Storm brings flooding, power outages to central York County

Drivers had to be rescued from vehicles that became stranded in flood water when a strong thunderstorm blew through York County on Monday afternoon. The storm also brought down tree limbs and caused power outages around the county.

Several busy roads flooded in Springettsbury Township, including Eastern Boulevard, Kingston Road, Market Street, North Hills Road and Industrial Highway.

Water completely swamped Industrial Highway west of Memory Lane, flowing into the parking lots of nearby businesses. A small red vehicle was submerged up to its windows in the middle of standing water, although it appeared to be unoccupied.

On Eastern Boulevard near Mill Street, rescuers helped people from their stranded vehicles. During the height of the storm, emergency vehicles raced from water rescue to water rescue. Fire police on Industrial Highway said every piece of fire equipment in the township was on the road.

The rain began about 1 p.m., falling at a rate of up to 5 inches an hour at times, according to the York County Office of Emergency Management. A flash-flood warning was in effect until 4:45 p.m.

The storm also brought dime-sized hail for residents in several areas, including York City and Springettsbury Township.

Fire departments across the county responded to numerous incidents throughout the storm, including trees falling onto homes and into streets, fires caused by downed power lines and several reports of structure collapses.

Power outages: Monday afternoon's storm caused power outages for thousands of Met-Ed customers in York County.

More than 3,200 customers were without power at 2:45 p.m., according to the company's website, including more than 2,000 in Springettsbury Township.

Traffic lights were reported out around the county. 

Met-Ed officials said they expected most customers' power would be restored by 5:30 p.m. Monday.

Power was restored to nearly all Springettsbury Township residents by 4 p.m., but the overall number of power outages in York County did not drop.

At 5:45 p.m., more than 1,600 people in York City and more than 600 in West Manchester Township still did not have power.

The heavy rain eased up by 4 p.m., but there were nearly three dozen active incidents on the York County Live Incident Status website, ranging from reports of wires down and transformer explosions to flooded roads and water rescues.