Storm Causes Widespread Flooding Across North Fork

NORTH FORK, NY — Mother Nature dealt a wet blow to the North Fork Wednesday, as severe thunderstorms brought dangerous lightning strikes and even a tornado warning to the area.

Southold Town Highway Superintendent Vincent Orlando said since the rain, which totaled 4.5 inches in a 90 minute period, the flooding areas had gone down considerably by 7:30 p.m., but as of 6 p.m., many roads were impassable.

The highway department set up barricades at heavily flooded ares.

"Surprisingly, only a few trees are down. We have two crews out cutting them up," Orlando said.

Greenport, meanwhile, was hit fast and furious, as Front and Main Streets flooded. "We had a lot of water. Main Street was flooded by Claudio's," Greenport Village Mayor George Hubbard said. "We blocked the road off for awhile but once the rain stopped, it cleared up."

The storm, he said, caused no structural damage, and the village never lost power.

Just as quickly as the rain came, it was gone, the mayor said.

Hubbard said he drove through the village just after 6 p.m., and "it had all dissipated."

Less than 10 power outages were reported as of 7:30 p.m. on the PSEG outage map of Southold Town.