DELAWARE (6/1/2015) Thousands lost electricity and a home was heavily damaged by lightning as powerful thunderstorms brought down trees and power lines across the region this afternoon and evening.
The storms dumped 4.68 inches of rain at a weather station near New Castle and 4.48 inches in Newark, as well as dropping hail across New Castle County – some reported as large as a half-dollar.
Flash flooding about 5:30 p.m. left vehicles stuck on roadways in Christiana and Newark, the National Weather Service reported.
Lightning struck a home in the first block of Marlin Drive in the Brookside Park neighborhood east of Newark just after 7 p.m., igniting the roof. No one was injured.
Michael Chionchio, assistant state fire marshal, said damage was estimated at $30,000. Aetna Hose, Hook, & Ladder Company responded.
The American Red Cross is assisting four adults who live in the home.
A downed tree closed the intersection of Capitol Place and North Place in the Delaplane Manor neighborhood east of Newark, DelDOT reported.
Earlier, DelDOT reported a downed tree and wires had closed Beaver Valley Road between Beaver Dam and Ramsey roads.
At 8:20 p.m., Delmarva Power reported more than 5,000 customers out in Delaware and nearby Maryland. More than 3,000 of those were in the Cheswold area of Kent County. By 10:40 p.m., the number of Delmarva outages was down to 740.
The company predicts some customers may not have service restored until 3 a.m. Tuesday.
The Delaware Electric Cooperative reported only a small number of outages in Kent County.
Showers and thunderstorms are predicted through late tonight and a flash flood watch is in effect until 6 a.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service says.
Some of the storms may produce torrential rains, the service said, with up to 2 inches of rain an hour.
The storms came in the wake of an inch and a half of rain early today that left power outages in northern Delaware and nearby Maryland.
The outages darkened traffic lights at some Wilmington intersections this morning, with police directing traffic.
Delmarva Power reported outages in the areas of Martin Luther King Boulevard at Justison Street, West and Sixth, Shipley and Fifth and Rodney Square.
Delmarva reported more than 800 customers without service just after 8 a.m. throughout New Castle County, and another 1,900 out in the Port Deposit area of Cecil County, Maryland.
