Cleanup follows severe Mass. storm

HOPKINTON, Mass., July 9 (UPI) -- Residents cleaned up downed trees Thursday after a tornadolike storm with golf-ball-size hail and 80 mph winds ripped through eastern Massachusetts.

A super cell, the highest category thunder and lightning storm, took down trees and tree limbs and blew debris from Hopkinton, Mass. -- a western suburb of Boston best known as the starting point of the Boston Marathon, along the Interstate 495 corridor southeast toward Taunton., Mass. -- before heading east toward Cape Cod and out to sea, the National Weather Service reported.

"We're still cleaning up, and we'll be cleaning up for a week if not much longer," Framingham, Mass., public works Director Peter Sellers told The Boston Globe.

The storm added to troubles communities in the area have faced during the past week, as frequent rains have swelled ponds and streams, clogged storm drains, and led to rainwater seeping into basements and buildings, the Globe said.

The rain from Wednesday's storm "was bouncing off the ground," Dan DeCristofaro, 18, of Hopkinton, told the Globe.

Authorities reported no serious injuries but a 27-year-old unidentified man in Milford, Mass., was slightly injured when he fell to the ground after lightning struck and snapped a large tree next to him.

Another storm is set to pound the area Saturday and Sunday, with the potential to bring damaging thunderstorms, the National Weather Service said.