Posted September 20, 2005, 9:32 AM.

Intensity of the storms was reportedly highest in the 3am hour.

Many brief power outages were experiences as lightning struck the power grid.

Thunderstorms were expected to continue throughout Tuesday. Brief heavy downpours were expected in spots through 11am, and the chance of rain in most areas was forecast at 40% for the day. A slight chance was forecast for Tuesday night and Wednesday was predicted to be thunderstorm-free.

Rainfall totals were unavailable in some WeatherCurrents communities, but were highest in Murrieta, with 0.35". A report from northeastern Temecula had 0.79" falling there. South Temecula had recorded 0.16" by 9am Tuesday morning. North De Luz had the lowest total at 0.01".

The Lake Elsinore weather station remained offline Tuesday morning after multiple power outages. Other stations that went offline for more than half an hour Tuesday morning were in De Luz and Murrieta.

Michael Mojarro contributed to this report.