Copyright © 2018 Albuquerque Journal
Powerful thunderstorms battered the Albuquerque area Thursday evening, flooding streets and leaving thousands of residents without power.
Bernalillo County was under a flash flood warning until 11 p.m. and the National Weather Service recorded rainfall totals that ranged from a half inch to over an inch-and-a-half with wind gusts reaching 40 miles per hour.
Albuquerque Fire Rescue dealt with several downed power lines and a house fire in northeast Albuquerque, near Comanche and Morris.
AFR spokeswoman Diane Burns said lightning struck the home on the 10000 block of Toltec NE around 9 p.m. and fire crews were called after the homeowner found his roof and a tree were on fire
“Neighbors say they heard the loud crash of lightning and before they knew it their neighbor’s roof was on fire,” she said.
Fire crews were able to extinguish the blaze and save the man’s dog. Nobody was injured.
“The dog will stay with the neighbors and the homeowner will be displaced for the night and will be staying with family members,” Burns said.
It was also a busy night for PNM as weather-related outages – from fallen power lines and lightning strikes – plagued the city with thousands of residents losing power in parts of the North Valley, the South Valley and the University area.
A PNM official said the outages were expected to be resolved by the end of the night.
Gusty winds brought the rain down in droves for the duration of the storm and streets turned into small rivers rising over the curbs in low-lying areas of the city.
The National Weather Service expected the weather would quiet down later Thursday night, with a small chance of daytime thunderstorms today.
Floods suspend Rail Runner service between Bernalillo and Santa Fe
