Crafton reports storm damage, says it will share county hazard-mitigation survey with residents

Crafton Borough Manager told council on May 8 that severe thunderstorms with 80-plus mile-per-hour winds caused widespread outages and tree damage in parts of the borough. The manager said most power had been restored by late in the week but that a small number of homes remained without service for several days and some roads and locations continued to have hazards from downed trees.

The manager said the borough had engaged its public-works crew and first responders to address immediate hazards and had coordinated with the county and utility companies. The borough will not remove trees that are entangled with utility wires; those situations must be handled by the power company or their contractors for safety reasons.

Council also discussed the county’s ongoing hazard-mitigation plan update. Staff said Crafton is participating in the county-led plan (which covers all municipalities in the county) and that the borough will distribute the plan’s public survey to residents through Savvy Citizen and other channels. The survey will collect public input on local hazards, response capacity and resilience priorities. Staff said they would schedule follow-up meetings with the borough’s emergency-services chiefs to coordinate the borough’s responses and fill out required internal information for the county process.

Council said the Shade Tree Commission will need to address the widespread tree damage in upcoming meetings; staff said some century-old street trees had been affected. The borough manager asked residents to exercise caution around downed limbs and other hazards.