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Heavy storm pounds district

By Josh Krysak 3 min read

A dark, fast-paced storm with heavy winds and torrential rain pushed into the region Monday afternoon and left a path of destruction in its wake, knocking over trees and pulling down power lines across district. And while no specific municipality was hit hardest and major calamities were escaped, the downpour did have emergency crews scrambling to clear debris from area roadways and mend fallen utility lines that left thousands without electricity.

“This was pretty widespread, it seemed to gut the county,” a Fayette County 911 dispatcher said Monday night.

According to the 911 center, trees and wires were down all over the county with one home reported struck by lightning in Georges Township.

The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh issued a severe storm warning for Fayette County around 5:25 p.m. warning the region of the storm, tracking with winds in excess of 58 miles-an-hour and dime-size hail.

All neighboring counties also were under threat of storms.

Allegheny Power spokeswoman Janice Lantz said that only about 200 Fayette County customers were without power Monday night, but added that more than 12,000 customers in Greene and Washington still did not have utilities.

Lantz said by 8 p.m. more than 2,000 homes had been restored to power but said the outages were from about 250 individual problems, stretching repair crews thin.

“We will work throughout the night, but realistically, we won’t get all the power on till tomorrow sometime,” Lantz said Monday night.

Despite the outages, Greene County 911 dispatchers said that their county was spared any significant damage in the fast-moving storm, although reports of downed tress in Greene were reported to the National Weather Service.

Some roadways across the region quickly flooded, causing motorists to slow in the deluge. While the water piled up, officials said no major flooding was reported as a result of the storm.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Lou Giordano said that widespread damage was reported across the region with Brownsville and Belle Vernon hit hard with downed trees and power lines as well as several trees reported down in Fairchance.

Hail bigger than 1-inch was reported in Washington County, Giordano said.

Giordano said showers would clear up Monday night but added that hot and humid conditions today could again spark violent afternoon thunderstorms, with temperatures expected in the mid 90s.

He added that a cool front pushing in Wednesday will bring relief from the sticky weather that has sweltered the region, with high temperatures for Thursday and Friday expected to only reach the mid 70s.

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