High Winds Leave Trail Of Destruction Throughout Area
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Walloped by wind for hours on end.
Trees toppled, power lines snapped and a big mess was left behind after high winds blew through the Pittsburgh area over the last 36 hours.
Thousands of people still don't have power and it seems like there is damage everywhere you look.
In Fayette County, chunks of insulation, mangled debris and damaged wood are all the remain after a portion of a roof was ripped off the Catholic War Veteran Building on East main Street in Uniontown..
In Pittsburgh's Spring Garden neighborhood, the wind blew down part of a condemned home on high street. Cement blocks and debris were left piled up between two homes and the side came down. A demolition crew will be brought in to tear down the rest of the home.
Residents had to use the basement door to get inside their apartment building in the 2300 block of Wilson Street on the North Side. This after hundreds of bricks broke loose from the facade and tumbled into the street, although the city is not ready to blame high winds.
Fortunately no one was hurt and the building is still considered structurally sound.
But things that weren't nailed down
"It was insane," said Sarah Haddad of Ross Township. "We have a little trampoline in our back yard and it just got wrecked. The metal bar is actually bent."
And that's not even the tip of the iceberg.
No matter where you live, there is a good chance there is a downed tree in your neighborhood. Winds as high as 60 mph took a heavy toll on trees and properties in the area.
Robert Terry will never forget the sound of this 60-foot tall pine tree slamming into the back of his House on Shaler road on Sunday night.
"Terrifying, he said. "It came down, you heard this incredible crash that shook. I didn't know what happened. I came running out front and everything was fine. Then I ran around back and the tre is through the window."
Terry is thankful the tree missed his car but it left whole in his window and damaged his gutter. His biggest problem will be getting the tree cut up and removed.
The earliest a tree service could get to Terry's home is Saturday.
He's not the only homeowner who needs to have a downed tree cut and removed.
The driveway at a home on Gibsonia Road had at least six downed trees with two of them on top of the vehicles. It appears that high winds took a major toll on evergreen trees throughout the area. According to a tree expert, high winds blow through trees with no leaves. But trees with foliage offer more resistance. Plus the combination of narrow roots and saturated ground make them easy targets for strong winds.
When Greg Novak heard the howling winds in Ross Township on Sunday night, he knew it was a bad sign for his pine trees.
"The win's talking to you all day long," he said. "You could tell something was going to happen. There's like a row of 10 of them, and the one fell. A couple hours later another one fell."
