Tornadoes, Rain Hit Pittsburgh; 1 Hurt, Power Out
Tornadoes and heavy rain lashed the Pittsburgh area Tuesday night, leaving 50,000 people without power and injuring at least one person, officials said.
The National Weather Service said a total of 14 twisters, triggered by a storm system stretching from upstate New York to North Carolina, struck southwestern Pennsylvania in the early evening.
There were no deaths, but one man was seriously injured in Somerset County near Pittsburgh when a tree fell on him.
“There’s been heavy damage,” said Bob Full, an official with the Allegheny County Emergency Management Center.
One of the hardest-hit areas was the Mount Washington neighborhood of Pittsburgh where a tornado stripped homes of siding and peeled off roofs.
Debris littered the community and authorities closed access to the scenic neighborhood overlooking the Monongahela River.
Mount Washington resident Roger Phillip said: “We’ve never seen anything like this here. You hear about these things in places where it’s flat but you don’t expect these things in Pittsburgh where you have all the mountains.”
About 50,000 people in six counties around Pittsburgh were left without power because of the tornadoes, according to Barry Kukovich, spokesman for the Duquesne Power Co.
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