3 Dead in Severe Weather Outbreak

Three people died in Pennsylvania as a storm system, which caused widespread damage across the central U.S. region early in the week, moved eastward and left thousands without power.

According to Pittsburgh Public Safety, emergency crews were dispatched to the 1000 block of St. Martin Street following reports of a man who had been electrocuted by downed power lines. The individual, whose identity has not been released, was declared dead at the scene.

In a separate incident, Allegheny Country Emergency Services confirmed a second storm-related death within the county, though further information has not been provided.

“A large swath of destructive wind damage was seen across our area as storms rolled through," meteorologists with the National Weather Service office in Pittsburgh said in a statement. "In some locations, straight-line winds gusted over 80-90 mph, stronger than many of the smaller EF-0 & EF-1 tornadoes we typically see in this region, but for a much, much wider area."

The third death took place at State College, where emergency responders were called to an area near a utility pole on University Drive.

According to the State College Police Department, a 22-year old man died after being electrocuted while attempting to extinguish a mulch fire and came into contact with a live electrical current.

“This tragic incident occurred during a severe weather event hitting the State College area, resulting in damage to many trees and utility lines,” police said in a statement. “Public works crews are working to remove debris, and First Energy is working to restore power to the many customers affected by the mass outages in the Centre Region.”

The Pittsburgh Public Safety Department also reported 911 outages due to the extreme storm outbreak.