The impressive storm which rolled through the area on the evening of Aug. 7 left the Village of Ashcroft less than impressed, when a lightning strike took out some of the electronics controlling the automatic turn on/off for the Village’s water pumps.

Village Administrator Michelle Allen said that there was never a safety issue, and that the Village’s emergency services were not affected. However, in the immediate aftermath of the strike crews had to monitor the reservoir manually to ensure that water levels were neither too high nor too low.

A notice from the Village on its website and on social media on Aug. 8 asked residents to refrain from using automatic sprinkler systems for 24 hours. As many people schedule their systems to come on overnight, it was feared that the water level in the reservoir might drop suddenly in the absence of the automatic system.

Replacement parts for the damaged equipment were expected on Aug. 10, and the system was expected to be fully functional again by Saturday Aug. 11.

Barbara Roden