Emergency crews ask for patience as crews work to restore power, clean roads in Westmoreland County

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Downed power lines are still lying throughout Westmoreland County following severe storms on Thursday.

“Not just to our electric system, but the communities that we serve, so we’re seeing road closures, downed trees, debris on our equipment when that happens that needs removed before we can even get access to the equipment to begin repairing it,” First Energy Head of Communications Bridget McNie said.

Director of Public Works and Greensburg Fire Chief Tom Bell has been moving from downed power lines to blown-over trees to flooded fields.

“It seems like Greensburg toward Derry, Latrobe, Hempfield Township, of course, it seems like we caught the brunt of it this time,” Bell said.

On Route 819, a massive tree fell on top of an SUV. Luckily, the man inside walked away with just minor injuries.

“819 has been a disaster, and it has been very slow moving getting it cleaned up. It’s been about 16 hours, and the accident is still there. Our power line is still down,” resident Madeline Melodia said.

Before FirstEnergy is able to restore power, Bell and his crews have to clear debris from the roads so it’s safe for the power company to get started.

“Some of the road conditions- you got trees blocked in, some of the alleyways where our biggest things are, some of the alleys in downtown that really got hammered with some tree brush,” Bell said.

Plus they’re working to clear storm drains before the next storm rolls through.

“Our biggest things are catch basins. We have probably over 90-100 in areas where every time we have a storm and every rain, they get out there and they clean them up to make sure for he next rain event they are open so we can minimize road flooding,” Bell said.

Not far from Greensburg, rescue crews in Rostraver and Scottsdale both responded to people stranded in high floodwater.

Bell is asking residents all over the county to give crews grace while they’re working around the clock.

“Patience is the one thing. Everyone has been calling. They’ve got a tree down, branches down, brush. The biggest thing is cleaning up your yard. Put it out there; we will get to it,” Bell said.

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