Reader photos: Lightning strikes over the North Fork

A wicked evening thunder storm left nearly 3,500 homes on the North Fork without power or dealing with some service loss as of 9 p.m.Monday night, according to the Long Island Power Authority.

LIPA reported that nearly one in six homes in Southold Town was affected by outages as of 9 p.m. for a total of 2,294 customers. An additional 1,196 customers were affected in Riverhead Town.

About 2,o00 of the affected customers appear to be in Peconic.

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LIPA said the outages are not expected to be restored until sometime after 10 p.m., and in some areas not until after midnight.

But as of 9:30 p.m. all but 400 of the affected customers had their power restored.

Riverhead fire chief Nick Luparella said the outages are all “storm-related.”

Mr. Luparella also said firefighters responded to an alarm for a transformer fire on Roanoke Avenue and Northern Parkway in Riverhead.

A downed wire was also reported on Church Lane in Aquebogue.

“There are downed trees all over,” he said.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning Monday, saying winds could also reach as much as 60 miles per hour.