Slow-moving thunderstorms flood Canonsburg businesses
Downed trees close Route 50 in Cecil Township
Slow-moving storms dumped a deluge of rain on the Canonsburg area Wednesday night, flooding several businesses and making some heavily traveled roads impassable.
The west end of the borough was hammered by more than two inches of rain for at least an hour beginning shortly after 6 p.m., causing damage to the business district in the 500 block of West Pike Street.
“Any time water gets into your place it’s going to cause problems,” Canonsburg Mayor Dave Rhome said. “It was all over (the borough), but it was the worst in the west end.”
Cleanup crews could be seen working Thursday removing the thick mud from parking lots or washing the interiors of storefronts that were inundated by floodwater.
Michael Spadaro of Canonsburg was helping a friend who owns Community Motors by using a power washer to clear the muck from the parking lot. He said the auto repair shop did not sustain damage to the building, but several nearby businesses across West Pike weren’t as fortunate.
Jason Frazier, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, said a residential observer living near that area recorded 2.2 inches of rain between 6 and 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“The cause of the flooding wasn’t the amount (of rain), but how quickly it fell,” Frazier said.
He said slow-moving thunderstorms produced a large amount of rainfall at one time in the area, causing the quick-rising water that flooded West Pike and other areas, such as Morganza Road near the entrance to Southpointe.
The storms also caused several trees to fall in Cecil Township, including a large one that toppled power lines and came to rest across Route 50 near the Golden Pig restaurant. Cecil Township Manager Don Genusso said there were “a few trees down, some localized flooding and intermittent power outages” in the township, but otherwise they were mostly unscathed.
The summertime weather pattern with hot, moist air could continue to bring more thunderstorms that produce heavy rain, Frazier said. He expected those conditions to continue through next week, bringing uncertainty to the forecast.
“Warm and moist (conditions) aren’t going to change, so there is going to be varying chances of afternoon and evening thunderstorms that have a chance to produce a lot of rainfall in a short amount of time,” Frazier said.