Weather Service: Tornado Did Not Touch Down in Whiting

A National Weather Service meteorologist on Thursday afternoon said that the storm damage in Whiting yesterday was not the result of a tornado, as some speculated, but rather the result of straight-line winds.

Al Cove, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Mount Holly Station, said that an investigation determined that the 75 mph winds experienced yesterday, particularly in Crestwood Village area, were not caused by a twister.

"As far as Whiting is concerned, there was no tornado," he said. The the service is still determining if a tornado formed in Jackson.

An investigation on the ground and radar data analysis led to the conclusion, Cove said.

"The trees were all blown down in the same direction. It was close to our radar, so if there was any rotation we would have seen it," he said.

The confirmation comes as Manchester public works crews have nearly finish with cleanup efforts on township property . Maintenance officials in Crestwood Village estimate that downed trees in the neighborhood could take a week or longer to remove.

Stephen Stanziano, the township's director of public works, said that "90 percent" of the township's cleanup efforts are completed.

"We responded immediately when we knew that trees were down," Stanziano said. "We like to do things quick in this town for the seniors. We don't want them to have to work any harder to get where they're going. We do the same thing with the snow."

Township crews today will clean fallen trees, including one in Holly Oaks, and remove a fallen flag pole at Bowker Field in Whiting, Stanziano said.

"We will get [to Bowker Field] as quick as possible, out of respect for the veterans," Stanziano said, adding that he hopes to have a new pole and flag in place sometime next week.

Wednesday's severe weather, which damaged over 40 homes, , and , "took a very narrow path," Stanziano said.

He said that the storm missed World War II Memorial Park, which is less than a mile from Bowker Field. Damage to monuments at the park could have been more substantial since many flags are displayed there, Stanziano said.

"The weather out in Whiting was a lot worse than on [the eastern] side of town. The hail out there was significantly bigger. By the time it got to town hall, it was the size of a pea," he said. 

"The hail itself didn't do much damage, it was the wind," Stanziano said.

Dave Scheibe, observation program leader for the National Weather Service's Mount Holly office, said on Thursday that there has still been no official confirmation that a tornado touched down in Manchester.

Damage to homes in the Crestwood Village area of Whiting is being taken care of by village maintenance and its contractors. 

Bill Matthews, maintenance supervisor for Stanley Contracting in Whiting, said that crews will probably work for at least a week to remove fallen trees, many of which were uprooted, from the neighborhood.

"We're on call 24/7," he said. "We're here to help the residents. That's our main goal."

Crestwood's maintenance secretary, Donna Wilson, said that the storm was "12 minutes of nothing like I've ever seen before."

Minutes after the wind, hail and rain subsided, the phones at her office began ringing nonstop, she said.

"It was like pick up, hang up, pick up, hang up," Wilson said. The village's crews responded to the calls and had neighborhood streets cleared within three hours of the storm, according to Wilson. 

"Nobody can believe the job that they did," she said.

Stanziano said that damage could have been worse had the storm moved in another direction.

"We were fortunate the path it traveled," he said. "There are a lot of trees in this township. We dodged a bullet somehow. We got lucky. We really did," though he added that the fatal crash on Route 571 was "tragic." 

Debris will be thrown in a chipper and taken to the  and sweepers will clean the road, Stanziano said.

"It gets recycled," he said.

Stanziano estimated that cleanup costs will run the township about $1,000.

"I guess we did OK when we crunch the numbers," he said. The township does not need to purchase a new flag pole as one is in the possession of the Department of Public Works.

In nearby Howell, where a tornado was possibly spotted along Route 9 Wednesday, a secretary at the township's public works office said that crews there have no damage to deal with today.