The most pressing issue for many people tonight is when will the power come back on and the answer is one you probably don't want to hear. This is going to take a while. Yeah.
Officials with Dukane Light say damage from the storm was unprecedented. For some people it could be a week before they got power back on, but it could be sooner. KDK's Jessica Riley has the latest update.
Yeah, hundreds of thousands of people's power was knocked out by those storms. And Dukane Lake Company says it could be an estimated 5 to seven days before they even see complete restoration. It is already clear that this is an unprecedented event in the history of Dukane Light Company.
And personally for me, I've been in the utility business for 40 years. This is uh one of the top three events in my 40year history. Right now, homeowners are focused on getting ice and powering those generators to stay safe.
We're lucky we have a generator in the back and we've been able to keep the refrigerator on so our food doesn't spoil, but I can't say that for everybody else. We actually uh I call Instacarted some ice over cuz we cuz uh our fridge is out so we needed something to keep our food cold. Dukane Lake Company says throughout tomorrow 400 additional crews and resources will be coming to the area for assistance.
But while many question when their power will turn on, Dukan Light Company says there's a prioritization process. Our first focus is safety, clearing hazards, yes, restoring service as we can, but primarily safety focused. So far, Dukane is still assessing the situation and doesn't plan on a full assessment until this evening or tomorrow.
That means an outage map with estimated restoration times likely won't be available till then. The utility says the damage to transmission and distribution systems is extensive. And if more bad weather hits this week, it could push restoration times back more.
For customers, they just want their lights back on. Five to seven days. Wow.
Okay. Um, wow. Um, well, it's it's a wonder because they usually have this area back on right away because of the street lights in the school.
And if you are in need of assistance, including safety, utility, or emergency aid, we will have those phone numbers on our website, kdka. com in Brooklyn. Jessica Riley, KDKA TV News.
Traveling around the city and the county could be challenging as many roads are still closed because of down trees and power lines. As Barry Pentar reports, at the height of the storm, calls to 911 were overwhelming. Yeah, I'm here at the 911 center here in Alageney County that has had an incredibly busy 24 hours.
We'll get to their numbers in just a moment from the emergency services chief. But there is one thing for sure in this catastrophic damage down all over this region. Whether we're talking about the power or this 911 center or even just cleaning up the roadways to get us where we want to go, there's no doubt people have been working around the clock, working to clean up things like this.
Trees falling onto power lines. This scene repeated throughout western Pennsylvania. Just to give you an example, in Alageney County alone, officials say there were 22,000 hazards like this.
For us, it was, you know, we're still gathering our intel on where we need to be and what we need to do and assessing our timelines on getting it done. So, you know, a lot came down in a very short amount of time, meaning a lot of roadways to clear, a lot of infrastructure to repair in addition to 22,000 municipal incidents. Add the individual home damage that has gone on without being reported.
Just to give you some examples of what our 911 uh folks and systems saw, uh 5,600 calls to 911 were received between 5:00 p. m. and 6 p.
m. yesterday. 5600.
This is five times greater than the same hour without a storm. We saw firsthand today agencies all over Pennsylvania are working hand in hand around the clock as part of this cleanup and repair effort. All echo one request.
Please have patience. They are out there working back here at the 911 center. One message they certainly want us to get out to the public and that is please do not call the 911 center to ask when your power is going to come back on.
That is certainly not the reason we're here. Also coming up at 5, we're going to uh talk to some other officials in terms of how this weather event relates to other major weather events in the region's history. That's coming up at 5.
Reporting in Moon Township, Barry Pinar, KDKA TV News. The winds clocked at 70 to 80, 90 miles an hour spared few trees. KDK's Megan Shin takes us to Penn Hills where one woman says she's lucky to have escaped a falling tree.
On Po Drve here in Penn Hills, this is an example of the extreme weather that we experienced. This is a telephone pole snapped because of this tree that fell on it. And the car over here actually had the homeowner inside at the time that it collapsed.
The calming sounds of nature cut through the chaos from the storm damage in Pin Hills last night. I never seen something like this. That's both our cars totaled.
They're totaled. Cynthia Ames means these two cars under this toppled over tree. She says it happened when she got inside her son's black Pontiac G5 to roll the car window up for him, but the storm rolled in quick.
And then I swear I could feel the car lift a little bit and then just boom. And I didn't know what happened. I thought a branch fell down.
Trapped under much more than a branch. The car keeps bouncing. That tree kept bouncing on it.
When I was in it, I could hear the tires pop and just all the windows crashed. Panic set in. 911 wasn't answering.
The neighbors were calling. Everyone was calling and no one was answering for hours. Ames says her son's friends finally pulled her out out of the car, but now without power in the neighborhood, pulled the wires out of my house because I was sitting in the living room and all of a sudden everything went dead.
