Severe storms rip through Valley

By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
Severe thunderstorms swept through the region early Wednesday morning, leaving some area residents without power and damage to their cars, yards and homes.
The warning lasted through 6 a.m. in Allegheny, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties and was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 75 mph.
In some areas, a tornado warning was issued, but was lifted around 2 a.m.
There have been no reports from the National Weather Service that a tornado or microburst occurred in the Mon Valley despite major damage left behind.
Meteorologists confirmed Wednesday a tornado hit Tarentum.
Rostraver and Elizabeth Township and surrounding communities appeared to be hit the hardest Wednesday morning.
Rostraver Township resident Brianna Pato said she woke up to a “war zone.”
She said her husband, Matthew, woke up to assess the damage and what she saw when she looked for herself put her in tears.
“It looks like a war-zone, a scene straight out of a movie,” she said. “We thought a tornado might have came through.”
Pato lives adjacent to Cedar Creek Park and was blocked from leaving her home Wednesday morning because of a downed tree that fell only a few feet away from her home and crossed more than one driveway.
“Cedar Creek Park is destroyed with thrown and down trees almost everywhere you look,” she said. “The flagpole is destroyed, there are large signs everywhere and the power is out. It’s insane.”
Despite having a lot of clean up to do, she said everyone in the neighborhood was in good spirits Wednesday.
“We just cleared the tree from our driveway so we are able to leave to go get more chainsaws to cut the rest of them,” she said. “There have been township trucks and tree cutting businesses out here all day helping people clean up, so we are really thankful for that and just glad no one got hurt.”
Rostraver Central Fire Department said via Facebook they responded to multiple calls for downed trees and wires.
Photos shared on social media by the department are getting a lot of attention. It appears the Concord area was hardest hit.
A church lost its steeple, trees crashed into homes, bleachers at a local ball field were mangled.
About 1,000 residents remained without power Wednesday afternoon.
In Forward Township, Allegheny County, several roadways were impacted.
Police Chief Travis Stoffer said there was little damage, but downed trees caused several roads to close.
“We still have a few power outages, trees fallen across roads and a lot of debris,” Stoffer said.
Guffey Road was down to one lane near Torrence Road; Ella Hollow near Tunnel Hollow was also down to one lane because of a fallen tree; Elkhorn near Church Hollow had a tree down in the roadway; and Homeplace near Doris Drive had wires down and trees down, Stoffer said.
While power has been restored to some residents, West Penn Power and PennDOT were still working in many area as of presstime.

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