A severe storm which apparently spawned a tornado devastated about a half-mile of woodlands outside of Bowmanstown late yesterday afternoon.

The tornado touched down in woods south of Fireline Road just outside of town proper, continued in a northeast pattern and stopped a short distance past the Fireline Hotel.

The most severe structural damage occurred to the hotel, where a tall tree was toppled and crashed into a second-floor window, a front door was split in the middle and ceiling tiles were stripped in the kitchen.

Trees fell on power lines, requiring emergency responses by firefighters from Bowmanstown and Aquashicola.