It's a familiar scenario for thousands. being with that light and all that you not being able to make any coffee or nothing, you know, nothing but cleanup and recovery for the Penn Hills community and especially Ames. I just finally got some substantial employment, but I need my car to do it and there it is.
Without transportation, feeling lucky to be alive. According to the National Weather Service, those severe winds were so strong the damage they caused was something comparable to tornadoes. from Penn Hills.
Megan Shen, KDK TV News. When the storm crossed your path last night, you actually helped us tell this weather story through pictures and videos. You allowed us to better explain the immediate impact, too.
And to show you the aftermath, which is going to take days to clean up. KDK's Erica Mo brings us those images to help better paint a picture of the frightening night for many people. [Music] Tuesday's storm sent furniture flying outside the Windom downtown.
Just got hit by a couch and grocery carts. On a driverless crash course through parking lots in Manaka in the north and to the south from one community to the next. The blackout saw no boundaries, but countless streets suddenly did thanks to branches and trees broken by nature's force.
I cannot believe that a storm did this much damage. Honestly, some of the damage leaving a blemish on the pristine greens of Oakmont Country Club and the work currently underway ahead of the US Open coming up in June. I've never seen it like this.
We've been here over 20 years. A roof now on the road in Carnegi and someone's home crushed under the weight of a falling tree in Mount Lebo. It was a dangerous storm and we see the damage throughout the city and on our three rivers just moments after the passengers deboarded the might of the Mann turned a tiki boat on its side.
The captain somehow able to safely make it to shore. Well, the KDK First Alert weather team certainly all of them has been keeping you informed every step of the way. We're going to turn now to Squirrel Hill this morning.
Our Lauren Linder spent time with families as they look at the damage in their neighborhood. Shady Avenue and Squirrel Hill has seen better days now blocked by this ginormous tree that fell during last night's storm. Makes you humble now to feel the strong the power of nature.
As Zavit Kilshin Boy and her 16-year-old daughter Anav Israel look at a ginormous spruce outside their home. They're amazed by what mother nature can do. I was sitting in my room and the lights start flashing.
Less than 24 hours earlier, the flickering lights made Israel go to her window. She saw the branches swinging and then a bright flash and sparks. The tree just fall to the other side and it hit the cables and they fell to to the like on the ground.
The force completely uprooted the trunk, lifting some of the sidewalk on Shady Avenue by Marlboro in Squirrel Hill. Immediately the power went out and she ran downstairs to tell her parents. It was really like this huge tree fall underground and you can see like all of it.
I thought immediately um I hope no one is under that tree. They tried to call 911 but couldn't get through. Pittsburgh public safety reported some system outages though eventually first responders showed up along with utility crews.
It was such a lovely day like today and then in like 10 minutes everything became dark. They say it was like something they see in the movies, but they're grateful knowing it could have been much worse. We have such luck that it didn't fall our way or on the neighbors or hit anyone or any car or anything.
Now, as they wait for the lights to come back on, they're trying to stay positive. We all went back to sleep early yesterday thanks to the darkness. So good things can come out of that too.
Unfortunately, Dukane Light says it could take days before power returns to some neighborhoods. For now, reporting from Squirrel Hill, Lauren Lter, KDK TV News. Meanwhile, not long after seeing the conditions in Forest Hills, the mayor there declared a state of emergency.
And as Chilikasia Deli reports, the people who live in the burrow are being told to be very careful as crews clean up. This is what it looks like on Edgewood Road the day after those strong storms. Look at that.
There's a tree uprooted from the ground. And as a matter of fact, this tree ended up falling on that house. It was a tranquil start to the morning for Jim Mik, but the visuals of what's directly across from him are anything but.
a tree branch had gone gone down through the roof and into her living room. That branch was only a small part of a big problem. Naturally, you worry about your neighbors.
And Mik wasn't the only nervous one here. We went to uh knock on the door. Um saw this disaster.
Matt Hartman navigated through this mess to get the woman who lives there out. Wasn't necessarily easy. Could not get her out the door initially because the porch had collapsed a little bit.
Uh, we took the glass out of the storm panel and got her outside. Okay. He says the woman avoided injuries.
She also had a place to stay for the night. And I'm sure she had a rough night sleeping, but I'm sure she's doing okay. Out on Ardmore Boulevard, there were no colors to direct drivers.
The storm knocked out the traffic signals. It's bad around here. Robert Carish also ended up with a fallen tree in his yard.
But it came down and took our our electric lines, uh, telephone lines, and our cable lines. His only source of light is this lantern. He's got enough sources of nourishment inside, too.
We got enough food for, I'm hopefully, couple days. People who live here say the strength of this storm was uncanny. We've been here 5 years.
