Mid-heat-wave rainstorms deluge central P.E.I.

Charlottetown saw heavy rain Tuesday evening and a thunderstorm in Summerside knocked out power as hot, humid weather fueled storms across the Maritimes.

Environment Canada issued severe thunderstorm watches for the two P.E.I. cities as the storms were rolling across New Brunswick. The province has also been under a heat warning since Sunday.

Summerside got 32.5 millimetres of rain in last night's storm and Charlottetown 26.6 millimetres. West Prince and Kings County were not so wet, with North Cape getting 8.7 millimetres and St. Peter's 5.1 millimetres.

The bulk of the rain on the cities fell in two storms. The first hit Summerside around 6 p.m. It came with thunder and lightning that crashed a transformer and cut the power supply to all Summerside Electric customers. The utility began restoring power to the city circuit by circuit around 8 p.m.

The second storm landed in Charlottetown a little before 9 p.m. There was little thunder left in that storm, but almost as much rain.

In both cities, the rain came and went within an hour.

The forecast holds a risk of thunderstorms again on P.E.I. Wednesday.

A heat warning continues on P.E.I., with a high Wednesday of 28 C. The forecast has the warning ending on Thursday but it will still be warm, with temperatures up to 26 C. The risk of thunderstorms will remain.