NWS: Lightning Strikes 3 Men In Queens As Wicked Weather Pummels Tri-State Area

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Two men were struck by lightning on a soccer field in Queens as severe thunderstorms battered parts of the Tri-State area Tuesday night.

The men, ages 30 and 40, were playing soccer at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park when they were each struck, according to the National Weather Service. They were both rushed to NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, where the 30-year-old was listed in critical condition.

Earlier in the evening, Queens Congresswoman Grace Meng tweeted that officers from the 110th Precinct were hosting a National Night Out in the park before the storm hit. Police say officers from the event responded to the soccer field and helped people find shelter.

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.

Tuesday's wicked weather came after a hot and humid start to the work week, blasting much of the city and its surrounding area with heavy bursts of rain and peppered blasts of thunder and lightning. People took to social media to document the storm bearing down on the region.

Con Edison said it was responding to various system-wide power outages in sections of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx in wake of the storms.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says a lightning strike started a fire near a Long Island Rail Road substation, temporarily suspending service through New Hyde Park along the Oyster Bay, Port Jefferson, and Ronkonkoma lines. Service resumed with a modified schedule after roughly one hour, but it wasn't clear what kind of effect if any it would have on the Wednesday morning commute.

The NWS said a round of severe weather last Thursday included a tornado in the College Point neighborhood of Queens. The twister was confirmed as an EF0 tornado, the weakest measurable confirmed strength.

The tornado is believed to have touched down near 124th Street and 15th Avenue and traveled about nine blocks on the ground, about three-fourths of a mile.

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Stick with CBSNewYork for more on Tuesday evening's severe weather.

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