Storms wreak havoc across state

Gray skies opened up yesterday morning and drenched communities statewide, where few were singing in the rain. Low-lying roads became impassable, basements flooded, and lightning strikes sparked fires.

And despite a reprieve yesterday afternoon, storms are expected to return today and could make appearances through the weekend, said Jeremiah Pyle, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton.

“We have a little bit of hope for the weekend; we still expect to see some sun,’’ Pyle said. “But the chance of thunderstorms probably isn’t going to go away, and we may still get some rain.’’

Storms rolled in at about 8 a.m. yesterday, according to the National Weather Service, which issued a flood advisory saying the rain could flood low-lying areas, including streets under highway overpasses, and push streams to their brims. The advisory was in effect until 11 p.m.

The morning storms wreaked hav oc in communities across the Bay State: At 7:30 a.m. in Upton, a man called 911 and reported he had been struck by lightning, said Brian Kemp, director of the town’s EMS division. The unidentified man, who lives on Merriam Way, appeared to be in good condition and was taken by ambulance to Milford Regional Medical Center, Kemp said.

Lightning struck again at 8:15 a.m. and ignited a fire in the steeple of Medway Community Church.

Sterling was perhaps the hardest-hit community in the state, with floods turning streets into canals and basements into ponds, said Scott MacLeod, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. Crews went door to door in some areas and prepared sandbags to ready the town for today’s weather.

“We went to a basement on Meetinghouse Hill Road, and 18 inches of water was rushing past the basement windows,’’ said Rick Maypother, spokesman for the Sterling Fire Department. “I felt like a fish inside an aquarium watching that window, hoping it did not break.’’

Most of the town’s rivers and streams breached, and most yards resembled swamps. Before the rain stopped, town officials were close to declaring a state of emergency, Maypother said.

According to MEMA, there were scattered power outages across the state, caused by wind gusts hitting utilities already battered by inclement weather.

“With all the rain we’ve had over the past month, it doesn’t take a lot - just a little wind - to knock some power lines down,’’ MacLeod said.

Sections of Worcester, even some not prone to flooding, were underwater yesterday morning, and city officials worked to detour rush-hour congestion to higher - and drier - ground, said Sergeant Kerry Hazelhurst of the Worcester Police Department.

“It was all hands on deck this morning,’’ Hazelhurst said. “We had substantial flooding throughout the city this morning, with a lot of stranded cars and motorists.’’

The average rainfall across the state yesterday was between 2 and 3 inches, said meteorologist Rebecca Gould of the National Weather Service. Grafton and Auburn received the most rain, with 2.75 inches, she said.

“We’ve just had a ton of water and alarms going off because of [power] outages,’’ said Grafton police Sergeant John Keller.

One death was attributed to the stormy weather. An Eastham shellfisherman died Wednesday when his boat was struck by lightning, officials said yesterday.

The man, Christopher West, 41, harvested shellfish along the Cape Cod coast, said his father, Richard West, of Eastham. He was in Pleasant Bay in Orleans between 5 and 5:30 p.m. when lightning hit his boat.

“He loved the water, he loved the sea, he loved the Cape,’’ said Richard West. Christopher West grew up in Framingham and Ashland and had worked on the water for nearly two decades.

Orleans Harbormaster Dawson Farber, who also heads the town’s shellfish commission, said authorities received a 911 call reporting a boat struck by lightning and responded to the scene, which was in shallow water, in about 15 minutes. He said boaters need to remain conscious of the weather, which can change quickly.

Globe correspondents Michaela Stanelun and Maria Chutchian contributed to this report.