Microburst hits Millvale, Lawrenceville

The National Weather Service confirmed that a microburst touched down in the Lawrenceville and Millvale areas Saturday night, uprooting trees, downing power lines, and causing widespread damage to numerous homes and buildings.

The intense wind and rain tore off a roof of one building at Butler and Plummer streets in Lawrenceville, officials said.

“It looked like a tornado came through,” public safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said.

Another building, at Butler and 48th streets, partially collapsed. Neither building was occupied at the time.

“We’re confident this was a microburst,” said Pat Herald, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Pittsburgh. “[They last] typically on the order of seconds ... city public safety they can be pretty powerful.”

Microbursts are sudden, powerful downdrafts spawned from intense cold energy from a rainstorm. They can last up to a couple of minutes. But the damage they leave behind can resemble that of a small tornado.

There were no reports of injuries in the impacted areas as of late Saturday night.

Downed trees and power lines closed multiple roads in Millvale, Lawrenceville, Reserve, Sharpsburg, Shaler and Etna earlier in the evening, according to emergency officials:

More than 2,200 Duquesne Light customerswere without power as of 9:30 p.m Saturday. Lawrenceville was the most impacted, with more than 800 without power. Outages werealso reported for more than 200 customersin Millvale and Shaler.

Extensive storm damage was reported in Millvale, Reserve and

parts of Shaler. There were reports of trees down, power lines down and siding blown off homes.

Heavy damage also was reported in Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville with numerous trees down, city officials said.

The microburst was part of a strong thunderstorm that moved through the Pittsburgh area beginning around 6 p.m.

The storm delayed the Steelers second preseason game at Heinz Field on the North Shore. Kickoff against the Kansas Chiefs, scheduled for 7:30 p.m., was pushed back to 8:30.

The thunderstorm moved out of the North Shore area quickly.

Alexandra Wimley/Post-Gazette A car passes another vehicle with a tree on top of it Saturday on Butler Street in Lawrenceville, where a passing storm damaged buildings, downed trees and caused power outages.