SCOTTDALE, Pa. — A community hit hard during storms on Saturday is urged to be cautious as cleanup efforts get underway.
Early afternoon storms ripped through Southwestern Pennsylvania, leaving behind a swath of damage in Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
One of the areas hit hard is in Scottdale, where almost half of the borough is still without power as of 9 a.m. Sunday.
Our crew in the community has seen many massive trees uprooted and wires lying across roadways. Drone 11 video captured linemen working Sunday to restore power to thousands of customers.
SEE PHOTOS OF DAMAGE FROM AROUND SCOTTDALE
Scottdale Mayor Lindy House said first responders have been hard at work to make sure the community is safe. She urges the public to avoid downed power lines and not to try to remove a fallen tree near any wires.
“Power will potentially be out for a few days at minimum,” House said. “Be sure to continue to check on your neighbors as we continue to get through the aftermath of this storm the best that we can.”
On Sunday afternoon, House said she’d signed a declaration of disaster emergency that takes effect immediately.
The declaration authorizes her to employ relief services, foregoing the typical bid process.
“Nothing changes for the residents other than seeing a much quicker response in the cleanup of borough property,” House said.
During a special council meeting Sunday evening, House said the disaster declaration allows the borough to bring in outside help.
“We are able to contract out a tree service. They are going to come in tomorrow, assess all the damage everywhere and start helping get the parks and borough property taken care of,” House said.
West Penn Power confirmed Sunday that it anticipates a “multi-day restoration effort in some areas” as multiple communities have reported “widespread tree damage and equipment issues.”
The National Weather Service is surveying storm damage in areas possibly impacted by a tornado on Monday, and Scottdale is one of the areas meteorologists will look into. Community members are urged to share their damage reports with the agency.
Some streets in Scottdale remained impassable Sunday because of fallen trees.
“I came out, my neighbors yelled at me, look out front, and the whole street was pretty much wiped out with the trees,” resident Jane Scott said.
Scott said she had to make a split-second decision to get to a safer place inside her home as the storms moved through Saturday.
“I was upstairs in the bedroom, I grabbed the dog, went downstairs, my back door flew open, I’m trying to shut the door,” Scott said.
Scott said strong winds damaged parts of her roof and siding.
Similar damage could be seen across the borough, including a massive tree that fell on Chestnut Street.
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