Utilities working to restore power to thousands after Monday storms

Strong storms and a couple inches of rain dropped trees, caused sporadic flooding and led to tornado warnings being issued across parts of the region Monday evening.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for southeastern Allegheny County, western Westmoreland County and portions of Fayette and Washington counties as a line of strong storms moved through as the afternoon commute was getting ready to peak late Monday afternoon.

“It’s kind of widespread as far as the damage,” said National Weather Service Meteorologist Jason Frazier. “We had reports all across the region.”

The storms — which stretched intermittently all the way from Kentucky northeast through Pittsburgh, the NWS radar showed — caused reports of downed trees and wires throughout the evening in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Indiana, Fayette and Greene counties, Frazier said.

As storms moved through overnight there was some localized flooding, mainly in portions of Greene County, where flooded creeks caused “a lot of issues,” he said.

Starting around 2:50 p.m., the region saw its first tornado warning, which was issued for the northern portion of Allegheny County and included parts of Beaver and Butler counties. A second warning was issued later in the day for parts of Butler County. By 5 p.m., a third tornado warning was issued in Greene County.

Throughout the evening, severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for parts of Westmoreland, including Mount Pleasant, Scottdale, Youngwood, Greensburg and Monessen as well as parts of Allegheny County including Monroeville, Plum and Pittsburgh.

The warning was canceled around 8 p.m., according to the NWS Pittsburgh Twitter page, but a flash flood warning remained for areas like Bethel Park and Upper St. Clair.

In all, almost 1 inch of rain was recorded at the Pittsburgh International Airport, Frazier said, while totals neared 2 inches in Pleasant Hills. Heavier rain totals were recorded in Washington and Greene counties, which saw up to 4 inches in eastern regions of the counties.

The storms caused widespread power outages, which continued to plague the region Tuesday morning.

As of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, West Penn Power reported almost 10,450 customers without power across its service area, down from 21,000 late Monday night. Of that, 485 customers were without power in Allegheny County with South Fayette Township seeing the highest number of outages from the company, or more than 360 customers.

In Westmoreland, the company reported almost 440 customers without power, according to an outage map. Sewickley Township saw the highest number of outages Monday morning, impacting almost 60 customers. Other outages were scattered through the region and stretched farther east, between Gettysburg and Harrisburg.

About 380 Duquesne Light customers in Allegheny County were without power as of 8:30 a.m. with the greatest concentration, more than 90, in O’Hara. That’s down from the 1,145 customers left without power early Monday morning.

Cooler temperatures are expected to linger throughout the day Tuesday, reaching the mid-60s. Rain is not expected throughout the day but it will remain largely cloudy, Frazier said.

Temperatures will begin to rise Wednesday, reaching the mid-70s, and will be in the lower 80s by Thursday.

A chance of rain returns Friday and through the weekend.

It is a cool, cloudy start to the day, with rain still falling over the Laurel Highlands. You'll want a jacket as you head out this morning...check out the current temperature around the region. pic.twitter.com/IlqOID2Q6q

— NWS Pittsburgh (@NWSPittsburgh) June 22, 2021