Power slowly being restored after deadly derecho tears through Ohio, Pennsylvania
Power restoration continued Thursday after deadly storms killed at least 3 people and left over 500,000 without power as wind, flooding, and outages hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, and beyond.
AccuWeather’s Dave Dombek breaks down the historical average of a derecho occurring across the U.S., what constitutes a derecho and the challenges of forecasting these storms.
A line of severe thunderstorms evolved into a derecho Tuesday evening, bringing destructive wind gusts across parts of the Ohio Valley and interior Northeast, leading to at least three deaths and power outages for hundreds of thousands. By Thursday afternoon, at least 200,000 customers —mostly in Pennsylvania— were still without power, down from around 700,000.
The strongest impacts were reported in southeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, where straight-line wind gusts reached 80 mph — stronger than many low-end tornadoes but across a much wider area. Officials said the storms tore off roofs, uprooted trees in saturated soil and brought down power lines throughout the region.
“The line of storms formed near Indianapolis and continued advancing eastward, bringing widespread tree and power line damage to western and central Pennsylvania,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert said. “Wind gusts in some areas were nearly 80 mph. For some communities, this derecho could be a once-in-10-year or even a once-in-20-year event.”
In Pittsburgh, a man was killed after being electrocuted by live wires, according to the city’s public safety department. Emergency crews responded to reports on St. Martin Street Tuesday evening and pronounced the man dead at the scene. A second storm-related death was also confirmed in Allegheny County, but no additional details were immediately available.
This video captured the moment a derecho arrived in State College Tuesday evening.
The Pittsburgh area endured widespread damage and experienced 911 outages due to the storms. Public safety officials urged residents dealing with phone issues to contact their local police zone districts directly.
Wind gusts of 71 mph were recorded at Pittsburgh's airport, the third-highest wind gust ever measured at the airport, only behind 75 mph winds measured on April 8, 2020, and an 83-mph gust reported on July 10, 1992.
A deadly derecho that tore across multiple states on April 29 knocked down power poles, stripped the siding off buildings and ripped apart trees.
Outside the city, at least two school districts canceled classes Wednesday, and several others announced delays due to storm damage and outages. Other school districts in the hardest-hit areas of western and central Pennsylvania were also closed on Wednesday. A possible tornado was spotted south of State College on Tuesday as the violent storms swept through the area.
According to local media, thousands lost power in Centre County. A 22-year-old man was fatally electrocuted in State College while trying to extinguish a mulch fire near a downed utility pole damaged by the storm, authorities said.
Storm reports filed for April 29, 2025, including reports that were not associated from the derecho, which traveled from southern Illinois and Ohio through Pennsylvania.
A few miles away, heavy winds sent several power lines crashing down on top of at least four vehicles, leaving people trapped inside for hours. Incredibly, no one was injured.
The powerful storm brought down trees and power lines in State College, Pennsylvania, on April 29. The airport in State College clocked a gust of 62 mph, but other weather stations across the region measured winds of 70-80 mph.
AccuWeather expert meteorologists are classifying this long-lived thunderstorm complex that blasted through Ohio and Pennsylvania as a derecho.
"While there have been many days of severe thunderstorms so far this year, this appears to be the first derecho of 2025,” AccuWeather Senior Director of Forecasting Operations Dan DePodwin said. “Derechos are long-lived lines of thunderstorms that produce straight-line wind damage in excess of 58 mph over at least 400 miles in length. This particular derecho extended from near the Ohio-Indiana border along and north of the Ohio River, eastward through western and intoâ¯central Pennsylvania, spanning more than 400 miles.
The risk for severe thunderstorms will continue Wednesday from central Texas and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, north to Oklahoma, and east into parts of Missouri and Kentucky on Wednesday afternoon through Wednesday night.
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