Never heard the wind so severe. I tried for over probably a half hour and I couldn't get 911. But now that it's all quieted down, the focus turns to getting all of this out of here.
There's a lot of work, a lot of cleanup, and we're just going to jump in together and try to get it cleaned up. Just to give you a scope of how big this bottom of the tree is. I'm about 5'11 and 3/4 6 foot.
You can see this tree clearly matches my height and then eclipses it. The bottom of it does. And a lot of neighbors are going to be looking at scenes like this today and just wondering what's next.
Primarily, when is the power going to come back on? From Forest Hills, I'm Chilacasio Dele KDK TV News. And while it may have felt like it was a tornado, it wasn't.
The National Weather Service was out surveying the damage this afternoon and concluded despite the warnings of a tornado, one never formed. So, what caused all this destruction? Chris Hoffman was out with the National Weather Service today.
This is some of the damage the National Weather Service saw. This is Mifflin Avenue in Wilkinsburg. You got a tree that uprooted out of the sidewalk just a few feet down from it.
Another one that fell between two cars and hit a house. According to the weather service, what essentially happened was a wall of wind came through our area and caused this damage. While the storm may have only lasted a few minutes, it left days worth of cleanup and recovery.
The weather service looked at damage in Wilkinsburg, Squirrel Hill, and neighboring communities. Trees blocked the streets, landed on roofs, and crushed cars. Power lines were sprawled out and some street lights were crushed under Mother Nature's power.
It basically was a wall of wind that happened instantly. Chris Leonardi with the local National Weather Service office says it was a squall line of straight line winds. According to him, when the storm entered our area, it grew stronger, causing the widespread destruction.
The pattern in which the trees and power lines fell along with how widespread the damage was showed the surveyors the cause, which didn't indicate any kind of rotation, but more of a straight line damage pattern. Nevertheless, there were winds upwards of 95 miles an hour. Leonardi says the storm shows why severe thunderstorm warnings should be taken seriously.
To put in perspective, here is the comparison to if it was a tornado. If we thought that this was a tornado, this damage, some of it was equivalent to an EF1 tornado. Coming up a little bit later on KDKA, we're going to have from the weather service.
When was the last time we saw this specific kind of event in our region cause this type of damage? That comes up a little bit later in Wilkinsburg. Chris Hoffman, KDKA TV News.
This is a look at just a few of the areas in Alageney County that were hit hard. And you can see trees and power lines down on buildings, cars, and in the road. Of course, the storm damage isn't contained to Alageney County alone.
Much of western Pennsylvania got hit. Yeah, Chris D. Rose was out surveying the damage in West Morland County.
Our region has a lot of large trees and some trees like this one here in Greensburg did not fare very well when that storm came through with those powerful straight line winds. This was the storm as it moved through downtown Greensburg along West Otterman Street last night, carrying with it winds gusting around 90 mph. It didn't last long, but it packed a big punch.
Now some 24 hours later, the sun is out and the county is cleaning up. In Mount Pleasant, winds tore apart this screen at the Evergreen Drve-In movie theater, where they were just getting ready to open for their 78th season this weekend. There were down trees all over the county.
There were trees into houses like this one in Unity Township. There were trees on top of cars like this one at the Grey Goose restaurant in Ligonier. And there were trees left uprooted and causing road closures like this old pine tree along West Newton Street in Greensburg.
Ironically, this tree was blown over just feet from an insurance office. We were lucky it didn't head towards our building, but the bigger concern would be um obviously it's being held up right now by another tree. Um if that tree were to let go, it would fall into the road.
And then there's obviously there's a doctor's office and offices over across the road where the tree would uh affect that building. Greensburg Fire Chief Thomas Bell and his crew have closed off West Newton Street until this tree can be safely cut down. He says it's been a long 24 hours for first responders and utility workers and that they're working to fix things as fast as they can.
If you do have anything or any issues, you know, just be patient. That's the biggest thing is, you know, be patient with West Penn. You know, we did have a lot of power lines down, cable lines with all these trees that came down.
Just patience is the biggest thing. Now, they are making headway across the county with cleanup, but if you do see roads like this one here in Greensburg that are still closed off, be sure to stay back. Reporting in Greensburg, West Morland County, Christ Rose, KDKA TV News.
And as we approach the 24-hour mark when many people lost power, you may be wondering, what's the timeline for your food going bad? Erica Stannis talked with food safety experts and has more on what's still safe to eat and what you should what you should throw away. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news here, but food safety experts say most food in the fridge is only good up to 4 hours after you lose power, but there are some tips to how to make it last longer.
Residents all around the Pleasant Hills area were out on the search today for ways to keep their food from the fridge or freezer cold. last night picked up a uh quarter cow of beef from a rancher. I have a freezer that's not working.
