A hammering summer storm brought 80-mph winds, heavy rain and dangerous lightning that tore down trees and caused flash flooding in and around Dubuque County on Thursday night.

Torrential rain caused significant ponding on streets and triggered a flash-flood warning for Dubuque County effective until 5:45 a.m.

"For north-central Dubuque County, we have a radar estimate of 3 inches in the last three hours," Tim Gross, a meteorological intern for the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities, said at about 10:30 p.m. "Just west of Dubuque, we have radar estimating 2 inches in three hours."

Alliant Energy reported more than 2,600 Dubuque County customers without power late Thursday.

Trained weather spotters reported thunderstorm wind gusts of 70 to 80 mph in the area.

"We had a wall cloud that was supposedly rotating," Gross said. "But it significantly died down once it was through the area."

Officials at the Dubuque Fire Department were moving as quickly as possible from one call to the next Thursday night. The heavy rains saturated trees, sending power lines sagging all over town.

In some cases, the lines were downed as trees and branches were knocked down by high winds.

"We're getting quite a bit of rain and that's taking down trees and a lot of power lines," said Tom Berger, Dubuque County Emergency Management director. Although the rain had slowed from downpour to steady by 11 p.m., flash flooding was still a factor.

"We've still got some roads closed," Berger said, though none were major thoroughfares.

The National Weather Service reported trees 16 inches in diameter downed on the west side of Dubuque and 70- to 80-mile-per-hour winds at Five Points in northern Dubuque County. A resident on Dubuque's Crestwood Drive reported a large tree uprooted, crushing a pickup truck. A tree was draped across Crestwood, just east of Westridge.

Officials reported creeks overflowing their banks in Delaware County. Manchester received 5 inches Thursday, including 3 inches in about three hours in the evening, though few homes were without power and the Delaware County Sheriff's Department had received few calls reporting damage.

The Ridgeway (Wis.) Fire Department reported a brief tornado touch down at U.S. 151.

Street flooding was reported in Dyersville, Iowa. Further north, in Monona, authorities reported more flooding in the streets.

Reports on the Dubuque emergency scanner included the following:

* Many emergency responders had to pull over because of the torrential downpour that hit Dubuque at about 8:45 p.m.

* Downed power lines were reported near Cox and Locust streets, Earl Drive, Garfield Avenue and Bryant Street.

* A large tree was down on Budd Road near Asbury.

* Big Apple Bagel's sign was knocked down.

* City Hall Annex flooded.

* Central Avenue at Kaufmann and at 32nd Street was flooded.

* An electrical fire in a home on Grandview.

* Water over the road on Bankston Park Road.

* Some homes completely flooded.

* House struck by lightning on Seminary Road.