May 14, 2018 2 min read

A microburst Sunday afternoon is being blamed for causing storm damage in the Claysville and Donegal Township areas.

The microburst in the area that came through about 4:30 p.m. uprooted trees, said Fred McMullen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He said it was the second microburst to hit Washington County in two days. A microburst in the Eighty Four area of Nottingham Township tore off the roof of a barn and damaged a carport.

“The main storm came through pretty quickly and was intense with high winds and heavy downpours,” said Joseph Lucas, assistant chief of Claysville Volunteer Fire Department. “It lasted probably about 20 minutes.”

There were two incidents that affected traffic on Route 40. Several utility poles were broken and and down on the side of Route 40 between Valley View Road and United Manufacturing, 4522 Route 40, Lucas said.

Utility poles were leaning onto the road near Grimes Road, forcing the road to be closed between Old National Pike and Lake Road for most of Sunday night, Lucas said. Two poles were broken in that area and there was a landslide, said Todd Meyers, spokesman for West Penn Power. About 1,600 customers lost power but most had service restored in a few hours, Meyers added.

On Highland Ridge Road in Donegal, 360 customers lost power when wires were blown off 12 poles in hard-to-reach areas, Meyers said. Insulators and cross arms also were damaged. Meyers said power company employees could not use bucket trucks to make repairs, but had to climb the poles, which slowed down the work. About 50 customers had their service restored with the balance expected to have power back on by Monday afternoon.