x
Breaking News
More () »

Barn from 1800s Heavily Damaged by Storms

MADISON TOWNSHIP — Stormy weather downed trees and damaged property in in Lackawanna County, and in one case, damaged a farm that’s been in the same...

MADISON TOWNSHIP -- Stormy weather downed trees and damaged property in in Lackawanna County, and in one case, damaged a farm that's been in the same family for generations.

"This is a sturdy old barn; it's weathered a lot of tough stuff, not this one."

The barn on Reservoir Road in Madison Township was built sometime in the 1800s and for three generations, it's been with the Sacshe family.

"Well, it means a ton to my wife, yeah, a long time."

Dick Weise was emotional when he told us how a fellow farmer called him to tell him the barn had been damaged in the storm

"I couldn't believe it," said Weise. "I jumped out of bed,  couldn't believe what I saw, but there it is, Mother Nature, can't blame anybody."

Those fellow farmers then stepped in to help the barn stores hay. Weise says luckily, they were almost out and the remaining inventory was salvageable.

The barn, though, may not be.

"There was just metal roofing across the whole field, wood across the whole field, the trees stopped all that but, this tree went down, one up there went down. It looks like there was just a narrow path, touched down, came through, did it's damage and you can see what it did."

What was left standing was warped.

Weise says a builder will have to determine if they can put a new roof on the family heirloom. If they can, the neighbors will help with that, too.

"When it comes down to stuff like this, everybody sticks together. I kind of think it's like that everywhere, you know, but especially here where you're farming."

The barn in Madison Township is among the worst of the damage from Monday night's storm. A few dozen homes in the area are still without power.

Several trees were knocked down in the storm when it came through around 11 p.m. Monday and the farmers say the one lucky break they did get is that they never lost power.

Before You Leave, Check This Out