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Severe weather damages landmark pagoda overlooking Reading

Strong gusts Thursday ripped off several of the signature red tiles from the roof.

  • The Associated Press
The landmark Pagoda  in Reading. Photo taken on September 18, 2020.

 Courtesy of Wikimedia user firoz-ansari

The landmark Pagoda in Reading. Photo taken on September 18, 2020.

(Reading) — A storm that brought high winds and heavy rains to eastern Pennsylvania last week also damaged the landmark pagoda atop Mount Penn overlooking Reading.

The Reading Eagle reports  strong gusts Thursday ripped off several of the signature red tiles from the roof of the structure, which dates back to early in the past century.

Cindy Castner, city manager of public properties, said public works crews cleaned up the damage Friday and fortunately there was no evidence of leaks into the interior of the building.

Castner said she wasn’t surprised by the damage and called it “an ongoing problem.” She said many of the terra cotta tiles need to be replaced but “there’s quite a bit involved in that process.”

Thousands of customers lost power during the storm but the total number was reported down to about 100 customers by Friday afternoon.

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