CAROGA, N.Y. -- A state of emergency is in effect in the Pine Lake Resort Village area of the town of Caroga, following strong storms on Saturday night. Everyone not involved in the cleanup is asked to stay away from the area, until they're given the all-clear to return. Eight people were injured in the storms.  

"Some of the most terrifying moments of some people’s lives," said Alexandra Adams, a Naples, Florida resident.

Crews did their best to clean up a mountain of debris Sunday

"This tree right here that's snapped in half was laying on top of our tent,” said Adams.

Alexandra Adams walked us through the damage to her camp site after one powerful storm.

"This was out of nowhere; no one saw it or knew what was going on,” Adams said.

Emergency officials say around 6:15 Saturday night a severe storm hit the pine lake campground in the town of Caroga, splitting trees, and damaging cars and homes.

Adams’ tent that she usually sleeps in was crushed.

"By some miracle we decided to leave about an hour before this happened,” said Adams.

During the height of the storm most of the campground was empty as more than 2,000 of the people staying there were enjoying a concert under this tent at the end of the property. Those who live here along with emergency personnel are astonished no one was killed.

"Totally amazing because some of these trees are just huge,” Adams said. "The immediate thought was the potential for loss of life."

And firefighters say when they arrived it was absolute chaos, and it's easy to see why, trees on top of cars and on homes, and phone lines were down making it hard for anyone to communicate.

"It was a mess, there were people all over the place, everybody was looking for their kids, everyone was looking for missing people,” said Caroga Lake Fire Department Chief Barbara DeLuca.

In all 8 people were taken to the hospital, 2 to Albany Medical Center in critical condition. Their current condition is unknown.

"We've been here since 7:30 this morning and were here until 3 o'clock last night,” DeLuca said.

While it will likely take weeks to recover and clean up the debris, people here say they're glad everyone made it out alive.

"Some trailers in the back are turned upside down, I'm baffled no one was more gravely hurt,” Adams said.

Eight people were injured. Two were in critical condition when they were taken to the hospital. There's no word on their current condition. As many as 30 vehicles were destroyed, and 50 structures were damaged or destroyed.