A 15-year-old boy said he's lucky to be alive after he was struck by lightning in New York City's Central Park. Yassin Khalifa was in Central Park with his friends on Thursday when the thunderstorm moved in. Hetold ABC New York station WABCthat he decided to stay in the park to wait for the storm to pass. Khalifa leaned up against a tree and the tree got struck by lightning, he said. The teen said he lost consciousness for about 10 seconds and his friends immediately called 911. Khalifa said when he woke up, he couldn't speak or move his body. "I was only able to speak once I got into the ambulance," he told WABC. Khalifa said he suffered second-degree burns to his neck and his leg. MORE: Record-shattering heat wave hitting wide swath of US: Latest forecast "Apparently I'm pretty lucky 'cause my spine was directly against the tree and no nerve damage happened. So I'm, like, not losing any sort of motor function," he said. "I'm really happy I'm gonna make a full recovery," he added. "Really glad to be alive." Thursday's storms prompted a severe thunderstorm watch for cities along the Interstate 95 corridor, from Richmond, Virginia, to Washington, D.C., to Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City. MORE: Hurricane Erick slams Mexico's Pacific Coast as a powerful Cat 3 storm There were more than 200 reports of wind damage, including downed trees and power lines, from North Carolina to Ohio to New Hampshire. Amid the storms, 975 flights were canceled nationwide on Thursday, according to FlightAware. New York City's LaGuardia Airport was the most impacted airport. There were also major power outages overnight in Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland. More than 140,000 customers in Pennsylvania remain without power on Friday morning. ABC News' Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.
