Rising water strands vehicles in Allegheny Township, with more storms on the way
Jun. 13—A portion of Route 356 had to be closed Sunday morning near its intersection with Route 56 in Allegheny Township, after rising flood waters caused several vehicles to become stranded.
No one was injured, according to a Westmoreland County 911 supervisor.
A section of the road, roughly between the Route 56 intersection and Shearsburg Road, was closed for more than an hour, reopening around 9:30 a.m. Emergency officials said a PennDOT work crew was headed to the scene to clear out a clogged storm drain that contributed to the flooding.
Emergency crews also responded to the intersection of Routes 66 and 819 in Washington Township, shortly before 8:30 a.m. for a report of road flooding, and additional storm-related damage including residential flooding in Avonmore and Lower Burrell, as well as downed trees, has been reported throughout the region.
NWS Meterologist Jenna Lake said a storm front began moving through western Pennsylvania around 6 a.m.
"What we had this morning is an outflow boundary of cold air that congregates in front of the storm cell," Lake said. "That cold air intersects with the warm air downstream, and you can get some additional up-drafts. These storms had some of those up-drafts, but they don't have the heavy winds that may be coming with the storms later today."
The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook shortly after 3 a.m. Sunday morning for western Pennsylvania calling for scattered severe thunderstorms this afternoon that could include damaging wind and potentially hail.
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .
