High wind and heavy rain battered a roughly 20-mile path through eastern Westmoreland and southern Indiana counties on Friday afternoon, with a probable tornado touching down, according to emergency management officials and the National Weather Service.
There were no reports of injuries or fatalities, but the wind blew off roofs, snapped trees and shattered windows. On Neville Island, an inflatable dome at Robert Morris University's sports complex collapsed when a brief but powerful wind blew through the area.
About a dozen people inside escaped safely, said Kyle Fisher, a spokeswoman for the university.
Steve Pelesky, 38, and his wife, Tracey, 40, were in the kitchen of their 1800s-era stone and log home near Ligonier about 5:30 p.m. when they heard a "whistling" sound, they said.
"It sounded like a train," Tracey Pelesky said.
With their two preschoolers in tow, "we ran down to the basement," Steve Pelesky said.
When the sound of crashing trees and debris stopped, they went upstairs to find the roof had blown off their Ligonier Township home and landed on their sport utility vehicle. The home's 16-inch-thick stone walls held firm, but one chimney was knocked down, a tree shattered a first-floor window, and bits of attic insulation dangled from treetops.
An emergency manager reported that a tornado touched down on Route 711 north of Ligonier Borough at 5:34 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Moon.
Forecasters cannot confirm the tornado until a damage survey of the area is completed this morning, meteorologist Fred McMullen said. However, the heavy rain and winds in excess of 60 mph provided the perfect atmosphere for a tornado, he said.
"There's a strong probability that it was a tornado," McMullen said.
The weather service received about 15 calls of tornado sightings in the Ligonier area, he said.
Firefighters from several departments went house to house last night to make sure that no one was trapped in the Oakwood Hills and Hermitage Circle neighborhoods northeast of Ligonier Borough, said Paul Church, chief of Ligonier Volunteer Hose Company No. 1.
Power lines and trees were down across the township, Church said, blocking access to several neighborhoods. Route 711 was closed to traffic until 8:30 p.m. from north of the Ligonier Diamond to the township municipal building.
West Penn Power said 5,717 customers were without power last night; more than 1,900 of them were in Ligonier Township.
"It's not pretty here," said Dan Stevens, a Westmoreland County Emergency Management spokesman.
At RMU's Island Sports Center, the dome took 45 seconds to a minute to deflate when high winds ripped a hole in its side, Fisher said.
The 12-year-old structure, which measures 240 feet wide by 350 feet long and stood 70 feet tall, is made of a heavy vinyl-like fabric called Tedlar, she said.
"The dome started rocking, and I could hear the support beams and cables creaking," said Heidi Wiedenhofer, 27, one of two employees inside the dome when it collapsed. "I've never heard a sound like that before. All I could think about was making sure everybody got out of there."
Kendall Allen, 18, a Shady Side Academy High School senior, was among golfers practicing inside the complex.
"The bubble started swaying side to side ... and then I saw the bubble tear open," said Allen. "I was one of the last people to make it out without having to crawl. I got through the revolving door when I saw the bubble collapse behind me."
A team from the National Weather Service, which verified that the dome was struck by a microburst at 4:10 p.m., was attempting to retrieve a wind gauge last night that was attached to the top of the dome to get a precise reading of the wind's strength, said meteorologist Rihaan Gangat.
A microburst is a short, intense gust that occurs in a very localized area and typically strikes without warning, Gangat said.
Fisher said university officials are trying to determine whether the dome can be repaired. Replacing it could cost $1 million, officials said.
Staff writers Chuck Brittain, Amanda Dolasinski, Debra Erdley, Bobby Cherry and Michael Hasch contributed.
