Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski Geeseytown Community Fire Company firefighter Ethan Carn, Lt. Robert Smith III and chief Dennis Estep (from left) remove a fallen tree across Sylvan Drive in Hollidaysburg on Monday morning.

Much of the weather on Sunday was filled with storms and rain that never seemed to end.

There was a thunderstorm in the Altoona area around 4 a.m. Sunday, then taking a break until later on in the afternoon where storms continued until early Monday morning, reported by Bill Gartner, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in State College.

The storms caused some flooding requiring area fire departments to respond.

Blair County EMA Director, Mark Taylor said all of the fire departments were out at some point of the day to respond to calls related to the storm, he said.

“Emergency services were kept busy with the usual thing when you get that much rain at once,” Taylor said.

Senior meteorologist Dave Dombek from Accuweather said this was caused by an organized line of storms.

“Some places got quite a bit of rain, with some areas getting more than others,” Dombeck said. “Many areas got half an inch while others saw up to 3 inches.”

With the rain starting back up on Monday, and a possible stray thunderstorm according to Accuweather.com, that amount could be more.

Gartner said drier and sunnier weather will return on Wednesday and continue into the weekend.

Amidst the area experiencing a bit of a dry summer, along with the rest of the northeast region of the country, this rain will definitely help, he said.

“It for sure will help, because the rain happened steadily over a long period of time,” Gartner said.

Dombeck said the area has had some bouts of storms but not enough to really soak up the ground.

“This time of the year if it has been dry, not all of it makes its way to the groundwater because the roots of the vegetation get it first,” he said.

According to Phoenix Volunteer Fire Department’s Facebook page, the rain caused severe flooding, road closures and a possible dwelling fire.

The post said the source of the fire was determined to be an appliance issue in a flooded basement.

Volunteers handled a total of 15 incidents in a two-hour time frame, the post said.

Josh Barbelang, a member of Excelsior Fire Department in Bellwood said the station responded to two calls for trees down.

Geeseytown Fire Department responded to a call on Monday for a fallen tree on a road.

“There was a tree down, and we believe it was because of the ground being wet,” Fire Chief Dennis Estep said.

He also reported that there were a few flooded roadways on Sunday.

In Cresson, St. Joseph Street from Penn Avenue to Broad Avenue was closed due to flooding.

EMA Director for Cambria County Art Martynuska believed the road had opened back up on Monday.

“There’s been some reports of road ways affected in other parts of the county from all the rain and flooding, and also water in basements of houses,” he said.

His staff were in East Taylor and Middle Taylor Townships on Sunday and Monday to assess the damage caused from the flooding.

Dombeck said in this type of weather it is important to be careful with driving.

“With this kind of rain you have to slow down because of low visibility and the possibility of hydroplaning,” he said.

Staff Mirror Writer Cati Keith can be reached at (814) 946-7535.