ed was reporting a handful of outages in Lehigh County and 235 in Northampton County, with Easton the hardest hit.

JCP&L reported 334 outages in Warren County, primarily in Franklin Township, and 409 in Hunterdon County.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.


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