Apparent lightning strike sets Old Bridge Township, N.J. home on fire during Thursday's torrential storms
Lightning apparently struck a home and sparked a fire in New Jersey amid torrential storms Thursday.
It happened in Old Bridge Township around 3 p.m.
Two women in live in the home managed to escape with their four dogs, but they said their three pet birds, who were in cages, did not survive.
"I said to myself, that's really close. I didn't feel it like some people did, but I heard it - bang," neighbor John Johnson said.
Johnson said police pounded on his front door, and let him know that the neighboring building was on fire.
One of the women of the home was struck said just about everything inside was destroyed.
Flash flooding also causing problems
Thursday's heavy rains caused flash flooding in some parts of New Jersey.
Some of the locations are not far from areas that endured torrential flooding earlier this week.
Click here for the latest storm watches, warnings, alerts and advisories.
Photos from South River showed flooded intersections. Water in some parts of the area appeared to be nearly up to the bottom of some cars' doors.
More storm damage reports were coming in.
There were also reports of flooding in New Brunswick.
Thunder rolled and rain pelted cars on the New Jersey Turnpike.
In Edison, video showed Route 1 completely flooded out.
Rain totals piling up
As of 5 p.m. Thursday, there had already been significant rainfall in New Jersey.
CBS News New York's Lonnie Quinn said the rain had been coming down in "buckets."
- Kendall Park picked up 4.83"
- New Brunswick got 3.05"
- Dayton got 2.83"
- Skillman picked up 2.4"
- Rutgers Gardens got 2.05"
