High winds, heavy rain cause damage across the Tri-State area
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The storm system packing heavy rain and high winds took down trees, power lines and caused significant damage across the Tri-State area before moving out.
In Queens Village, crews from the city's parks department worked quickly to clear a towering tree after it toppled onto a Mercedes vehicle and blocked 219th Street by 89th Avenue.
The car owner says his relative was borrowing the minivan and had just gotten into the car. Luckily, the man in that car survived.
A major power problem and a significant repair job was left behind in Rockland County.
Strong winds brought down a half-dozen utility poles on this causeway connecting Congers and New City.
Police blocked off the area to allow a team of utility workers to do their thing, upright the poles and restore power to those customers who suddenly lost electricity late Monday morning.
"I was online teaching and it went - whoop - and the kids were screaming because they were all doing their videos and they had mini-strokes. And uh, my husband is like, something just sparked in the middle of the causeway," Kathy Nowak said.
Novak didn't lose power for too long. Workers re-energized the lines at 2:30 p.m. and she was back to teaching.
But the strong winds certainly took a toll on trees throughout the northern suburbs. A large tree was left leaning against the power lines on Dobbs Ferry Road in Greenburgh.
In Rye, powerful gusts snapped a tree at the base. It crashed down across a rain-soaked lawn at a senior center, the top portion of the tree hit a parked car and damaged the windshield. No one was in the vehicle at the time.
In Cresskill, New Jersey, a family was sent running for their lives when a tree shattered their quiet morning.
Thankfully, the couple, their daughter and dogs escaped, but now they can't go back to their home. This when everyone is ordered to stay at home.
Meanwhile, police in Ramapo were busy closing off roads where trees came tumbling down. The police department posted three different pictures of three different trees that stood no chance against the stormy weather.
In Farmingdale, Long Island, the storm huffed and it puffed until it blew the wall right off a commercial building. The owner who was working at the time said it sounded like an explosion.
Also on Long Island, winds brought down power lines and street flooding was evident.
Still, the damage has been nothing near what they have seen in the South.
Storms that killed at least 30 people in the Southeast, piling fresh misery atop a pandemic, spread across the eastern United States on Monday, leaving more than 1 million homes and businesses without power amid floods and mudslides.
In Alabama, people seeking shelter from tornadoes huddled in community shelters, protective masks covering their faces to guard against the new coronavirus.
Advisories, watches and warnings from the National Weather Service.
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