At least 4 tornadoes confirmed to have hit Pittsburgh area as line of storms plows through

PITTSBURGH — Tornadoes and strong storms moved through the area Thursday night. Three tornadoes are confirmed to have touched down in Allegheny County and one hit Washington County. Keep coming back to this page as we will continue to update this with the latest information.

>>PHOTOS: Strong storms cause damage after multiple tornado warnings in western Pa.

UPDATE 6 p.m.: HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, Pa.: There is a lot of storm damage Hampton Township. Crews were busy all-day Friday cleaning up the mess after a tornado touched down Thursday night in along Linden Drive where John Jacquel lives with his family.

He and his son were home at the time, and this is how they were warned to take shelter just seconds before the tornado hit.

John Jacquel , Homeowner 11:37:46 “The crazy thing is the Alexa gave us a warning that was a tornado was coming and in matter of seconds, there were all these crazy noises in the house,” said John Jacquel. “You could hear things moving around, you didn’t know what was happening because the power was out, and you couldn’t see anything.”

The roof of their home blew off, massive trees toppled over and their yard is covered with debris.

Tornadoes and strong storms moved through Thursday, causing damage across the area

UPDATE 5 p.m.: AVELLA, Pa: The National Weather Service has yet to survey the damage in Avella on the ground but told Channel 11 it’s likely a tornado. Regardless this community said it left an impact. Channel 11′s Nicole Ford was in that area.

“The chicken coop was out there and two tanks. It’s all gone. They are at the neighbors,” said Lewis Kelly who live in West Middletown.

Heavy winds picked up pieces of his livelihood and deposited it across his 118-acre farm. He lost an entire garage, shed, the roof of his pig pen plus his chicken coop with all the chickens inside.

“I’ve never seen nothing like it. You see on TV and take it for granted until you are in it, it’s just unbelievable,” Kelly said.

He has thousands of dollars of damage and is overwhelmed just looking out his window.

“I make a lot of jokes because it covers up the tears. You know it’s tough, I have to start over,” Kelly said.

He’s not alone. Residents across the Avella area spent Friday cleaning before the rebuilding. One family along Willow Road lost everything as the winds took the top half of their house.

“Obviously, your heart goes out to them, it’s just terrible. As I shared earlier on top of everything, they can’t find their pet lab,” said Fred Ensle who lives up the street.

While people checked on each other, the family’s dog was found shaken up in the woods. That was one blessing to come from a destructive storm.

The NWS is expected to survey the damage on the ground on Saturday.

Strong storms move through Washington County, causing damage across the area

UPDATE 3:30 p.m.: The National Weather Service has determined the severity of the two confirmed tornadoes in Allegheny County and confirmed another tornado in Washington County.

An EF-0 tornado went through Mt. Nebo / Ohio Township and an EF-1 touched down in Hampton Township.

A third tornado was confirmed to have hit Peters Township.

UPDATE 2:30 p.m.: Here are some statistics from the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh that will likely change in the coming days. These numbers include the region that office covers, which is parts of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

• Our region averages 3 confirmed tornadoes per year, but currently at 28 confirmed tornadoes for 2021.
• 10 tornadoes have been confirmed so far for this month, 5 of which occurred on Oct. 16.

UPDATE 1 p.m.: A strong thunderstorm in the Highcliff area caused significant wind damage, but was not a tornado, according to the National Weather Service.

It is linked to the previously confirmed tornado at Mt. Nebo.

UPDATE 12 p.m.: Crews from the National Weather Service were in Hampton Township to survey the damage caused by one of three tornadoes that touched down in the Pittsburgh area Thursday night.

UPDATE 9:45 a.m.: The National Weather Service said three tornadoes were confirmed in southwestern Pennsylvania based on radar data and trained spotters.

Two of the tornadoes touched down in Allegheny County, according to NWS officials. One was spotted in the Ohio Township area crossing Interstate 279 south of mile marker 11. The other hit Hampton Township, where it caused damage along Linden Drive.

The third tornado touched down in Washington County, with homes damaged on Willow Road and Lowry Lane, NWS officials said.

