Wicked weather hits area
What might have been a tornado tore through a small part of Fairchance Monday evening as wicked weather ripped through much of the region causing flash flooding, damaging homes and interrupting power to several areas. Jill Dempsey said the storm left a swath of debris and damage in her Fairchance neighborhood, missing her home but damaging several others just one street away.
“The storm came through and it was just spinning, you could hear it,” Dempsey said. “It picked up a shed and moved it. It uprooted trees all along Green and Ash streets. People saw everything just spinning.”
While Fayette County 911 officials and meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh could not confirm that a tornado touched down in Fairchance, the funnel cloud was spotted by at least three witnesses in the Fairchance area.
Weather service officials also confirmed that a rotation was identified inside the storm that could have produced a tornado.
The thunderstorm moved through the region shortly after 8 p.m., dumping large amounts of rain across the district.
Officials said wind gusts were reported as high as 70 mph as the storm blew through.
According to Fayette County 911, volunteer firefighters were called to a location on Route 51 in North Union Township where a transformer exploded during the storm.
Power lines were also reported down in Masontown and Ronco.
Trees were reported down in several areas including North Union, German and Georges townships as well as Brownsville and Fairchance. Minor flooding was reported in areas across the countyas well including on Morgantown Street in Uniontown and in the Fairchance area.
Hail, some as large as golf balls, was also reported in multiple areas in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties.
Dispatchers at Fayette County 911 said they were inundated with calls throughout the evening following the rapidly moving storm but said storm damage reports appeared to be light considering the voracity of the squall, noting that the Fairchance area appeared to be hit the hardest by the quick-moving weather system.
The northern end of the county was spared damage and some areas reported no precipitation Monday night.
Fayette County remained under a flash flood warning after the storm moved through with runoffs expected to pool in low-lying areas and roadways.
Meteorologists said that the will help significantly cool temperatures in the region with highs expected in the mid-60s today.
herald_standa477:
http://www.heraldstandard.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19778785