CLARENCE CENTER, New York ? Witnesses recalled Friday the terrifying last moments of a US plane that skimmed over their homes before dropping from the sky, triggering a deadly firestorm in the heart of their community.

"We heard a very low humming sound, like a buzz. It was something I have never heard before. Then there was dead silence," said resident Jamie Lynn Trujillo.

"After that dead silence, the whole building shook. At that point, you heard a terrifying boom, like a crash," she told Fox News after the accident claimed 50 lives, one of them her neighbor in the close-knit Clarence Center, New York community.

"It was terrifying. I was frozen on the couch, and I asked my daughter to look out the window because I got very scared," she said.

"It sounded like something was caught (on the plane), it didn't sound right ... I looked out my window and saw flames on everything except one of the wings," her 12-year-old daughter, Tomasita, told AFP, adding the plane was on fire before it crashed.

"We get there, and you see ... there's no more house. From the moment we got there, there was no more house ... and flames getting higher and higher. Then we would hear explosions," her mother added.

Continental Flight 3407 crashed late Thursday into a house in Clarence Center, while heading to Buffalo, New York state, from Newark, New Jersey.

One person in the house was killed and US media reported that two other people inside escaped with minor injuries -- Karen Wielinski, 57, and her daughter, Jill, 22.

Tomasita told AFP she saw two people, likely Jill and Karen Wielinski, trying to escape the fires. "They didn't have shoes or jackets ... they were crying and couldn't balance. People were screaming," she added.

"We did see the woman -- that poor woman. My heart breaks. We saw the woman who owned the house. I did not see her running out of the house, but I did see her. She was screaming, 'That is my house,' and she fell to the ground," Jamie Lynn Trujillo told Fox.

Tony Tatro, who was driving home from the gym when the plane passed just overhead, said he knew immediately that no one onboard could have survived, especially after it exploded as it hit the ground.

The plane was "nose down, tilted to the left so I was able to see the underbelly of the plane," said Tatro, who lives a few doors from crushed house.

"It was only about 75 feet above me when it crossed the road," the startled motorist told CNN, recounting how he immediately phoned the emergency services.

The wreckage was "fully engulfed in flames and 40 and 50 feet high. The heat was intense enough you couldn't get to the same side of the street."

"When you got to the scene, it was so intense that there was no hope. You knew that there were not going to be any survivors, but all I could do was pray," added Jamie Lynn Trujillo, saying she had texted prayer groups to pray for the victims and their families.

"It is a horrifying experience ... We're traumatized ... I do not ever want to fly again. After what I saw and knowing that these people perished and we cannot get them out. It is hard. It is hard."

Tearful families of the victims had meanwhile gathered in an airport lounge at Buffalo, awaiting news, but had not yet received confirmation of who was on the passenger lists.

Chris Kausner, who lost his sister, law student Ellyce Kausner, in the crash, said he had to break the news to his parents who were vacationing in Florida.

"I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I have never heard before," Kausner told Fox News.