The National Weather Service confirmed three touchdowns in Westmoreland County
A severe weather system spawned four EF-1 tornadoes in Westmoreland and Indiana counties on Sunday, March 16, according to the National Weather Service.
The strongest tornado began near Donegal, causing damage across Chestnut Ridge, including snapped trees, tilted power poles, a flipped RV trailer and damaged roofs. It briefly weakened near Donegal Lake but intensified between Mansville and Ligonier.
Two other brief tornadoes near Rector and Wilpen mainly uprooted trees and severely damaged a barn.
In Indiana County, near Josephine, another tornado damaged barns, outbuildings, and trees. No injuries were reported.
A separate EF-1 tornado was confirmed near Haddenville in Fayette County, marking the first there since May 2024.
Sunday’s storms brought rain, hail and high winds that knocked down trees and caused power outages throughout the region. Crews began working to restore power shortly after the storm rolled through.
Thousands across southwestern Pennsylvania are still without power as of Tuesday afternoon, according to West Penn Power’s outage map. The outages appear to be contained to small but numerous pockets affecting less than 20 people in a given area.
Municipal crews and emergency personnel responded to a number of down tree calls, including one which temporarily shut down U.S. Route 30 East right before the first Ligonier exit. Ligonier Township crews were still out Tuesday cleaning up from the storm, according to a Facebook post on the township’s social media page
“We are thankful for no injuries and only minor damage to a few homes and structures,” the township wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday. “We also thank the work and response to the storm from the Township Fire Companies Darlington, Waterford and Wilpen and the Ligonier Valley Police Department.”
On Monday, the township clarified that it was barred by the Second Class Township Code from taking some downed trees even during clean up.
“All logs, cordwood, branch wood or other forms of wood derived from the destruction or removal of any trees growing along the highways shall be surrendered to and remain the property of the abutting owners,” according to state law.
The township also reminded residents to use caution during future storms.
“A safety reminder now and in the future to always stay away from downed utility wires and to call 911 to report them,” it wrote.
