Emergency crews rescue about 30 from homes, roads in Westmoreland Co.

PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania was battered by high winds but escaped major flooding from its heavy rains as a weakened Sandy churned across the state Tuesday.

The storm plunged more than a million customers in the dark while leaving a trail of damage that included shorn roofs, toppled trees and crushed cars. At least five deaths statewide have been blamed on the hybrid superstorm that walloped the East Coast.

A Somerset County woman died when the car she was riding in slid on Kingwood Road in Upper Turkeyfoot Township, and plunged into a farm pond about 9:30 p.m. Monday. The woman’s name has not been released.

The driver of the vehicle survived the crash, police said.

An 8-year-old Susquehanna County boy who died when a tree limb fell on him. In Berks County, a 62-year-old man was killed after a tree fell atop his house. A man trimming a tree in preparation for the storm fell and died in Lancaster County. A 17-year-old riding an ATV in Northampton County died after striking a fallen tree on an all-terrain vehicle during the storm. An infant was slightly injured when a tree fell on a house in Delaware County. A York County woman was charged after she jumped into a raging creek to "save" a couple dozen wild ducks.

Meanwhile, emergency crews rescued about 30 people from homes and roads in Westmoreland County Monday and Tuesday.

Utility crews are surveying the damage and launching a massive repair job to restore power to nearly 1.3 million customers across Pennsylvania. Most of those without power are on the eastern part of the state.

They warn it could take a week or longer to finish.

“For Pennsylvania it was probably not as bad as it could have been,” Gov. Tom Corbett said.

There’s still concern about rising rivers in the aftermath of the flood, officials said. “We will be watching the river stages,” Corbett said.

Flooding occurred in some parts of South and Southeastern Pennsylvania, but Corbett said it was not as severe in this state as tropical storms Lee and Irene last year.

WPXI