CRANBERRY TWP — Residents spent Sunday morning cleaning up the damage and debris following Saturday's low-grade tornado that rolled through the township just after 5 p.m.

There were no injuries reported.

The tornado, classified as an EF0 by the National Weather Service, touched ground in the area of Chaparral Drive at 5:06 p.m. Saturday and continued north toward North Boundary Park Drive. It had a maximum width of 300 yards and traveled for about 1.5 miles at speeds of between 60 and 70 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh.

Officials reported more than a dozen trees were uprooted in its path.

Jeff Schueler, director of public safety for the township, said he spoke to several residents in the aftermath of the twister.

“One resident told me it started in one direction and then changed direction. He said it kept changing directions,” Schueler said.

The tornado — accompanied by dark clouds, high winds and a steady downpour — caused primarily minor damage from uprooted and downed trees and downed power lines.

Butler County Emergency Services director Steve Bicehouse said 911 dispatchers handled 100 storm-related calls starting at 5 p.m. Saturday. He said the calls varied from downed wires and trees to flooded roads.

“From what I can tell, it looks like (the call-outs) touched every (fire) department in the county,” Bicehouse said.

One home on Rowan Road was hit by a tree and suffered heavier damage. Fortunately, no one was home at the house owned by Ernie Kuhs.

“I was at Costco at the time,” Kuhs said. “Some neighbors called me and said I should come back.”

Kuhs and friends cut free the top half of the tree, which fell into the backyard. After that, the bottom half that was still partially rooted stood itself back up.

The roof of the home sustained damage measuring about 16 by 20 feet. Kuhs was working on patching the damaged area Saturday night.

Fire officials said Kuhs' house was the only one substantially damaged by the tornado.

Another tree fell on top of electrical lines going toward the garage on Kuhs' property, leaving the garage without power.

Neighbors also saw trees and branches in their yards. While there were some instances of minor roof damage in other parts of the township, there was no other major structural damage reported from the tornado.

Kuhs said this wasn't the first time his home was damaged by trees. About 10 years ago his front porch was destroyed.

“We got off easy this time,” he said.

Kuhs said he was going to put the house on the market for sale this week. However, he says he'll have to wait but remained optimistic about the situation.

“No one was hurt, so that's a good thing,” he said. “It can be fixed.”

Fire Chief Todd Rice of the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company said numerous trees and three to four power lines were downed by the tornado. Rice said volunteer firefighters and other emergency workers had most of the damage cleared by just after 7 p.m.

“We got it pretty well cleaned up,” Rice said Saturday night.

On Chaparral Drive, where the tornado first touched down, a tree measuring more than 50 feet tall fell on Tom Huffman's driveway.

Huffman said he was not home when the tornado came through the area.

“When I saw the leaves, that's when I knew that was a bad indication,” he said about driving home.

Sunday morning, he and two friends were cutting up the fallen tree in the rain. The tree, located near the house, was completely removed from the ground, the bottom breaking off its root system.

Huffman said he was thankful he didn't have his truck parked in the driveway like he usually does.

The designation of the storm as a minor grade tornado was news to local officials who said they weren't sure if it was a real twister.

Rice said he didn't know it was a tornado that went through the area until after fire company officials had completed road cleanup operations.

“It sounded like a microburst came through at first,” Rice said.

Although heavy rains accompanied the storm, Rice said the area was spared from flooding for the most part, making road cleanup easier.

Jerry Andree, township manager, said the township's fire company responded to numerous calls about trees down and a couple power lines that were down.

“There was some roof damage reported and observed, both from the wind and blowing debris and trees,” Andree said. “A couple roads were closed centered around Rowan and Franklin Roads for about an hour to allow crews to clear the trees from the road and for Penn Power to repair the lines.”

In northern Butler County, power also went out for about 1,200 customers of Central Electric Cooperative on Saturday, said company spokesman Chris O'Donnell.

Hardest hit were the East Brady and Moniteau School areas, he said. The power outages began in the early afternoon. Service for most customers was restored by Saturday night, O'Donnell said.

West Penn Power reported about 2,000 customers in the Butler County area were affected by the storm, said company spokesman Todd Meyers.

He said the outages began mid-morning Saturday and service issues extended into Sunday.

Meyers said the company did not experience any large outages concentrated in specific areas of the county.

Andree also said that although the storm dropped significant rainfall in a very short time frame, “no significant flooding” was reported. Reports of a broken water line in the Sun Valley area turned out to be surging stormwater, he said.

“By 7:15 p.m., all emergency work opening roads, repairing power lines and clearing trees endangering homes were completed,” Andree said.

The tornado was preceded by a tornado warning that caused emergency tones to sound on cell phones. At about 5 p.m., employees at the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA informed gym goers of the tornado warning and instructed everyone in the facility to retreat from windows and areas with glass.

The storm was confirmed as a tornado at about 8:52 p.m. Saturday.

Pittsburgh National Weather Service meteorologist Lee Hendricks said tornadoes like the one that hit Saturday usually form because of interactions between updrafts and downdrafts in a thunderstorm.

However, certain weather conditions must be maintained for tornadoes to grow in size, like adequate moisture, heat and turning winds.

“We had the moisture, but we really didn't have the heating or a really strong turn of the winds,” Hendricks said.

Hendricks said he was happy the tornado was “relatively minor.”

“Five p.m. in Cranberry would not be a great place for an EF4 tornado ripping through,” he said. “Thankfully, we had no injuries or fatalities. That's probably the most important thing at the end of the day.”