Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato on Wednesday extended the county’s disaster emergency declaration for 30 days as clean-up and recovery efforts continue following last week’s violent storm.
The original order, signed last Wednesday, was set to expire after seven days. The extension — which allows the county to skip normal procedures and move resources quickly to towns still assessing damage and clearing debris — will remain in place until June 6.
The disaster declaration applies to all 130 Allegheny County municipalities.
The storm that rolled through the region last Tuesday produced wind gusts approaching 80 mph, toppling trees and power lines. It knocked out electricity to hundreds of thousands of customers. At the peak of the storm, Allegheny County’s 911 services fielded up to 1,000 calls a minute, straining local systems and regional phone carriers, officials said.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, Duquesne Light reported just fewer than 2,000 customers remained without power in its service area, which includes all of Pittsburgh. Last Friday, the electric utility estimated all customers should have power restored by yesterday; the company now estimates power will be completely restored by 11 p.m. Wednesday.
Meanwhile, West Penn Power — the other major electricity provider in the region — appeared to have repaired all storm-related outages affecting its customers.
Speaking at an unrelated event Wednesday, Innamorato took a few minutes to address the ongoing recovery.
“We know there will likely be thousands of insurance claims for damaged properties, and it will take time to rebuild and to get back to normal,” Innamorato said.
She urged residents to contact their insurers about wind damage and reminded SNAP recipients to seek replacement benefits for food lost in the outage. SNAP households currently have until Friday to notify their county assistance office about storm-related losses, but Gov. Josh Shapiro has requested an extension of that deadline from the federal government.
Businesses that suffered losses should report them to their municipalities to help the county seek state and federal aid, including low‑interest Small Business Administration loans, Innamorato said.
Innamorato asked residents to reserve 911 for emergencies and to dial 211 for food, shelter and other non‑emergency assistance. She acknowledged the past week had been trying for county residents, particularly those who lost electricity, but she praised the ongoing work to restore power and offer assistance during that time.
“[I want to thank] the crews that have worked nonstop for seven days to restore power,” she said, also praising county public works and emergency services staff “working every day” since the storm.
