Two Conway homes were damaged during a sudden summer storm that swept through the area Friday night.Lightning lit the sky over Conway at about 8 p.m. Friday. The National Weather service noted a "tremendous amount of lightning" Friday night with about 12,200 strikes statewide between 8 and 9 p.m.The Conway Fire Department responded to a grass fire possibly created by a lightning strike on College Avenue just before 8:30 p.m. Around 8:30 p.m., a fire that could have been from lightning struck a home on London Road, and about 30 minutes later, lightning struck a home on Georgetown Drive and caused a small fire in the attic area.The fires were extinguished quickly, said Assistant Fire Chief Mike Winter.Firefighters patrolled Conway to watch for flooding as rain fell, but no roads were closed. No wind or other storm-related damages were reported to the National Weather Service, said Joe Goudsward, service meteorologist.Faulkner County fared better than other counties, some of which saw strong winds of up to 85 miles per hour. Baseball size hail fell in Pope County. Storms blocked roads, upended trees and damaged homes and businesses in several counties, according to the National Weather Service. Even so, the storms caused multiple power outages in Faulkner County, including power loss to homes in Mayflower, Vilonia and Greenbrier, according to the Entergy website. By about 10:30 p.m. Friday, about 1,000 customers were without power, said Jim Garland, regional customer service manager for Entergy.As of 3 p.m. Saturday, Entergy estimated about 75 customers in the county remained without power. All power should be restored by Saturday night, Garland said.
