In the stillness of night, a quiet, tree-lined street in a San Diego neighborhood was plunged into chaos when a plane clipped a power line and crashed – turning cars into fireballs and sending residents fleeing in a haze of smoke and confusion.

Several people are believed to have died after a small plane crashed into a residential street in San Diego on Thursday morning.

The plane took off late Wednesday night from Teterboro Airport, just outside of New York City.