Rockville Centre weathers record-seting rain

There were reports of several electric outages and a few area roads flooded during the height of the record-setting rainstorm on Sunday, but other than that, Rockville Centre officials reported no major damage.

Village spokesman Jeff Kluewer said that 41 customers in the Gateway/Fenway area were without power Sunday morning between 8:20 a.m. and 10 a.m. as workers replaced a fuse in an overhead primary line that may have been destroyed by lightning. Six businesses along Sunrise Highway near Ongley Street, including the Dive Shop, also lost electricity between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday when an underground transformer cable became submerged in water and shorted out.

Kluewer also reported another incident on Sunday that may have been related to the deluge. When Fire Department personnel responded to an alarm at 100 Merrick Road, they discovered it had been triggered by a water leak in its electric room.

Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for the National Weather Service, said the Aug. 14 storm broke the all-time single-day rain record at John F. Kennedy International Airport, with 7.8 inches of rain. The previous record was 6.27 inches, set in 1984. Rainfall totals for Nassau County ranged between five and 11 inches. Lido Beach had the most, recording 10.87 inches of rain. A flash flood watch remained in effect through Monday evening as the slow-moving system added to rainfall totals with scattered heavy showers that continued through Tuesday.

“The bulk of it fell in the early-morning hours on Sunday, but the rain didn’t stop for 24 hours,” Vaccaro said. “This is about two months of rainfall. You could have this much in a hurricane. ”

Scott Brinton contributed to this story. Comments about it? RVCeditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.