Driveways bled onto the roads across the northern face of the Helderbergs yesterday as a fierce summer rainstorm forced gravel and muddy streams downhill.

Starting mid-afternoon and continuing through the evening, with a brief spot of sun in the middle that lured cautious residents from their homes to assess the damage, the storm flooded basements and closed roads around Altamont and the Hilltowns.

Firemen and highway workers estimated that a storm of that magnitude happens every few years and the National Weather Service issued flash-flood warnings throughout the area with rain forecasted through Saturday.