A line of strong storms brought wind and rain that downed trees and wire in West Hartford late Friday afternoon.

A large tree on Warrenton Avenue appeared to have been struck by lightning, and as it fell took out a fence and landed on a house on South Highland Street. Photo credit: Colleen Kearney

By Ronni Newton

The Hartford area received notice Friday afternoon of a severe thunderstorm watch, and then a warning, and then the forecast storms appeared even earlier than expected with the first popping up before 4 p.m.

Over the course of about 90 minutes late Friday afternoon, a strong line of storms pummeled West Hartford, particularly impacting the eastern portion of town.

A large tree on Warrenton Avenue appeared to have been struck by lightning, and as it fell took out a fence and landed on a house on South Highland Street. Photo credit: Colleen Kearney

At 6:30 p.m., Public Works Director John Phillips said the weather had pretty much settled down, and with the sun setting around 8:30 p.m. on the first full day of summer, he said there could actually be a “solid two hours” of sunshine before the end of the day.

While there was torrential rain and some temporary flooding, the roadways drained quickly as soon as the storm moved out of the area.

“Most of the damage was on private property,” Phillips told We-Ha.com. “We have large limbs down here and there,” he said, but crews were able to respond within 20 minutes of the first call, and clean-up of anything on public property took place quickly.

“All-in-all, I think we did okay,” he said.

A maple tree that fell on Beverly Road took down some power lines, so that road was closed for cleanup, Phillips said. As of 10 p.m., Highland Street, between Farmington Avenue and Fern Street, was closed, and 273 customers remained without power according to Eversource’s outage map.

Colleen Kearney shared photos of a large tree in her Warrenton Avenue home that appeared to have been struck by lightning, and as it fell it toppled a fence and landed on neighboring house on South Highland Street. It caused property damage, but no injuries, she said.

On Arnoldale Road, a large pine tree caused some property damage.

A large pine tree on Arnoldale toppled in Friday afternoon’s storm. Photo credit: LuAnne Armstrong

There was some speculation that the nature of the storm may have indicated a microburst, but Phillips said he thinks it was more “frontal wind” that resulted in the damage.

A storm on Friday, June 21, 2024 toppled this tree on Beverly Road. Photo courtesy of Cindy Cormier

A large tree on Warrenton Avenue appeared to have been struck by lightning, and as it fell took out a fence and landed on a house on South Highland Street. Photo credit: Colleen Kearney

A large tree on Warrenton Avenue appeared to have been struck by lightning, and as it fell took out a fence and landed on a house on South Highland Street. Photo credit: Colleen Kearney

A large tree on Warrenton Avenue appeared to have been struck by lightning, and as it fell took out a fence and landed on a house on South Highland Street. Photo credit: Colleen Kearney

A large tree on Warrenton Avenue appeared to have been struck by lightning, and as it fell took out a fence and landed on a house on South Highland Street. Photo credit: Colleen Kearney

A large pine tree on Arnoldale toppled in Friday afternoon’s storm. Photo credit: LuAnne Armstrong

A large pine tree on Arnoldale toppled in Friday afternoon’s storm. Photo credit: LuAnne Armstrong

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