Tornado rips roof off Lewisburg fireworks store in Union County

A tornado ripped the roof off a fireworks store in Lewisburg and left a trail of damage on the north side of town, turning a severe weather scare into a concrete cleanup job for one of Union County’s most visible commercial corridors.

Video from the scene showed the roof torn away as the storm moved through Union County on Sunday. The National Weather Service later confirmed that a tornado touched down in the county, and the State College office said the twister hit at about 4:25 p.m. on July 2, 2023, remained on the ground for about eight minutes and was rated EF-1.

The weather did more than strip away roofing. The National Weather Service said the same tornado damaged a fireworks store, tipped an RV and caused damage to a flea market. PennLive reported that three suspected tornadoes hit Union County that afternoon and that there were no reported injuries, a sign that the storm’s impact was concentrated on buildings and property rather than people.

The Lewisburg damage carries extra weight because the building was a fireworks store, a business that depends on specialized storage and careful handling of combustible inventory. Even without injuries, a blow like this can force immediate site inspections, temporary closure and costly repairs before a building can be secured and reopened. In a borough where commercial sites sit close to neighborhoods and major travel routes, a torn-off roof also raises quick concerns about loose debris, structural stability and whether nearby properties were exposed to the same wind threat.

Michelle Dietrich, Union County’s emergency management director, was identified in coverage of the storm response. The confirmation of a tornado also places the damage in the context of a county that has had multiple tornado event days recorded in the National Centers for Environmental Information storm database, underscoring that severe wind is not a one-off risk here.

WKOK later followed up with the fireworks store owner, who called the storm damage “a terrible shock.” For Lewisburg and the rest of Union County, the episode was a reminder that a short-lived tornado can leave behind a much longer recovery, from debris removal and insurance claims to the work of making a damaged site safe again.