The first cracks of the overnight storm came in the dead of the night.
“Next thing I know, it went zip and the power went out,” said Theresa Fowler.
PHOTOS: Thousands in Pittsburgh region without power after strong storms; some schools close, delay
Branches covered Route 837 in Washington County as multiple communities sat in darkness.
“My husband went to work around 4 and he’s texting me saying, ‘Hey, the driveway is bad with trees on our driveway.’ He couldn’t go either way. He had to go across people’s lawns and move the barricade for him,” Kristie Reid said.
As the sun came up in South Park, the damage was clear.
“Just loud winds and rain. We heard trees snap and obviously, the one across the street and back behind our house is where most of them came down. It’s pretty bad, we lost power about that time as well,” Mike Donahue said.
Trees covering Ridge Road took down power lines, too. County Public Works crews were working quickly so West Penn Power could bring light back to this community.
“People were turning around and going back the other direction and I thought, ‘What in the world is going on?’” Fowler said.
Schools closed and first responders were busy as Broughton Volunteer Fire Department checked out three fires, a wire hazard and a gas leak all related to the big storm.
“We get the trees down, but not like this, not over the road like this those trees are from an actual park South Park. This is not normal,” Reid said.
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