...  Pittsburgh's Wicked Weather  (August 10 & 11 2007)

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Abator, for the second time in its current location, lost power for three days. The last time (2003), we had no electricity for three days -- climbing to the eighth floor to get hard drives and paperwork was a pain. This time, four floors was a piece of cake.

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A tornado touched down in the city's West End, and high wind and heavy rain damaged the facade of the Carnegie Science Center during the latest spell of severe storms in the area.

After assessing the damage Friday, the National Weather Service determined a tornado hit the West End with top wind speeds of 85 mph a day earlier. A microburst, with similar wind gusts, hit the uptown area of the city, according to the National Weather Service.

The last tornado to touch down in the city was in June 2003 on Mount Washington.

The Carnegie Science Center on the city's North Shore was closed Friday and will remain shut down today for repairs. A large section of the science center's facade was ripped off the building and windows were shattered by Thursday's storms. When the science center reopens Sunday, it will host a presentation on storms.

The widespread damage was caused by three lines of storms that produced torrential downpours in western Pennsylvania, flooding basements, downing trees and causing power outages.

Idlewild Park, an amusement park near Ligonier, about 45 miles east of the city, also closed on Friday because of lingering power outages.

States of emergency were declared in Allegheny County and Pittsburgh after several inches of rain fell in parts of the county.

One of the hardest hit areas was Millvale. There, 200 homes flooded, with 25 seeing water up to the first floor, county authorities said. Forty-five businesses also were flooded.

Dozens of homes and businesses remained without electricity Friday evening.
Touring the borough on the outskirts of Pittsburgh on Friday, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato called for a comprehensive approach to stop the flooding of a creek that regularly happens in Millvale.

Millvale was badly damaged in September 2004 when remnants of Hurricane Ivan caused the creek to overflow. Heavy rains have caused the creek to flood twice this week, including Thursday morning.

The Army Corps of Engineers said Friday it would begin dredging the creek and repairing the flood wall next week.

Storms nationwide affected passengers at Philadelphia International Airport, leaving many stuck on planes that sat on runways for hours.

US Airways said it canceled 530 flights across the country on Thursday, 133 of them out of Philadelphia, leaving hundreds of travelers stranded.

The airline said bad weather elsewhere created a backlog of planes waiting to takeoff, stranding some passengers on the tarmac for up to six hours. Nearly 30 planes were lined up at one point Thursday.

Allegheny County's state of emergency "authorizes emergency operations staff to go out and seek whatever resources are necessary to get the job done -- hire contractors, do whatever's necessary to do and drop the red tape," said Bob Full, the county's emergency services chief.

There were no fatalities or major injuries reported, Onorato said. One person was hospitalized and six people were rescued in the county, excluding Pittsburgh.

In Pittsburgh, sections of some buildings were torn off and several trees were uprooted. About two dozen people in the city were treated for minor injuries, authorities said.

Storm damage also was reported in Beaver and Westmoreland counties.

Carnegie Mellon University posted funnel cloud pictures.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette ran a more detailed article