By Michael Jones, Staff writer

mjones@observer-reporter.com

Severe thunderstorms swept through Western Pennsylvania Sunday evening, causing extensive damage to northern Washington County and prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for the area.

There were reports of multiple downed power lines and trees in the county, with the heaviest damage concentrated in Canonsburg, Cecil and South Fayette. However, no injuries or serious vehicle accidents were reported due to the weather.

The storms blew shingles off Rod Astuto's home at 514 Burnside Drive in Cecil Township, and a tree toppled over onto his garage. It appeared the tree did only minor damage to his property and was removed not long after the storms passed about 5:45 p.m.

"Something kicked up pretty fast from the woods and took all the trees with it. It's bad everywhere here," Astuto said. "I heard a big, loud roar, and that was it. It just came right through. It just hit fast."

Muse fire Chief Ron Zombeck said his department spent four hours clearing more than 25 trees from several roads in Cecil.

"It cut a perfect path from the Route 980 corridor all the way to Southpointe. It just blew a half-mile-wide path in the middle. It looks like a bomb blew up," Zombeck said. "It just looks like someone sheared the tops of all the trees off."

That area appears to be one of the hardest hit in Western Pennsylvania.

Gerry Parrish, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Moon Township, said the service issued a tornado warning at 5:16 p.m., meaning there was a "signature on radar of a possible tornado" between Cecil and South Fayette townships.

"There was a report in from the public of a funnel cloud over Canonsburg. We have no verification of that from law enforcement or emergency management yet," Parrish said. "This was the only tornado warning we put out (Sunday)."

He said the damage in Cecil and Canonsburg likely was caused by a downburst producing winds as high as 60 mph. Parrish expected a weather service official to go to that area today to determine if a tornado touched down.

There also were reports of broken utility poles and downed trees in South Strabane, Bentleyville and Mt. Lebanon. But a Greene County emergency dispatcher said they did not receive any reports of damage from the weather.

Allegheny Energy spokesman Mark Nitowski said about 1,900 customers in McDonald, Canonsburg, Cecil and South Fayette were without electricity Sunday night. Another 1,600 homes in the Allegheny County's South Hills and about 4,200 homes in Masontown, Fayette County, lost power. Crews were working to restore power by this morning, he said.

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