It is possible that more tornadoes occurred, but tornado surveys are required to determine that they did, in fact, touch down.

UPDATE 6:15 a.m.: Three tornadoes hit southwestern Pennsylvania on Thursday, the National Weather Service confirmed. Two of the tornadoes were in Allegheny County, in the Hampton Township and Ohio Township areas. Another tornado was in Washington County.

UPDATE 6 a.m.: From trees being ripped from the ground to the roof of a home being torn off, intense storms Thursday night hit Pittsburgh’s North Hills neighborhoods particularly hard.

On Linden Drive in Hampton Township, neighbors said it sounded like a freight train tore through their neighborhood, shaking their homes as they hid in basements and bathrooms.

The roof was blown off one home, exposing the attic and a family’s belongings stored in it. Part of the roof landed on the family’s truck that was parked outside the home. The same truck was also hit by a tree that fell onto power lines.

>>FULL STORY: Roof torn off home, dozens of trees ripped from ground during storms in Pittsburgh’s North Hills

UPDATE 4:30 a.m.: Thousands of people are still without power Friday morning. Duquesne Light has not given an estimated restoration time, but West Penn Power anticipates that power will be back on for its customers between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Click the following links for the latest on outages for each power company:

• Duquesne Light
• West Penn Power

THURSDAY UPDATES

UPDATE 11:05 P.M.: Sarafina James was live where a 90 foot tree fell onto part of a family home. You can learn more about what made the start of clean up so difficult.

TEAM COVERAGE: Sarafina James uprooted trees

UPDATE 11:03 P.M.: Amy Hudak was live in Hampton Township where a family lost the roof of their home due to the heavy storms. You can see her full report in the video below.

TEAM COVERAGE: Amy Hudak talks about a roof that was ripped off of a home.

UPDATE 8:55 P.M.: Nearly 5,000 outages between Duquesne Light and West Penn Power have been reported.

“It sounded like a freight train.” This is Linden Drive in Hampton Township. Neighbors tell me they hid in basements and bathrooms while their homes shook.

UPDATE 8 44 P.M.: There are approximately 2,500 Duquesne Light customers without power right now because of the storms.

The Hampton Fire Department is also reporting that they believe a microburst passed through the township causing widespread damage. No injuries have been reported.

Our Amy Hudak is on the ground in Hampton Township.

The area is seeing widespread damage.

UPDATE 8:38 P.M.: Here is a photo of damage sent in by one of our ground crews on Forest Avenue.

UPDATE 8:30 P.M. All tornado warnings have been allowed to expire.

There are multiple reports of damage in Allegheny County, primarily in the North Hills.

Firefighters are responding to Linden Drive in Hampton where a roof has blown off and power lines are down.

A second tree is on a house on Kirk Avenue, according to Allegheny County’s Twitter account.

There is also a tree down on an occupied vehicle in Hampton on Middle Road.

Numerous wires are down throughout the township.

In McCandless, tree limbs are blocking traffic on Thompson Run Road.

UPDATE 8:09 P.M.: Parts of Allegheny and Washington counties are now under a Tornado Warning until 8:30 p.m.

UPDATE 8 P.M.: Washington County warning was allowed to expire at 8 p.m.

UPDATE 7:45 P.M.: Parts of Beaver, Westmoreland and Allegheny counties have been added to the list of Tornado Warnings in effect; Pittsburgh included.

LIVE INTERACTIVE RADAR

A cold front will bring rain to the area this afternoon and a few isolated severe storms are possible through early evening. A strong storm could produce damaging winds and heavy pockets of rain. Storms move out after 8pm with clouds lingering overnight.

If you want to receive alerts about weather, download our Severe Weather Team 11 app.

Cooler air returns behind the front Friday and will stick around through the weekend. Stray showers with clouds are expected Friday. Conditions stay a bit unsettled for the next several days. Showers look likely for early Saturday morning and then again Sunday afternoon and evening.

Stay with Severe Weather Team 11 for the latest on your forecast.

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