Severe weather knocks down county trees, wires
Multiple trees were reported down across Butler County after a thunderstorm rolled through the area Tuesday afternoon.
A Butler County dispatcher said it had a call for a tree down at 4:20 p.m. on Belmont Road in Butler Township, and there was another large branch down on Beckert Avenue in Butler’s Island neighborhood at about the same time.
According to the National Weather Service of Pittsburgh, 39 mph winds were reported at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport in Penn Township.
West Penn Power estimated that 772 residents were out of power as of 4:15 p.m. The most outages were reported in Concord Township with 276 customers and Bruin with 190 customers.
West Penn estimated that power would be restored to the region by 8:30 p.m.
Central Electric Cooperative reported 812 residents lost power at around 5:30 p.m. Allegheny Township had the largest number of outages, where 228 customers lost power. Concord Township also had 196 customers without power, and Parker Township had 173 lose power.
The National Weather Service of Pittsburgh issued the first severe thunderstorm warning for Butler County at 3:45 p.m. It lasted through 4:30 p.m. for a significant portion of Butler County, including Butler, Connoquenessing, Evans City, Seven Fields, Saxonburg, Chicora and West Sunbury.
The warning highlighted potential wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour and penny-sized hail.
Another warning, which lasted through 4:45 p.m., included Butler, Meridian, Prospect and Zelienople.
