MOUNT PLEASANT (KDKA) — The National Weather Service has confirmed that two EF0 tornadoes touched down in Westmoreland County during Wednesday’s severe storms.
Severe weather triggered a Tornado Warning around 8 p.m.
On Thursday, NWS officials were out in the county surveying the damage. They say two tornadoes, with 70 to 80 mph winds, touched down. One in Mount Pleasant Township and the other in Unity Township.
Looking like the alien ship from the movie Independence Day, rotating as it hovered above the Westmoreland County countryside, one of the tornadoes churned from Mount Pleasant to Latrobe. Anyone who saw it was in awe, and those in its path didn’t quite grasp the magnitude of its capabilities.
That is, until, “We saw the trees flying horizontally across the yard,” said homeowner Tom Blair.
The Blair family was watching TV together when the storm came calling:
Sarah Blair: “It was just really heavy rain. It started coming sideways, all of a sudden it got really windy.”
Tom Blair: “And really loud, and after the first five seconds or so, it hits you like something bad is happening here, so let’s get everybody safe in the basement.”
Sarah Blair: “It was just really loud. I was running, I didn’t hear a lot.”
Emma Blair: ”I was the first one down the stairs; I just ran.”
Sarah Blair: “By the time we got to the stairs it was already over.”
Tom Blair: “Just that quick it was maybe 15 seconds long.”
The Blairs emerged from their home to find shingles off the roof, trees splintered and patio flower pots in a tree.
Across the street Roland Hribal says, “My wheelbarrow, and my wagon were halfway up the neighbors yard.”
When the rain suddenly stopped, Skip Palmer said, “We thought the storms were over, calm down, and then all of a sudden, it just ripped everything apart. It come up through my orchard. I jumped off the chair. It was hitting the windows. I shut the windows down, and in seconds, it was over.”
The trees in the Palmer’s yards are ruined, so is the barn that their horses, Queen, Lil and Babe depend on for shelter. The building now so askew the stall doors won’t close.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Matthew Kramer surveyed the area and confirmed it was a tornado.
“The damage is consistent with winds of 70-80 miles per hour, which would put this section at EF0,” he said.
The storm randomly skipped across the county leaving a path of random destruction.
Gene Good, from Westmoreland County Emergency Management, says, “As far as a wide swath of damage, it does seem to appear right now that that exists.”
The damage may not be widespread, but that is small consolation to those who are now left to clean up the aftermath.
Palmer says, however, “I‘m just thankful the good Lord was with us. He saved our life and our house.”
by John Shumway (2018, June 28) KDKA
