The second of the two storms swept through the region sometime after 6 p.m., prompting the National Weather Service to issue its second severe thunderstorm warning of the day.
08.15.2012 | SPRINGFIELD -- A city firefighter and a utility worker on Old Farm Road early Wednesday, where emergency workers received a report of a lightning strike that brought down wires.Two thunderstorms, roughly 12 hours apart Wednesday, rolled through Western Massachusetts, bringing heavy rain, lighting and hail in some places, and causing street flooding and power outages.
The second of the two storms swept through the region sometime after 6 p.m., prompting the National Weather Service to issue its second severel thunderstorm warning of the day.
The first was issued early Wednesday morning as a storm swept through depositing heavy rain over Western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. Even before the afternoon storm, Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks recorded a record amount of rainfall of 1.3 inches, breaking the previous mark of 1.18 inches in 2004.
In between the two storms was a day of sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 80s.
In Springfield Wednesday night, there were reports of heavy rain and strong winds. There were reports of hail in Sixteen Acres.
A high-voltage power line pole on Breckwood Circle in Pine Point was struck by lighting, and several live power lines were knocked down onto the road.
Police to block off the road at both ends until crews from Western Massachusetts Electric Co. could arrive on scene.
Also in Springfield, firefighters were called to 14 Ionia St., also in Pine Point, for a report of a house struck by lightning. Firefighters found the house had not been damaged directly by lighting, said Dennis Leger, aide to Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.
Leger said lightning did strike the ground in the front of the property, and the charge sent a large chunk of concrete to go flying into the house. The homeowner heard the noise and mistakenly thought lighting struck the house.
In Westfield, the underpass at the bottom of East Mountain Road and Route 20 became impassable by flooding. The intersection has since reopened, police said.
The afternoon storm caused some outages, primarily in Springfield and Southampton, although there were also scattered outages in Whately, Hatfield and West Springfield.
In Southampton, nearly 175 customers were without power, roughly 6 percent of the town. Springfield had nearly 850 customers without power at 8 p.m., roughly 1 percent of the total.
The early storm produced heavy rainfall beginning at 5 a.m., and caused some flooding throughout the Connecticut River Valley.
In Springfield and Holyoke, some intersections were flooded by police reported few problems other than some inconvenienced motorists.
In Chicopee, police reported some minor flooding as well.
Chicopee Police Lt. Holly Davis said “We had some flooding because the rain came down so fast, but everything’s passable now.”
In Holyoke, police blocked off the intersection of Lyman and Canal streets.
In Springfield, police reported flooding at various locations, including Main and Berkshire streets in Indian Orchard.
According to the National Weather Service, the storm came through with 60-plus-mph winds and the possibility of quarter-sized hail in some parts of the region. The storm was moving at about 20 mph along a northeastern path from around Windsor Locks into Massachusetts.
At its peak, the a.m. storm knocked out power for more than 1,000
A powerful storm that rolled through the region Wednesday morning, producing high winds and flooding, knocked out power to more than 1,100 customers in Springfield. Power was restored to most within two hours, according to Western Massachusetts Electric Company officials.
There were also reports of scattered outages throughout Hampshire and Franklin counties, but power was restored within a few hours.
Republican reporter Conor Berry contributed to this report.