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Cleaning Up in Susquehanna County

HARFORD TOWNSHIP — People in Susquehanna County are still picking up the pieces from last week’s storm. In the Montrose area, the National Weather S...

HARFORD TOWNSHIP -- People in Susquehanna County are still picking up the pieces from last week's storm.

In the Montrose area, the National Weather Service says it was a tornado that touched down last week, which made a mess of trees, roadways, and utility services.

Most folks have their power back now, but it's going to be a long time before the cleanup here is complete.

Matt Karakash's backyard near Harford was covered by a canopy of trees. Then the storm hit last week, and now the canopy is gone. Tree limbs and tree trunks are scattered all over the ground.

The National Weather Services says 80-mile-an-hour winds, but no tornado, swept through the Harford area on Thursday.

The storm left Karakash without power and tore down about 50 of his trees.

"It basically makes you kind of sad, and rebuilding it, replanting trees so my great grandkids can hopefully not get them knocked down," said Karakash, of Harford Township.

And as Karakash waits for power to be restored to his cabin. He still needs to make repairs to his cabin and clean up all of this tree damage in his backyard, and that's going to take a lot of time and money.

Karakash says some trees fell on his rooftop as well. Removing them this weekend cost thousands of dollars.

Mandi Batzel rents an apartment in Harford. Her power has been restored, but she's waiting for her landlord to clean up the mess in the front yard.

"Obviously people work and stuff so it's a little harder with that. And if you don't have no power, you don't really want to stay at your house anyway. But I think it's going to take a couple weeks at least," said Batzel, of Harford Township.

Another person picking up the pieces is Stephen Groover. He owns 57 acres in Bridgewater Township near Montrose. The National Weather Service says a tornado did hit here on Thursday, with winds of about 90 miles an hour.

Groover has been cleaning up trees that fell into his neighbor's yard.

"The tops of the trees are all torn off. It goes back in a ways. It looks like it touched down for a while and then bounced back over," said Groover, of South Montrose.

It's a lot of work to clean up after a storm that didn't last very long.

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