For those West Hills residents who weathered the storm – literally – Tuesday night, brace yourselves for what could be Round 2.
The National Weather Service said Wednesday that more severe weather could be on the way for the greater Pittsburgh area late Thursday afternoon and into the evening hours, with wind gusts potentially reaching nearly 60 mph.
That doesn’t come close to the gusts that forecasters measured during Tuesday’s storm, which were as high as 90 to 95 mph in some places, said Colton Milcarek, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Pittsburgh office in Moon Township.
Milcarek said the primary time for potential storms to roll through the West Hills and the Pittsburgh area in general Thursday would be between 3-4 p.m., with the window extending until a little past sunset.
“The highest threat is wind, although we couldn’t rule out some hail, and possibly even an isolated tornado,” Milcarek said.
However, Milcarek said he doesn’t expect the damage to be as severe or as widespread as what occurred Tuesday evening when a line of quick-moving thunderstorms knocked down power lines, uprooted and smashed trees and left more than 250,000 Duquesne Light customers without power at one point. That’s about 40% of the utility’s entire customer base.
Milcarek said the potential exists for wind speeds in the 60-mph range “but it’s going to be in scattered places – a lot smaller areas than (Tuesday).”
Allegheny County officials confirmed that two people died in connection with the storm – one man was electrocuted in South Side Slopes and a Ross Township man was killed by a falling tree while on his deck.
Although power had been restored to more than 40,000 Duquesne Light customers by Wednesday morning, more than 161,000 others remained without power Wednesday evening.
About 9,000 of those customers reside in the 15106, 15108, 15136 and 15205 ZIP codes.
John Hilderbrand II, the utility’s vice president of operations, said it could be five to seven days before power is restored to all customers – and that could change depending on the weather.
“If we experience significant weather (Thursday), that will cause additional outages and that could impact the 5-7 day estimated restoration time period,” Hilderbrand said Wednesday during a press conference that also featured Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato and Matt Brown, the county’s Department of Emergency Services chief, among others.
Later Wednesday, Innamorato declared a countywide disaster area, which enables the county to bypass normal procedures and deploy all available resources for emergency response and recovery.
Brown said several municipalities within the county, including Forest Hills, Wilkins and Churchill, had already issued disaster declarations and that Robinson Township was considering it.
Robinson Township Manager/Treasurer Frank Piccolino III said late Wednesday afternoon that the township’s emergency management coordinator had submitted information, including a damage survey, to the county and “as of now, we are awaiting direction of the county.”
The storm also put a wrinkle in the township’s plan to open its new municipal building Wednesday. That couldn’t take place because the power was out, but the township hopes to open for business in the new building Thursday.
Brown said the disaster declaration could loosen the reins on the procurement process but equally as important it would let the public know the severity of the situation.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re panicked or worried or concerned, but we want everybody’s attention, and that includes the public, that we are dealing with a crisis and we need everybody’s help dealing with this,” Brown added. “I’m not going to sugarcoat it – this is a natural disaster that folks at this level don’t see very regularly.”
Brown said it’s important for all the entities to work together and be resilient for the next disaster. “And that could happen (Thursday) based on the National Weather Service forecast,” he said. “We don’t see it as being nearly as impactful, but you have to plan.”
Brown said the county’s 911 system was inundated Tuesday evening, fielding 5,600 calls between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. – about five times the normal amount at that time. The system received 9,300 for the entire day – twice the normal number.
“Most 911 centers, if not all, across the country couldn’t manage the load we saw yesterday,” he said.
Brown said the system experienced delays due to the high call volume. “But the systems did not fail,” he said. “They were bogged down at times, but they did not go down.”
Hilderbrand called Tuesday’s storm “an unprecedented event in the history of Duquesne Light.”
The utility received reports of more than 22,000 hazards including downed wires and trees, snapped poles and damaged facilities. Hilderbrand said Duquesne Light deployed 70 additional contractors Wednesday morning and another 200 were expected to arrive early Wednesday afternoon. They’ll be joined by another 160 Thursday, he said.
Hilderbrand asked residents to be patient and said the utility is doing all it can to assess the situation. He said that assessment won’t be complete until sometime Thursday.
“Once we have a better assessment, we can publish estimated times for restoration at the county and municipal level and ultimately at the individual outage level,” he said.
“We’re safely restoring power as quickly as we can. If we don’t do it safely, we failed.”
In Robinson, residents were sharing information on social media about road closures that played havoc with getting from one place to another. One resident traveled on Lorish Road toward Steubenville Pike and nearly reached her destination when she found the road closed and had to turn around and go back.
“Wish someone would have been kind enough to let folks know near Giant Eagle!!!!!!!” she wrote.
Others were exchanging comments on power being restored – or almost being restored.
“Had about 30 (seconds) of power. Then gone again,” one woman wrote.
“I thought I heard my robotic vacuum turn on. But tried a light and disappointment!”
Still others celebrated when their power was restored.
“I JUMPED up when the light turned on,” said one Countryside Drive resident.
In McKees Rocks, officials at Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church provided a social media update on the fallout from Tuesday’s storm, noting that the 111-year-old edifice was severely damaged.
A dome on the northeast corner of the historic building was completely torn off its tower, which caused interior and exterior structural damage to the roof and landed on the fence near the parking lot.
In addition to the dome and roof damage, a large stained glass window on the west façade was destroyed by the winds.
The church is asking for financial help to repair and rebuild the roof and domes. For information, visit the church website.
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