Repair crews in southwestern Pennsylvania are grappling with the aftermath of a “megastorm” that brought some of the most powerful non-thunderstorm winds in the city’s history.
As of Sunday morning, utility companies are reporting significant progress, though tens of thousands of residents remain in the dark. The storm, which peaked on Friday evening, initially knocked out power to more than 280,000 customers across the region.
Utility companies have brought in “all hands on deck,” including hundreds of mutual aid trucks from as far as Canada and the southern United States.
| Utility Provider | Peak Outages | Remaining Outages (Sun. AM) |
| Duquesne Light (DLC) | 163,000 | ~41,000 |
| West Penn Power | ~117,000 | ~21,000 |
The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed that a wind gust of 66 mph was recorded at Pittsburgh International Airport on Friday—the fourth-strongest non-thunderstorm gust ever recorded at the site.
The sustained “triple-threat” March storm caused downed power lines and snapped utility poles across Allegheny, Beaver, and Westmoreland counties. A gas station canopy collapsed in Baldwin, and multiple reports of trees falling onto homes were recorded in neighborhoods like Marshall-Shadeland and Green Tree.
Dozens of local routes remain blocked as crews prioritized clearing wires before removing debris.
Duquesne Light officials noted that while this event was “one of the most significant” in company history, restoration is moving faster than during the April 2025 storms due to recent infrastructure upgrades.
“We’ve got all hands on deck. This is the worst we’ve seen since last April, but we are better equipped to handle the influx of mutual aid trucks this time around,” said Matt Neistein, DLC Director of Communications.
