Thousands of residents in Southwestern Pennsylvania woke up Saturday morning with no electricity in their homes as a result of severe thunderstorms Friday night.
West Penn Power Co. in Greensburg said that about 5,240 customers in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington and Greene counties were without power as of 9 a.m.
Duquesne Light said it had about 1,315 customers without power as a result of 35 outages as of 9 a.m. Most of the outages occurred in Pittsburgh, Penn Hills, the South Hills and the Moon and Crescent Township areas of Allegheny County. After the storm, more than 15,500 Duquesne Light customers had lost their power.
Many of the outages had been repaired as of 11:30 p.m. There were still more than 5,000 Duquesne Light customers without power, including more than 1,000 in Penn Hills. Just over 1,600 West Penn Power customers in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties remained without power.
In Crescent Township, a house on McGovern Boulevard caught fire after it was struck by lightning, according to Allegheny County emergency officials.
Crescent: house on fire after being struck by lightning – 180 Block McGovern Boulevard
— Allegheny County (@Allegheny_Co) July 10, 2020
Another house was struck by lightning in Greensburg, according to Westmoreland County 911. The blaze was quickly extinguished.
First responders rescued several people from their cars in Monessen when clogged storm drains caused the roads to flood, according to Westmoreland County 911.
In Crafton, a tree fell on a house on Steuben Street.
Crafton: 200 block W Steuben St – tree down on house
— Allegheny County (@Allegheny_Co) July 10, 2020
Officials reported dozens of downed trees and wires, as well as numerous flooded roads.
As of 7:15 p.m. more than an inch of rain had fallen in much of the region, with an additional inch possible by the end of the evening, according to the National Weather Service
The service issued a flood warning and severe thunderstorm warning for much of the Pittsburgh region Friday evening, warning of wind up to 60 miles per hour and penny-sized hail.
The warnings included Pittsburgh, New Kensington, Irwin, Monroeville and Monongahela.
