Tree falls, kills man in Tuesday storms
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
A tree and wires were knocked down on Chubbic Road in North Strabane Township during Tuesday’s storms that swept through the region.
Courtesy of Christine Barton
A large tree was uprooted on property owned by David and Christine Barton in North Strabane Township during Tuesday’s storms.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
The North Strabane Township home of Austin Kletch and Danielle Shipley was damaged when a tree fell on the roof during Tuesday’s storms. The storms wreaked havoc throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Heavy rains and high winds that swept through Southwestern Pennsylvania on Tuesday night caused widespread damage and left one man dead in Upper St. Clair.
The National Weather Service visited Houston and surrounding areas on Wednesday after funnel-like clouds were reported Tuesday, but determined a tornado was not responsible for damages.
“No tornado,” said NWS meteorologist Pat Herald. “(The team) determined it was straight-line wind. About 70 miles per hour, they figured.”
Under the right conditions, tornados can form at wind speeds of 70 mph, said Herald, adding that tornado or not, wind speeds that strong will cause damage.
“No matter what it was, it caused a significant amount of damage in a short amount of time,” said Jodi Noble, Chartiers Township manager, where homes and businesses sustained damage.
In Upper St. Clair, a tree fell across two cars while they were waiting at a red light at McMurray and Bethel Church Road, killing one man, police said.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette released a statement Wednesday afternoon, identifying the victim as Stephen A. Stasenko Jr., 64, a longtime employee of the newspaper.
Stasenko was pulled from the vehicle and taken to St. Clair Hospital, where he later died. His wife, who was a passenger in the car, and a family of six who were in the other car, were not injured.
Additionally, part of the roof of a nearby Sunoco gas station was blown off and power lines fell on the building.
Tuesday’s storms knocked out power to thousands in the region.
According to West Penn Power, about 44,800 customers were experiencing power outages at 8 p.m.
As of Wednesday evening, 820 West Penn Power customers in Washington County and 34 in Greene County were still waiting for power to be restored, along with a number of residents in Allegheny and Fayette counties.
National Weather Service meteorologist Lee Hendricks said the initial batch of thunderstorms moved in around 6 p.m., followed by another round about an hour later.
“This time of year, you have the battle between the influx of warm, moist air coming in from the Gulf, coming into contact with the much colder air that we get from the stronger cold fronts coming into the area,” said Hendricks. “That … is potential for severe weather.”
Residents and public works crews spent Wednesday cleaning up from the storm.
The North Strabane Township Fire Department responded to 45 storm-related calls for service from 6 until 9:30 p.m. Tuesday throughout the township, where trees and wires had fallen on roads, homes, and cars.
Austin Kletch spent Wednesday afternoon cutting limbs from a tree that crashed into his home on Chubbic Road in North Strabane.
Kletch was at work during the storm. His fiancee, Danielle Shipley, headed to the basement after winds picked up and she received a weather emergency alert on her phone.
“I didn’t know the tree had fallen onto the house,” she said. “I came upstairs (after the storm ended) and saw it.”
In Chartiers Township, where firefighters responded to 28 calls, the cover was ripped from the salt storage facility, and a commercial building was damaged when the roof blew off and a wall collapsed.
Trees crashed into two homes, and trees and wires were still blocking Plum Run and Arthur roads early Wednesday afternoon.
Freedom Transit in Washington canceled a stop on a route on Wednesday due to downed power lines.
The severe weather overturned a large barn in Wolfdale and tore half the roof off a home in Houston, near the corners of Cherry Avenue and East Pike Street.
At Canon-McMillan Stadium in Canonsburg, a goal post and bleachers were damaged, along with fencing, high jump and pole vault pits, and two track lanes were gouged by wood pallets.
The damage forced the school district to move its Thursday middle school track meet from the stadium to Chartiers-Houston.
Canonsburg residents reported downed telephone poles and wires, and several fallen trees and tree branches.
“It was a busy time for the police department and the fire department. It was a scary situation, when you’d continue to watch the radar and it seemed like we were sitting right in the bubble,” said Canonsburg Mayor Dave Rhome.
Rhome said he applauds people who received emergency weather alerts on their phones and sought shelter in basements and other safe places.
“Everyone’s got the message out there that it’s real when you get those emergency reports, and you’ve got to take it seriously,” said Rhome.