Severe Storms Leave Path Of Destruction Across Tri-State Area

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Cleanup is underway after severe weather slammed the Tri-State area on Tuesday.

The storms turned dangerous as powerful lightning flashed across the area with more than 1,500 strikes during the height of the storm, in some places leaving significant damage in its path.

"I just heard a crash and all I heard was duh, duh, duh, duh," said Selden resident Yesenia Deleon. "All of a sudden like a twister. It was raining and the wind was hard and I come outside and there's a tree on my house."

Another home in Selden was condemned after a large tree crashed through the roof, trapping a man in a wheelchair inside.

"We got here, there was an elderly man, wheelchair-bound. He was in the kitchen and access to the doors were blocked," said Selden Fire Chief of Department Bill Xikis. "Our members, with some chainsaws, cut the tree down that were blocking the front door and we wheeled him out."

In Medford on Long Island, lightning sparked a house fire, causing flames to shoot from the roof. No one was hurt.

In Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, a lightning strike during a pickup soccer game injured two men. One of the men was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

"A goalie was laying on the floor and a defensive player right next to him," said witness Andrew Graneros. "They were just both laid out on the floor."

Police say lightning also struck a third man near the corner of Baisley Boulevard and 155th Street in South Jamaica. He was rushed to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says a lightning strike also started a fire near a Long Island Rail Road substation, temporarily suspending service.

In other areas, flooding was an issue. Video from Queens shows water up to the doors of some cars and sidewalks turned into streams from all the heavy rain.