Severe weather in Beaver County causes massive tree to split home in half

CHIPPEWA TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) -- Strong storms toppled trees and knocked out power to thousands of people in Beaver County on Friday evening.

According to Duquesne Light, as of 9 p.m., about 9,600 people in Beaver County are without power, primarily in Beaver Falls and New Brighton.

Photos from around Blackhawk High School show several trees were uprooted.

Another photo from a KDKA-TV viewer showed a tree down in Beaver Falls near Seventh and Eighth Avenues.

It was a scary scene for one Beaver County couple, whose house was damaged by an uprooted tree that crashed into the residence.

Around 6:30 Friday night, residents in Patterson Heights say the wind picked up, the trees were swaying, and it began hailing.

That's when Craig Davis says a massive tree came crashing down on his neighbor's home off Darlington Road on Seventh Street.

"That tree is eight feet in diameter at the base. That's a lot of weight, and it just crushed," said neighbor Craig Davis. "The tree fell and they were on the first floor and it divided the two."

The homeowners have lived here for 28 years. They said they were cooking out when they got a weather alert and ran inside.

"Nadine got trapped. Her husband had to break a window and go around to the other side of the house and take her out. She's in the hospital now with a broken ankle," Davis said.

"It's a mighty oak," says homeowner Gregg Galbreath. "Whatever the wind conditions were, something twisted or did something to the tree that took it out of a normal pattern and came down. It was absolutely a worst-nightmare scenario there."