HALLSTEAD, Pa. — Downed trees could be seen around parts of Susquehanna County after heavy rains and strong winds blew through on Wednesday.
John Dribnack lives in Hallstead and says the storm didn't last long, but it was enough to make a mess.
"The storm was 30 minutes from the start of the rain to the end of the rain, and the wind was only like 10 or 15 minutes if that. It was really howling; there was no doubt there," Dribnack said.
Rose Hill Cemetery took on most of the damage in town. The cemetery has headstones dating back to the 1800s, and many of the trees have stood in this cemetery for more than a century.
"They're really old. You can see that tree there's had a hollow spot, and that's probably why yield and so if you look around some of these trees are three-and four-foot diameter, so they're there, they've been here a long time," Dribnack said.
Jim and Mary Shaw came from New Milford to plant flowers at Jim's parents' graves and couldn't believe the mess left behind from the storm.
"I was really surprised by the damage. There's a lot of old trees here and very large trees," Jim Shaw said.
Volunteers say that this damage couldn't come at a worse time because Memorial Day weekend is usually a time where people come and take care of the gravesites of their loved ones, including putting up veteran's flags.
"The Legion, they come up and put up their flags on the different graves. They'll probably put them up this weekend, if not today or tomorrow," Dribnack said.
Volunteers, including Cathy Dorning, were helping cut up the trees and clean branches from the road. Unfortunately, some of the trees landed on or near headstones causing some to be moved out of place.
"And this is work. This isn't so bad. So far, not replacing a whole lot of things, so I'm happy about that part of it," Dorning said.
It is unclear if any of the headstones were damaged enough to need significant repairs.