Cloudburst

It wasn't just rain, it was a cloudburst.

While the authorities still believe most dikes will hold, a cloudburst and severe thunder storm made matters worse late Friday.

[B]ut the sound . . . expressed an utter abandonment to grief; not the cloud-burst of some passing emotion, but the slow down-pour of a whole heaven of sorrow.

A cloudburst in the China Creek district followed by continued heavy rains was responsible for the increased water.

In Uniontown, Pa., John Walchesky & family rushed from their house when lightning set it afire, rushed in again when a cloudburst put out the blaze.

[H]e walked across the lawn, wet from a fleeting late-afternoon cloudburst, the first rain in a month.