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Anxious eyes were peeled on local skies Wednesday when a tornado warning went into effect and a slam-bang thunderstorm crashed through the Attleboro area with torrential rain and ferocious lightning.

No tornados touched down, but people definitely got the jitters shortly after 4 p.m., when the National Weather Service in Taunton issued the warning for western and southern Bristol County. The warning was lifted at 4:50 p.m.

Late afternoon moviegoers at Showcase Cinemas off Route 6 in Seekonk were watching shows in progress or standing in line to get tickets when the lights went out and word spread like wildfire about a possible tornado.

Suzanne Nowak of Pawtucket said the electricity flickered off and on several times before the theater had to cancel its shows.

Then, as patrons filed out of the several theaters, someone on a cell phone got news that a tornado warning had been issued, prompting a nervous buzz in the crowd, she said. Nowak said there were about 75 to 100 movie goers huddled in the lobby with their eyes on the sky waiting out the storm. Most were older because it was senior day at the theater.

"A lot of people were afraid - I was afraid," Nowak said. "They said the tornado was heading toward Seekonk."

And the weather outside seemed to confirm just that.

"It was very dark," Nowak said. "It looked like a tornado."

Nowak said weather conditions were fierce.

"You could see lightening bolts crashing down in the parking lot. They were pink and bright," she said.

Parts of the parking lot were flooded by the torrential rain.

The dramatic weather however passed quickly without a tornado.

While there were no verified tornadoes, the National Weather Service office in Taunton said funnel clouds observed in Rhode Island.

A funnel cloud - a violent, rotating column of air that does not touch ground - was spotted near Barrington and Warren, R.I., near Narragansett Bay. "It's not unusual," weather service meteorologist Alan Dunham said. "This is a very tropical air mass. It's not out of the ordinary."

Hail also was reported in Rhode Island.

In Rehoboth, a lightning strike set a shed behind a house on Wood Street ablaze, but firefighters put that fire out. The fire was reported about 4:30 p.m.

A few other lightning strikes caused smoke in some homes but no serious damage, a public safety dispatcher said.

In Seekonk, lightning strikes knocked out the electrical system of the Circuit City store on Route 6, forcing it to shut down for the afternoon.

Lighting also knocked out the electrical system of a house at 115 Blacksmith Road and damaged a home at 27 Clarke St, Seekonk fire officials said.

More thunderstorms swept through the area throughout the night, bringing periodic heavy rain, but no problems were reported.

The brief afternoon storm dropped 0.67 inch of rain, according to the Attleboro Water Department. That was just over half the total that had fallen during all July, a month that usually sees 3.3 inches of rain.

The high temperature Wednesday was only 75 degrees, at 3 p.m., the water department said, quite a change from the seven straight days of 90-degree-plus muggy weather that ended Tuesday.

More wet weather is forecast for today. Heavy thunderstorms and a high temperature of 76 degrees are expected, AccuWeather said.

Friday should be sunny, with a high of 86 degrees, but more thunderstorms are possible Saturday and Sunday, AccuWeather said.