Meteorologists have confirmed that the brief, yet powerful thunderstorm that tore through Wareham on Tuesday was a "microburst" caused by Hurricane Sandy.

A microburst is "a strong, damaging, straight-line wind gust from a thunderstorm," explained Meteorologist Hayden Frank of the National Weather Service in Taunton.

The thunderstorm downed poles, trees, and power lines across Wareham at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, causing more destruction in some areas than Hurricane Sandy did on Monday.

NSTAR reported 1,750 residents without power as of midnight. By Wednesday afternoon, NSTAR had restored power to most of those residents. Just over 220 remained without power.

The National Weather Service sent a crew to investigate the incident. After speaking with eyewitnesses and observing the damage, meteorologists determined that a microburst was to blame.

"If you look at the way the damage is structured in this case, we're mainly looking at trees, and all the trees were mainly pointed down in one direction," Frank explained.

The potential for microbursts after a hurricane depends on where you're located in relation to the storm.

If the storm passes to the west -- such as with Hurricane Sandy in Wareham -- microbursts can happen, Frank explained. If the storm passes to the east, not so much.

The storm produced 80- to 90-mph winds in a short, approximately 10-minute period.

Wareham Police and the Wareham and Onset fire departments responded to dozens of calls ranging from flooded roads to live wires and trees on houses. Municipal Maintenance workers were out until the wee hours of the morning, assisting with clean-up.

Wareham Fire Chief Robert McDuffy said the department went from one incident to the next Tuesday night, and into Wednesday morning.

"Swifts Beach, Pinehurst, and Mayflower Ridge sustained pretty much the brunt of it and then it was gone," said McDuffy. "It came in and it left just as fast."

Selectman Ellen Begley had a front row seat to the damage with a tree crashing down on her husband's truck, and three massive oaks coming down in her back yard in Onset.

"It was just thunder and lightning and then we heard a big crack," said Begley. "Whatever it was, we experienced wind far worse than anything we felt during Sandy."

For comparison, nearly 500 people were without power on Tuesday morning, following Hurricane Sandy's arrival on Monday. Before the thunderstorm, NSTAR had restored power to all but approximately 120 residents.

Swifts Beach resident Justin Azbill praised NSTAR's quick response.

"They did a great job, and we had power back by 3 a.m.," he said, noting that after Tropical Storm Irene he was without power for five days.

The Onset Fire Department deployed its boat to respond to sinking vessels on private moorings in the town's Point Independence mooring field in Onset. Stored boats at Onset Bay Marina had toppled over due to the high winds.

Onset Fire Chief Howard Andersen said a resident had recorded a gust of wind at 100 mph. Howard said that a little before 8 p.m., "The Onset Fire department started receiving calls for various types of incidents related to the severe weather event that came through the area."

No injuries were reported.

Andersen said the department dealt with downed trees and power lines on Onset Avenue, and on back roads. The department also responded to reports of capsized boats and assisted the Harbormaster in checking on the marinas, and on stored boats that were jostled by the wind at Onset Bay Marina.

Anderson described the situation in Onset: "Checking the Point Independence area near the beach, it appeared that there was very high winds that moved various items in yards, and caused some minor property damage to various houses."

Crews are continuing to restore power. We will update this story as more information becomes available.