Scattered severe thunderstorms struck from Norwalk to Norfolk and points east on Saturday afternoon, bringing heavy rain and damaging winds.
But by 6 p.m., severe thunderstorm watches and warnings from the National Weather Service had largely ended. Severe thunderstorm watches had earlier encompassed nearly all of Connecticut, and a swath of severe storm warnings had cut a line across the state from southwestern Connecticut north into Hartford County.
Tolland and Windham counties remained under a severe thunderstorm watch until 8 p.m.
Farther south, the National Weather Service ended a flood advisory for southern areas of New Haven and Middlesex counties.
The line of storms lashed Connecticut with brief but intense wind and rain Saturday afternoon, knocking out power for thousands of residents.
“It looks like Salisbury got the worst of the storm,” said Jon Barbagallo, public information officer for Norfolk and several other first-response agencies in the Northwest Corner. “They were still out on an Appalachian Trail rescue when the storm hit.”
Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance and Lakeville Volunteer Fire Department were called to two incidents involving vehicle crashes and one involving a person trapped in a car with wires down on either side of it, he noted.
In Salisbury, crews with the Eversource had to walk 2 miles to the location of a vehicle trapped behind wires brought down by trees and limbs, Eversource spokeswoman Tricia Modifica said. By the the time they got to the scene in the Taconic section of town, the driver had been freed by himself or with help from emergency services, she said.
A 60-mph wind gust was recorded at the Riverside Yacht Club in Greenwich, storm reports from the National Weather Service's New York office said.
A tornado warning was issued earlier for Litchfield County on Saturday afternoon as part of a thunderstorm watch that extends to 8 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The tornado warning has since expired.
In New Haven, heavy rain came down after 4 p.m., sending currents of water cascading along roadsides. Less than an hour later, the rain had significantly let up.
Cheshire fighters were able to quickly patch a residential roof that had been damaged by falling debris from the chimney that was struck by lightning minutes before the pounding rain started, according to a Facebook post by the Cheshire Fire Department.
Berlin residents said the high winds were causing the rain to fall "sideways" as the brief but intense line of storms blew through. The line marched across the state, bringing downpours and poor driving visibility to a wide swath from west to east, at one point stretching from Tolland to Middletown.
The winds kicked up in Windham at about 4:30 p.m. just as the storm reached the northeast corner of the state, minutes later causing intense rain for more than 30 minutes until the deluge subsided. Patrons of a restaurant on Route 6 were soaked in the short period of time it took to go from their vehicles to the front door.
However, little damage was seen in the area from Berlin to Windham as the line of storms moved through.
The storms prompted the National Weather Service to issue a severe thunderstorm watch across all of Connecticut, except for New London county in the southeastern corner of the state. Those watches, along with severe storm warnings, later expired.
The severe storm warnings warned of 60-mph winds. A warning issued for Hartford County and portions of Tolland County also warned of quarter-sized hail.
The weather service issues watches when conditions are ripe for severe weather to occur. A warning is issued when severe weather is occurring or about to occur. Warnings for severe storms often include the storm's direction and speed as it appears on weather radar.