Severe thunderstorms prompted a series of tornado warnings across central and eastern parts of Connecticut into Wednesday evening, leaving scattered wind damage and thousands without power in their wake.
An initial set of tornado warnings were issued just before 6 p.m. and continued for 45 minutes while the heaviest storms marched from Glastonbury and Manchester toward northeastern Connecticut, including Andover, Coventry and Storrs.
The storms brought blinding rain and gusting winds that downed trees in Manchester, knocking out power to almost 2,500 Eversource customers during the height of the outages. Glastonbury escaped the storms without any major damage, town officials said.
Manchester Fire Department crews responded to more than 40 calls for storm-related damage while public works and Eversource crews worked late into the night to restore power and reopen roads, Assistant Fire Chief Daniel A. French said late Wednesday.
“The area south of Center Street was hit particularly hard with the area east of Main Street past Spruce Street seeing what appeared to be the most concentrated impact,” French said. “Numerous branches came down taking down power lines, blocking roads and damaging cars and homes. Flooding in the Elm Street area temporarily stranded several motorists in standing water.”
Forecasters closely monitored pockets of rotating clouds that indicated a tornado could be imminent, but the National Weather Service did not confirm late Wednesday whether any tornadoes touched the ground.
UConn warned students and staff on its Storrs campus to shelter inside as the storms approached the area and eventually crossed into Rhode Island.
But the tornado warnings were re-issued just after 6:45 p.m. when another round of severe storms developed behind the first line starting in Wethersfield and Rocky Hill before making virtually the same trek east.
Those storms pounded Manchester and Glastonbury a second time, causing more damage and bringing even stronger winds, forecasters said. Those warnings continued until about 7:30 p.m. when the tornado threat finally expired, according to the weather service.
At the same time, though, another line of severe thunderstorms approached northwestern Connecticut and triggered a new set of storm warnings. The National Weather Service did not issue a formal tornado warning associated with that set of storms but did note rotation in the clouds and winds gusting up to 60 mph.
By 8 p.m. those warnings also had expired as the last line of storms made its way across the northern half of the state, dumping more heavy rain in some areas and bringing another round of wind gusts up to 40 mph.
The evening weather threats followed a short bout of severe storms across central and eastern Connecticut during the mid-afternoon that primed the area with extreme rain and copious amounts of lightning that caused some localized flooding and scattered power outages.
Temperatures in Connecticut stayed below 90 degrees during the day Wednesday, with highs topping out around 86 degrees. But that followed the fifth heat wave of the year in the area after Monday and Tuesday both hit the 90 degree mark at Bradley International Airport.
More rain could come to the area Thursday, with a slight chance of showers between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. and then a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 4 p.m., according to the weather service. The temperature is expected to reach 89 degrees.
“Hot and humid conditions persist Thursday then a period of showers and isolated thunderstorms expected Thursday night as a cold front stalls near the south coast,” the weather service wrote. “Wet weather may linger into Friday along the south coast, otherwise improving conditions.”
Friday, Saturday and Sunday are expected to be mostly sunny with highs just below or at 80 degrees.
Zach Murdock can be reached at zmurdock@courant.com.
