Lines down

Lightning and high winds downed a power line on Pumpkin Swamp Road, near its intersection with Pulaski Highway between Florida and Goshen Tuesday afternoon, creating a powerful and dangerous condition along an approximately quarter-mile stretch of the road. According to police, lightning struck an Orange & Rockland Utilities Inc. power line during a fierce downpour early Tuesday afternoon. Parts of wire fell to the asphalt in flames. Village of Florida Police and Fire officials, as well as state police, secured the area, warning motorists not to get out of their vehicles as a precaution against electrocution on the wet pavement. No one was injured although the road required some patching from where the wires burned. (Photos by Colleen Larkin-Fone and David Hulse)