The wind wreaked havoc across New Jersey as power lines and trees came crashing down, some even snarling the evening commute.
In Midtown at 49th and Park Avenue, during the height of the wind storm, the Department of Buildings responded to bricks raining down after straps holding a window-washing rig in place broke.
The rig swung off the roof and part of the wall went with it.
Four pedestrians were hurt by falling debris.
Mother nature showed its fury, splitting a tree in two, and knocking down power lines and utility poles around 10 a.m. on Second Avenue and South Broadway in Lindenhurst.
"The wind was howling. I heard a loud bang and crash," said neighbor Tony Trinceri. "Then I heard another boom, and all of a sudden I heard the electricity pulsing. You can just hear it zapping and frying, and they started setting the tree on fire and the fire department came and had to put it out. It was really scary. I was worried about my neighbor. I didn't know if it came down on the house or not."
That neighbor, Henry White, considers himself lucky.
"Thank god my car was right here, so it missed my car by an inch," White said.
Crews worked quickly to clean up, but this was just a snapshot of the damage across Long Island.
In Great Neck, Long Island, a downed tree hit power lines that set two cars on fire on West Mill Drive, according to the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department.
Heavy winds knocked down a tree onto a car on Brooklyn Avenue in Baldwin.
In Stony Brook, Citizen App video shot from inside a car showed a downed tree across a roadway and in front of a home. It appeared that the tree struck a red car parked in the home's driveway at 97 University Heights Dr.
Meanwhile in New York City, Citizen App video showed a tree that fell onto cars on the Upper East Side.
Thousands of power outages have been reported in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
As of 9 p.m., PSE&G Long Island has restored power to more than 31,200 affected by the storm. Work is continuing to get the remaining 3,000 customers their power back. They say their crews are working 16-hour shifts to restore power.
At the major local airports, dozens of flights have been cancelled in addition to delays.
Click here for the latest advisories, watches and warnings from the National Weather Service
The Tri-State area will finally dry out Saturday, and stay mainly dry this weekend.
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