Some areas of our region got their long-awaited rain on Tuesday afternoon, but it came along with dangerous weather.

There were severe thunderstorm and tornado watches in effect for all of eastern Ontario and Gatineau as of late afternoon, with most of those downgraded from warnings.

Ever-changing tornado warnings were in effect for the Cornwall, south Ottawa, Prescott and Russell and Sharbot Lake areas, but there are no reports of any touching down.

A 61-year-old man was hit by lightning in Barry's Bay the Upper Ottawa Valley during the storm.

He was airlifted to hospital in Ottawa in stable condition, according to paramedics.

About 3,000 people were left without power in the Athens area (near Brockville) after strong winds knocked down trees and power lines.

Ted Landon lost his new car after a century-old tree fell on it.

"My Golf, the little guy there, I don't know how much damage there is," he said. "There's no real damage to the house this time."

"The hydro was out instantly and everybody started to run around," said Diana Cobb. "The streets in Athens, I've never seen them so busy."

Upper Gatineau and the Pontiac were the only areas without a weather watch or warning.

The significant rainfall comes after a three-week stretch with only a few millimeters of rain, which is posing problems for farmers, wildlife and fire crews who have to deal with extremely dry conditions.

It's yet to be determined which areas will get enough rain to ease drought conditions, and by how much.

Another Ottawa grass fire before the storms

Before the rains came in the mid-afternoon, Ottawa fire crews watered down a large grass fire east of downtown.

Nearly two acres of field were destroyed near the Hurdman transit station starting just before 1 p.m. on one of the hottest days of the year.

"People need to be very very careful with what they're doing with fire right now, until we get some rain." said firefighter Dennis Dale. "You've got the fire, but also got guys dressed in heavy suits; it doesn't take much to overheat."

Fire crews said a match, tossed-away cigarette butt and even a piece of broken glass magnifying the sun can start fires like the brush fire off Moodie Drive.

"There is no open flame today which is good, the little rain we had last night helped with that, but of course the winds are picking up," said deputy fire chief Gerry Pingitore.

That fire in Nepean has been burning since Thursday.

With reports from CTV Ottawa's Katie Griffin and Claudia Cautillo