© aburrissBob Bickford , a resident of the Country Club neighborhood, works on clearing a tree Wednesday morning that fell on an SUV Tuesday night and blocked Country Club Drive in Rock Hill.
The storms moved into York and surrounding counties around 9:30 p.m. Thunderstorms persisted for much of the night before finally subsiding shortly before daybreak.
A Rock Hill man was driving home on Country Club Drive when several trees fell on his SUV, said his wife, Lauren Mclean. The trees trapped the 55-year-old man inside his Ford Explorer.
She said a neighbor broke a window on the SUV to pull her husband to safety. He was treated for scrapes, cuts and bruises at the hospital, she said.
In nearby Chesterfield County, investigators say Michael Gulledge was killed by lightening during the storm. Gulledge was outside playing with several people in his Ruby neighborhood when the lightning bolt struck around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Authorities say three others were injured by the same lightning bolt, but were treated and released at the hospital.
The National Weather Service last recorded a lightning death in South Carolina in July 2008 when a 19-year-old man was hit while riding a personal watercraft on Lake Marion.
Another person suffered minor injuries when he was struck by lightning at the Jonesville Fire Department station in Union County.
No serious injuries were reported in York, Chester or Lancaster counties. Emergency Management Director Cotton Howell said downed trees and power lines were the extent of the storm damage in York County.
Officials said York County damage was centered in the Fort Mill area where trees were blown down on Gold Hill, Old Nation, Unity, and Pleasant roads.
Jeannie Jones of Unity Street in Fort Mill said she heard a loud noise and her power went out immediately after. Instinct told her that she had a fallen tree near her home, so she peered out her window.
"I had to wait until lightening flashed so I could see what happened," Jones said.
When lightening illuminated her yard, Jones saw that an oak tree in the middle of her yard had fallen. The oak tree pulled out of the ground, with a root ball about three feet in diameter. The limbs of the tree fell onto Jones' porch, which caused damage to the roof and gutters.
"I'm just glad it didn't fall into the middle of the house," Jones said.
On Fort Mill's Clebourne Street, a crew from The Tree Dr. was removing a large tree limb that broke off during the storm and crashed down on Belle Vive Spa, which operates out of a 105 year-old building. Neva Cairco of The Tree Dr. said the damaged tree is estimated at between 90 and 100 years old.
In Charlotte, lightning caused a late night house fire just before 11 p.m. Tuesday on Polo Ridge Court near Park Road. Fire officials said one firefighter was injured when the home's roof collapsed.
"We had a firefighter mayday during the fire. The firefighter's out, conscious, and stable with a knee injury," Fire Chief John Hannan said.
A family of six was in the home when the fire started. All of them made it safely out of the home.
Duke Energy reported that more than 1,400 South Carolina customers were still without power Wednesday morning after the storms. Most of those without service were in York County, with much of downtown Fort Mill in the dark for most of the morning.
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