Photo: nypost.com

The string of thunderstorms that swept New York last night were surprisingly scary, with lightning slamming down into the heart of the city and gale-force winds slamming horizontal rain across the rivers into every borough. Furniture was blown off roofs, and we swear to God we saw a hot-dog cart get swept up by its umbrella and sail away to Oz. In Brooklyn's Marine Park, a group of men playing cricket were taken by surprise by the maelstrom, and one, Patrick Gibson, was struck by a bolt of lightning. The blast exploded his clothes off of him and forced him into cardiac arrest — but his quick-thinking friends administered CPR until a team of EMTs could arrive and take him to the hospital. (Pictured here are shreds of his uniform that were found nearby.) Now, living in the city, we tend to think of ourselves as protected from this kind of flash storm — generally, there's a tall building nearby you can run into, or which will at least attract the lightning away from your head. But last night's storm, even in the midst of skyscraper-laden Manhattan, actually seemed pretty scary to us. And apparently, rightly so.

LIGHTNING STRIKE! [NYP]