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In Lackawanna County, Parks Pounded by Strong Storms

SCRANTON, Pa. — We’ve seen damage to homes and properties all across northeastern and central Pennsylvania, but downed trees caused damage to parks ...

SCRANTON, Pa. -- We've seen damage to homes and properties all across northeastern and central Pennsylvania, but downed trees caused damage to parks too, including in Scranton.

Parts of Nay Aug Park remain closed because of downed trees and power lines. We've seen damage to many homes and properties across Lackawanna County, but also to other parks like here in Scranton.

All first responders in Dunmore were called in first thing Monday morning to assess the damage to people's homes and properties around the borough. But for some, the damage at Sherwood Park is the most upsetting.

Sisters Judy Finella and Roseann Desavino grew up in Dunmore and now spend most of their summer months here with their grandchildren. They were shocked to find every pine tree that once lined Sherwood Park's exterior uprooted.

"Better be OK because the kids live here with the splash pad and the baseball games, the carnival comes up here. With the kids, you're here. It's just not fair, it's not right," Finella and Desavino said.

All of the trees fell in the same direction towards the field. Park officials say no one was injured, but now they're just in shock.

"Not damage like this, those trees have been there for, oh, my gosh, the park is here since 1958, and they've been here since around that time, so they've been here a long time," said Susan Brace of the Sherwood Youth Association.

In Scranton, parts of Nay Aug Park are closed because of downed trees and wires.

"New experience for me because I've never been around anything the day after kind of thing," said Chuck Gilpin.

Gilpin was out for his walk and couldn't help but take photos of the damage. Downed trees blocked parts of his path.

"I love coming up here, so I wanted to see what was going on. It's a mess."

Sarah Rivera owns the Ice Cream Lady Shoppe at Nay Aug Park. She lost power during the storm and also lost nearly $1,800 worth of ice cream during the outage.

"I stocked up for the cannabis rally this weekend, I got to start all over," Rivera said.

Rivera says this weekend's festival at Nay Aug Park is one of the most important for her business, so now it's time to clean up and come up with a Plan B.

"Try to get a new delivery, try to get in touch with the insurance, try to deal with this mess."

 

Officials with the National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York are expected to be in both Dunmore and Scranton on Tuesday to assess the damage to determine whether it was caused by straight-line winds or a tornado.

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