Port St. Lucie resident Merry Moore O'Rourke reported her rain gauge caught over 3 inches of rain as severe weather moved through the area Friday. WPTV weather spotters captured video of the heavy rain.
Moore O'Rourke described the sudden onset of the storm conditions. "All of a sudden, it got black. The wind started just raging and the sky had lit up like I have not seen," she said.
The storm brought significant lightning activity to Port St. Lucie, sparking fires across the city. Lucie County Fire District said crews contained a brush fire near the 1900 block of Castinet Lane after reports that a lightning strike ignited vegetation in a nearby lot.
At the 900 block of Bellevue Avenue, fire crews responded to an evening house fire. At the time of the storm, radar picked up a significant amount of lightning in the area, though Lucie County Fire District said it cannot confirm the cause as the fire marshal's office still needs to investigate. Moore O'Rourke summed up what many across the region felt as the storms moved through.
"I mean it was radical. I mean it was it was a little scary," she said.