Heavy rains, lightning hit Ohio, Kentucky

CINCINNATI, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Heavy storms in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky Tuesday triggered lightning fires and flash flooding that slowed motorists, officials said.

Firefighters in Warren County, Ohio, battled three house fires thought to have been started by lightning Tuesday morning, while electric transmission lines were reported downed by strong winds, The Cincinnati Enquirer said.

Duke Energy reported that heavy rains, winds and hail left 13,000 customers without power in Butler and Clermont counties in Ohio.

Downtown Louisville, Ky., meanwhile, was socked with 4 inches of rain in the less than an hour, stranding motorists and causing manhole covers to blow off due to tremendous pressure on storm sewers, The Louisville Courier-Journal reported.

Chris Poynter, a spokesman for Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson, told the newspaper that several people had to be rescued from vehicles caught in street flooding and warned that many of the city's streets were not passable.

A flash flood warning was issued by the National Weather Service Tuesday for western Jefferson County, Kentucky, and the Indiana counties of Clark, Floyd and Washington.