High winds, power outages hit region as storms blow through Western Pa.

More than 13,000 customers of West Penn Power Co. and Duquesne Light were without power Sunday afternoon as a result of high winds that swept through Southwestern Pennsylvania, toppling trees and down power lines, the utility companies and emergency dispatching centers reported.

Wind gusts of 50-to-60 mph were widespread, National Weather Service meteorologist Shannon Hefferan said. The fastest reported gust was 62 mph at the Washington County Airport; a 54 mph gust was recorded around 2:30 p.m. at the Allegheny County Airport, followed by a 46 mph gust at Pittsburgh International around 2:50 p.m.

Damage was widespread, but Hefferan said the weather service did not have any reports of injuries. According to Hefferan, a roof was ripped off a building in Mercer County, while the side of a building was sheered off in Wheeling. There were reports of trees falling on vehicles.

A severe thunderstorm watch was upgraded to a severe thunderstorm warning that was issued for parts of Allegheny County Beaver, Lawrence and counties north along Interstate-80 through 6 p.m., the National Weather Service said. Most of Westmoreland County remained under a severe thunderstorm watch, with the except of the Laurel Ridge in eastern regions of the county.

Westmoreland County Department of Public safety received numerous reports of several trees down on roadways, as well as wires down on Sunday afternoon.

The National Weather Service is predicting rain this afternoon, with the possibility of snow overnight, with little or no accumulation, in counties north of Pittsburgh.

As of 3 p.m., Duquesne Light was reporting about 3,200 customers without power. Most, about 470, were in Bellevue, followed by Moon with about 400. The number of outages was rapidly rising.

Duquesne Light crews expected to have power restored to all customers by 6 p.m. Monday.

“We experienced technical issues at the height of the storm that prevented some customers from reporting outages, but those have since been resolved,”Duquesne Light spokeswoman Ashley Macik said.

Shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday, Macik said the utility had about 16,000 customers without power, she said.

West Penn Power was reporting about 10,615 customers in Armstrong, Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties were without power as of 3:30 p.m. Most, 2,567 were in Butler County, with 2,340 customers powerless in Washington County, followed by Beaver.

Sustained winds of 25-to-30 mph, with gusts up to 35 mph, are expected through the evening, Hefferan said.

Joe Napsha and Brian Rittmeyer are Tribune-Review staff writers. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter @jnapsha. Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Brian at 724-226-4701, brittmeyer@triblive.com or via Twitter @BCRittmeyer