Lightning Strike Victim: "My Shoe Exploded"

Some of the victims struck by lightning on Sunday spoke to Newsday about their ordeal, with one describing how, "The lightning came out of my body through the foot, and my shoe exploded." A group of men who had been playing and watching soccer in a Hicksville park took shelter under a tree during the storm. But lightning struck, injuring five men. Elber Guerra has second- and third-degree burns on 35% of his body (his clothes caught fire) while Rene Castro has less severe burns; three others were released. Guerra doesn't remember being struck, but said his friends told him he "was choking on my tongue, with blood coming out of my mouth. They had to open my clenched teeth to get the tongue."