Gusty Winds Cause Damage Across Area
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) -- High winds around Pittsburgh brought down trees and power lines across the area Thursday.
The National Weather Service issued a Wind Advisory that ended at 10 p.m., with gusts of up to 50 mph possible.
The counties under the advisory included: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Crawford, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Somerset, Venango, Washington and Westmoreland.
Parts of West Virginia and Garrett County in Maryland were also under the advisory.
KDKA Chief Meteorologist Jeff Verszyla says most of the wind gusts were between 35 to 40 mph, but there were also some isolated gusts that were slightly higher.
"Sustained winds will stay noticeable in the range of 15 to 20 miles an hour all night tonight, but we'll lose those higher wind gusts," says Verszyla.
Much of the damage was reported north of the city in places like Pine, Richland and Hampton Townships.
Duquesne Light crews were called to Hampton Township after the winds knocked a huge telephone pole into some wires on Middle and McCully Roads.
The roads had to be blocked off while crews removed it and then worked to install a new one in order to restore power to the area.
In Richland Township, a massive tree was uprooted on Rockwood Drive. It didn't hit anything, but it did scare some people.
"It was just a big, loud thump and we were inside on the other end of the house," said Allison Opsitnick, the homeowner. "We've got five cats, figured one of them jumped on something, came to look out the front window and our beautiful tree that was literally the landscape for the whole front yard is gone."
"I heard the noise and then the phone rang, and it's the school district's emergency broadcast system letting us know that the buses may be late because trees are all over the road," said Bernie Giconi, a neighbor.
First Energy has just over 550 customers still in the dark. And as of 10 p.m. Thursday, Duquesne Light was reporting that they still had about 600 customers without power. They estimate power in Hampton won't be turned back on until about 3 a.m.
"I was home when the power went out," said George Maier, a Hampton Township resident. "I had to work in the dark because I'm a professional engineer... so I had to work until I couldn't see anymore."
The Sarah Heinz House had to be closed tonight due to an outage.
Drivers are urged to use extra caution, especially those operating high profile vehicles.
Meanwhile, Verszyla says some of us were catching spotty showers Thursday evening.
"Otherwise, it's just going to be mostly cloudy and pretty brisk tonight and into the day [Friday]," Verszyla.
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