Strong storm knocks out power
By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
Strong storms left thousands of Mon Valley residents without power on Thursday.
According to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, a severe thunderstorm watch remained in effect until early this morning for Allegheny, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties among others in the region.
The storms brought heavy rains and scattered gusts of wind up to 70 miles per hour.
Winds knocked down trees and power lines in several communities.
According to posts on social media, a transformer blew around 8 p.m. in the 1300 block of Overlook Terrace in Donora.
Shortly after, Valley Inn Fire Department was called to Snyder Avenue in Carroll Township for live wires down and a tree and a telephone pole on fire.
At the same time, Lock No. 4 Volunteer Fire Company in North Charleroi reported wires and a tree on fire in the area of Olive Avenue.
West Penn Power reported more than 53,000 outages at 9 p.m.
In Allegheny County, outages affected fewer than 10 customers in Elizabeth Township and West Elizabeth Borough.
In Fayette, more than 600 customers were without power in Perryopolis and about 20 more in Washington Township.
Hundreds of outages were reported in Washington County, the most in the Mon Valley.
Communities reporting outages in Washington were: California (25), Carroll Township (163), Charleroi (85), Coal Center (5), Donora (40), Finleyville (9) and Monongahela (5).
Fallowfield Township and North Charleroi were among the hardest hit. As of 9 p.m., more than 300 outages were reported in the township, affecting more than 2,000 customers, and nearly 600 outages were reported in North Charleroi, affecting 690 customers.
In Westmoreland County, more than 2,200 residents were left without power in Arnold City. There were 22 reported outages in Monessen and fewer than five in Rostraver Township.