Buying ice like crazy, trying to pack it and just save it. Sue is from Bethl Park and says she lost power at 5:30 Tuesday. And her first stop for ice didn't work out so well as many stores and gas stations are also without electricity.
Well, I struck out here, so I'm going to keep looking. Got to save the cow. Alageney County's food safety program manager says when it comes to freezer items, food could be safe up to 48 hours after losing power.
If you keep the doors closed, that food could be safe if the freezer is completely full up to 48 hours. But if the freezer is only half full, then food could remain frozen and safe up to 24 hours. Anything after 4 hours in the fridge, though, she says at this point would be unsafe to consume.
you know, we go based off of temperature um of the food and really if foods are uh above 40 degrees for an extended period of time, then they really are unsafe to eat at that time. That includes milk, eggs, cheese, lunch meat, and any leftovers. Anything that has unusual color, texture, odor, um definitely those are some of the signs that the food is unsafe.
Food safety experts say when in doubt, throw it out. And if you're filling up a cooler with ice to preserve any food, make sure the ice is draining. You don't really want any of your food just stored in standing water.
Um that can also pose a risk um as well. Experts say another option to keep items cold in the fridge or the freezer is to buy dry ice. Reporting in Pleasant Hills, Alageney County, Erica Stannis, KDKA TV News.
Well, last night after the winds calmed down and the rain moved out, at least three local families are now dealing with the tragic fallout of those storms. Our BA has more on two of those deaths. One in Allentown where a man died when he was electrocuted by live wires.
And in Ross Township, a man there was killed after a tree came down on him. Two different circumstances, but the same heartbreaking situation. Right now, both families find themselves not just cleaning up following the storm, but also making funeral arrangements for their loved ones.
You're looking at the remnants of a tree that killed a man when heavy winds and rain took over the region yesterday evening. It snapped off here and came crashing down while Raymond Gordon was outside. This is a photo of him and his dog, Victor.
Jill lives right across the street. She knew the 67year-old for 20 years. They would walk their dogs together.
He was a good man who worked hard and loved his dog. Very friendly, hardworking man. It's very devastating.
The tree was resting on this street. It's since been chopped into pieces. I'm told Gordon doesn't have any children, just two pets.
Victor and his cat are too. Both are okay. Victor has been at the police department since the tragedy.
Gordon's best friend will pick him up. Jill tells me she can't believe her neighbor is gone. I'm so very sorry that this happened.
He was such a nice man and I'll miss him a lot. On St. Martin Street in Allentown, people are feeling the same way about a man who worked on their street.
He was electrocuted by power lines that came down during the storm. Dave was the the humblest guy. He had he he was such a kind man.
59 years old. Unbelievable painter. 59-year-old David Leensky was doing painting work.
A live wire fell on his truck. He tried to move it with a stick. That's when he was electrocuted.
Dukane light officials urge people to stay away from downed power lines. If you see wires down, you have to assume that they're energized and you cannot approach them or use devices that you might think make it safe to move those lines. Allow that to the emergency responders.
Reporting in Ross Township, Mimi Ba, KDKA TV News. Yeah. And later we learned that another person was also killed by a falling tree.
Andrew Salashi died on Jefferson Road in Franklin Township. State police say he was a passenger inside that vehicle. The high winds blew over the tree as it smashed down onto the car.
As we mentioned a few moments ago, a popular pizza shop owner vows to rebuild after yesterday's storm damaged his well-known business. Now, the building that houses Fiori's Pizza has been condemned. KDK lead investigator Andy Sheen there getting reaction.
Well, the city posted this condemned sign after the winds ripped the roof off of the building, but that doesn't mean this beloved pizza parlor is going to be down for long. It's been a South Hills institution for 49 years, but Tuesday's fierce winds rudely interrupted that unbroken chain of pizza production. Just a big gust of wind and the rain and I mean just heard a big loud bang.
One of the family owners, Melinda Rich, rushed outside, saw a big pile of wood on the outside of the building. It was the roof. I didn't even know what it was.
It blew completely off, blew down onto this road. Today, workers from Burns and Scallow Construction descended making quick work of the debris in anticipation of putting on a temporary roof to reopen the business. Mayor Gayy was here earlier and he met with the Fioris and and mentioned that if we can get the temporary roof back on, they would they would lift the condemnation.
Oh, that's great. I agree. Yeah.
Got to get those guys back up in business. You know, a lot of people like their pizza. The city says that is a possibility and it will come out and reinspect once the roof is in place.
But Rich says it won't be long until their signature pies will be serving their loyal clientele again. You guys are going to persevere. I guess we are for sure.
We're furies. That's all we know how to do. It'll be up to the city whether Fioris can reopen, but workers here are trying to beat the next round of rain and finish up this roof by tomorrow.
Reporting in Beachview, Andy Sheen, KDYK TV News.
