Cleanup begins after powerful storms bring damaging winds, large hail
Waterspout confirmed off Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor Tuesday afternoon
Several communities in central and eastern Massachusetts have begun the cleanup process after powerful thunderstorms that prompted two tornado warnings moved through the area Tuesday.
Timelapse Video: Storm seems to make Boston disappear
The severe storms plowed through communities such as Acton, Billerica, Marlborough, Gardner and Boxborough, and there were numerous reports of trees falling onto vehicles and homes, and knocking out power to thousands of people.
Video: Massive lightning bolt hits Boston area
The city of Boston couldn't escape the storm's grip and the city had several reports of flooded road and large hail.
A waterspout was confirmed off of Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor around 4:25 p.m., StormTeam 5 meteorologist Danielle Vollmar said.
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Emergency crews also needed to rescue a couple in Natick after their vehicle became submerged and stuck under a flooded overpass on Route 9.
Video: Damage on North Shore | Cape Cod | Rhode Island
Several areas also saw vivid cloud-to-ground lightning, large hail and strong, damaging winds as the storms marched from west to east.
The National Weather Service said it could not confirm a weather spotter's account of a rain-wrapped tornado touching down near Hubbardston, Massachusetts, and Massachusetts State Police said they had no such reports.
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The spotter had said the tornado was on the ground seven miles south of Hubbardston.
The powerful storms that spawned the tornado warnings brought large hail, vivid lightning and torrential rains. Trees and power lines were downed in communities throughout the state.
Earlier, a line of powerful thunderstorms rolled through communities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts Tuesday morning, toppling trees that injured nine campers at a state park and leaving as many as 150,000 electric customers without power at the height of the storms.
They struck during the morning commute with isolated wind gusts topping 80 mph along with pounding rain and severe lightning. Forecasters warned that more storms were possible during the afternoon and evening.
Southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod which were hardest hit during the morning commute, but escaped the afternoon storms.
Downed trees blocked many roadways and several police cruisers in Barrington, Rhode Island were damaged when a tree fell behind the station.
In Warwick, the torrential rains quickly flooded roads, stranding some motorists.
"I just had a hose and I was siphoning water out of the engine. We'll see if it can turn over now. It was turning over before, but it looks like it might be able to soon," said Nicholas Paco, of Warwick, Rhode Island.
Several trees also came down in Warwick.
"The whole house kind of just like flexed forward and backwards, you could feel it. And if you look, the whole house is kind of leaning now -- kind of sideways -- from it. It just sounded like an earthquake. I've been in an earthquake before, it sounded like an earthquake," said Harrison Wardle.