Butler County under flash flood warning; several roads closed
A severe thunderstorm struck Butler County on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 6, leaving thousands of residents without power and leading to early closures and cancellations.
As of 6:25 p.m., Butler County is under both a severe thunderstorm warning and a flash flood warning from the National Weather Service. The flash flood warning is in effect until 9:15 p.m., while the severe thunderstorm warning is in effect until 6:45 p.m.
Emergency crews are responding to calls of utility lines downed by trees in several locations.
In West Sunbury, a PennDOT crew has been requested by emergency crews to close West Sunbury Road at Boyers and at Branchton roads, and a tree is reportedly down at Annadale Road.
In Cranberry Township, Rowan Road was closed due to flooding between Lexington Drive and Franklin Road.
In Adams Township, localized flooding has been reported on Dobson Road.
In Mercer Township, crews are responding to reports of trees on wires along William Flinn Highway.
In Donagal Township, a tree is reportedly down across Chicora Fenelton Road.
As of 4:30 p.m., FirstEnergy — parent company of PennPower and WestPenn Power — reports 12,686 customers without power. According to the company’s outage map, 2,565 are located in Butler Township, 1,041 in Connoquenessing Township, and 256 of the 262 customers served in Bruin.
The other major electric company in the county, Central Electric Cooperative, fared slightly better with 379 reported outages out of 9,786 served in Butler County, a rate of 3.87%. The bulk of the outages are in Lancaster, Connoquenessing, and Franklin Townships.
The Cranberry Township Waterpark closed early due to the storm. Not far away, a portion of Route 19 near the Cranberry Township Community Park was closed at 3 p.m. due to downed wires, but reopened at 3:30. Dek hockey games in Cranberry Township were also canceled on Tuesday night.
A planned National Night Out event at EDCO Park in Evans City was also canceled due to forecasts of another strong thunderstorm shortly after the event would have begun.
