Clean Up Efforts Underway In Millvale And Lawrenceville Following Microburst

MILLVALE (KDKA) -- Neighbors are cleaning up today after the National Weather Service said a microburst hit parts of Lawrenceville and Millvale.

The storm rolled through around 7:00 Saturday night.

Along Evergreen Road near Route 28 in Millvale, crews found a tree that had fallen down and away from a home.

Here's some of the damage we're finding in Millvale. This is on Evergreen Road. pic.twitter.com/qcTnOFt1M4

— Chris Hoffman (@NewsmanChris) August 18, 2019

"I thought it was a matter of time. I'm glad it fell right and not left," landlord Andy Bencsics said.

He estimated the tree to be anywhere from 100-200-years-old. They had a similar tree fall down near that house back in 2002.

The tree feel on to a parking lot next to the house and didn't hit any homes or cars.

"It's a bunch of wires and trees and poles and a transformer," Jackie Murray said.

She was out getting groceries with her husband during the storm. They came back to find the tree down and no power.

They are staying with others until their power returns.

"We have more and more violent storms nowadays for whatever reason, and this is the result," Bencsics said while looking at the damage.

A utility pole was snapped in half with the transformer lying in the street and another pole down Evergreen Road fell over and blocked the road.

"They don't have no power over here and that's an assisted living place," Murray said as she pointed to the building across the street from her home.

"That's what I told everybody. That was definitely a microburst. Boom and done," said Evergreen Living Assistance Employee Crystal Hunkele.

They house 35 adults. Hunkele said they did not need to send anyone away from the home while they don't have power.

Fellow employee Amanda Nigriss said the storm lasted for less than five minutes.

"It just came out of nowhere. Pouring down rain and you looked out and you couldn't see nothing but white," she said.

"The street's a mess. The transformer is laying there. It's a miracle no one got killed or hurt," Murray said while showing KDKA the damage.

Crews were working to get the power restored quickly. According to Duquesne Light, there is no estimate on when power could be restored because they are still assessing the damage and dealing with downed trees and wires.

You can check here to see the latest outage map.