Category: News || By

Elizabeth, Jefferson Hills, Lincoln and West Elizabeth boroughs are among the Mon-Yough area municipalities that have declared disaster emergencies in the wake of heavy rain and flash flooding on Wednesday.

In all, 12 municipalities in Allegheny County issued disaster declarations after storms dropped several inches of rain onto already saturated ground, a county spokeswoman said.

The National Weather Service said that according to official measurements, 2.44 inches of rain fell in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, breaking a record of 1.81 inches set in 1958.

Locally, in the 24 hour period ending at 7 a.m. today, more than an inch had fallen at Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, 1.74 inches of rain had been recorded in Braddock and 2.88 inches in Elizabeth. In Washington County, 1.82 inches of rain was measured at Charleroi between 7 a.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. today.

Rain gauges in Pleasant Hills and Castle Shannon recorded 3.74 inches and 4.29 inches of rain on Wednesday, respectively, according to the weather service. Much of the rain fell between 7 and 10 a.m. Wednesday.

The Allegheny County Emergency Management Agency is working with affected municipalities today to conduct damage assessments, a spokeswoman said.

Crews also were called to Clark Diagnostics on Route 51 in Jefferson Hills on Wednesday when Peters Creek spilled over of its banks and flooded the property, causing several 55-gallon drums containing hazardous materials to begin floating, according to a county spokeswoman. The drums were retrieved safely, a spokeswoman said. (Update: The company's CEO has disputed the county's report in an interview with the Daily News.)

Jefferson Hills 885 Volunteer Fire Department, Jefferson Hills EMS, and county haz mat crews responded to the scene, along with the county's swift water rescue team.

Roads were closed throughout the Mon-Yough area on Wednesday due to mudslides, flooding and debris, according to the state Department of Transportation, including Route 48 between Grouse Drive in Elizabeth Twp. and Scenery Drive in Forward Twp.; Bellebridge Road in Lincoln; Route 837 between Dravosburg and Duquesne; and long stretches of Route 51 between the Pleasant Hills cloverleaf and downtown Pittsburgh.

All of those roads had reopened by 11:30 a.m. this morning, a PennDOT spokesman said, although others were still closed.

Nearly 13,000 Duquesne Light customers were without power as of midday Thursday, according to the utility.

Heavy storms and high winds passed through the Pittsburgh region twice --- once in the morning hours and once in the early evening. The second drenching that many in the Mon Valley and South Hills feared largely spared the McKeesport region, though winds of 55 mph were recorded at Allegheny County Airport last night, according to the weather service.

However, north of Pittsburgh, the weather service confirmed that a tornado touched down on Wednesday night in North Beaver Twp., Lawrence County. The tornado packed winds of 90 mph. No fatalities were reported.