Flooding, Fires, and a Lot of Wet Folks

Along with the lightning, thunder, and rain, Wednesday afternoon's storm brought first responders out in droves to respond to fire and medical emergencies across the South Fork.

The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for the East End late Wednesday afternoon, a warning that proved critical when a small tornado was confirmed to have touched down on the North Fork. According to Carlie Buccola, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Upton, Connecticut and the North Fork were more heavily impacted than the South Fork. Still, the rain fell hard and fast, causing flash flooding on the roads, and the lightning and thunder sounded fire alarms and started at least one fire.

"It was crazy," said Tom Gardella, chief of the Sag Harbor Fire Department, which responded to four calls, including two possible structure fires, within a 37-minute time frame.

As the downpour began, just before 4:30 p.m., the department was called to 52 Union Street in Sag Harbor Village, where they found a fire in the roof above the kitchen. The occupant had already left the house and the whole ceiling was filled with smoke, Chief Gardella said. Firefighters put out the fire relatively quickly, which didn't take much water, since they already had a good supply from Mother Nature, he said. That fire is still under investigation. The chief said it's unclear whether the cause was weather-related.

Not 20 minutes later, at 4:44 p.m., with the lightning continuing to hit, the department received another report of a structure fire at 7 Poplar Street, in the Pine Neck neighborhood of Noyac. The alarm was going off and there was an electrical smell in the house. From his command post under a porch on the Union Street property, he sent his first assistant chief, Bruce Schiavoni, and two engines to Noyac.

Firefighters didn't find a fire, just smoke, and determined there was some kind of electrical issue, most likely caused by a lightning strike, Chief Gardella said. They turned the electric to the house off and used thermal imaging cameras to check the walls. But, the volunteers couldn't go home just yet.

At 5:05 p.m., while firefighters were still at the Union Street and Poplar Street houses, the chief received word that there was flooding at 3605 Noyac Road, between the Waterside condominiums and Cromer's Market, on the water side. Dispatchers told the chief the first floor was flooded and two residents were trapped on the second floor.

"That was not the case," Chief Gardella said. As it turned out, the basement had water in it, though it was already receding by the time he arrived. He had called for help from the North Sea Fire Department, but canceled it when he found no one was trapped.

In the midst of the three calls, there was a call for an automatic fire alarm on Grant Street, which was answered by a captain, using the chief's vehicles.

"I think we handled it pretty well considering," Chief Gardella said. "Nobody got hurt and there were no mishaps, that's what I'm most proud of," he said. "You have all these members responding and getting on apparatus and bringing apparatus from one scene to another safely without any incident. That sometimes gets overlooked."

Meanwhile in East Hampton, firefighters also had their hands full, answering four calls in 20 minutes. "I think the storm lasted a total of 30 minutes. When it came, it was relentless," said Chief Ken Wessberg. Just after 5 p.m., there was a small kitchen fire at Chiquita Latina on Pantigo Road and a gas leak reported in front of the Blue Parrot in the village. Then, the department received a call that a house may have been struck by lightning on Briar Patch Road, the chief said, adding it was a false alarm. Another gas leak was reported, this one on Buell Lane, shortly after. The chief said it was the methane gas from the septic tanks getting full of water that caused the problem.

As Chief Wessberg drove to the last call, he said there was six to eight inches of water from Buell Lane  running across Main Street by the flagpole as storm drains failed to keep up with the amount of rain that fell. "I've lived here my whole life, I've never seen that," he said.

The Amagansett Fire Department also was called out to a report of structure fire on Atlantic Avenue that turned out not to be much, and there was a transformer fire across the street from its headquarters on Main Street that caused a power outage.

The National Weather Service did not have specific rain totals for individual towns, but said the hamlet of Montauk, which was spared some of the storm's worst rain, got about a quarter-inch of rain in a 12-hour span, according to Ms. Buccola. Severe, sustained flooding was not a major problem across the East End, she said, though some areas probably experienced the kind of localized "nuisance flooding" that occurs when drains cannot handle the amount of rain that falls in a short period of time.

Indeed, Stephen Lynch, East Hampton Town's highway superintendent, said that was exactly the kind of flooding that occurred in the town.

"There were just a lot of wash-outs around town — a lot of flooding -- but as soon as it stopped raining, the water went down right away," he said, noting that East Hampton and Wainscott seemed to be "hit harder" than Montauk or Amagansett.

Mr. Lynch said the town did not receive any calls regarding incidents during the storm itself. On Thursday though, "there was a lot of sweeping and cleaning up" dirt and debris in the streets, he said.

Also, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a warning that waters may not be safe for shellfishing due to the heavy rainfall.