High winds, heavy rain cause havoc
Trees were toppled and power was knocked out in several parts of the region.
Trees were toppled and power was knocked out in several parts of the region.
Heavy rainfall and winds swept through the Mon Valley as multiple severe weather alerts were issued Sunday afternoon.
According to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, thunderstorms developed during the late morning and afternoon hours. Strong wind gusts were the main threat, though a brief tornado and small hail were also possible.
Southeastern Allegheny, Washington, Westmoreland and Fayette counties were under a severe thunderstorm warning until 2 p.m. Sunday, according to the NWS.
Trees were knocked over, power lines were down and some roads were closed, according to our news partners at WTAE. Thousands were without power through Sunday evening.
“Firefighters across the area are responding to multiple incidents,” Charleroi Fire Department stated in a Facebook post. “Please be advised that if you encounter any downed wires, do not ap- proach or touch them. West Penn will attend to them as soon as possible.”
As of 5:30 p.m., Duquesne Light said crews were working to restore power as soon as possible following high winds throughout Allegheny County.
Duquesne Light reported 7,488 customers were without power as of 3:15 p.m., according to its online Outage Map.
“Our crews are working as safely and quickly as possible to assess and repair damage caused by high winds on Sunday afternoon,” the company posted on its website.
West Penn Power was also reporting thousands of outages.
WTAE reported that high winds caused a porch to detach from a home on Valley Avenue in Carroll Township. A woman who was in the house at the time was not injured.
Due to the severity of the storms, PennDOT shut down roads in a few areas, including Elizabeth Township, where police stated that multiple trees had been knocked down.
They advised residents to not exit their vehicles if a tree is in the road and to not drive into flooded roadways – advising residents to be smart, be safe, slow down and to give extra time to travel.
“Our public works crews are making notations of where the trees are down, and they will slowly move around and remove them after the heaviest part of the storm passes through,” the department stated in a Facebook post.
