The Pittsburgh region has been hit recently by several storms, causing flooding, power outages and other issues.
Powerful rain drenched the city Wednesday evening, dropping 2 inches of rain and knocking out power in parts of the city. Rain Monday night broke a record and closed several large roads with flooding.
More rain is expected Thursday afternoon. The National Weather Service says to expect heavy rainfall with thunderstorms. A flash flood watch is in effect from noon to midnight.
Bob Coblentz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pittsburgh, says these storms are somewhat unusual for Pittsburgh. In general, storms pass through Pittsburgh pretty quickly. However, these latest storms tend to hover over the city without moving, leading to flooding.
“They’re just sitting there and that’s pretty much it," he said. "There’s no driving force to move them out there’s no inertia behind them to move them on.”
Thousands of utility customers remain without power in western Pennsylvania the torrential rains took down numerous trees and wires.
Duquesne Light reported nearly 10,000 customers still had no service early Thursday morning. By noon Thursday, the company said that number was down to about 6,000 people in Millvale, Stanton Heights, the North Side, O'Hara Township and Penn Hills. The utility said many customers may not have their service restored until Friday.
Thousands of First Energy customers also lost power during the storm. But most had their power back by early Thursday.
No injuries were reported in the storms.
There will be some relief, Coblentz says. Starting Friday morning, he says the winds will shift, leading to five or six days of nice (re: cooler) weather.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
