Sudden storm on Saturday caused power outages, tree damage across NYC

CITYWIDE — Downed trees caused power outages, traffic and transit delays in New York City on Saturday evening into Sunday, following a thunderstorm with strong wind gusts which reached maximum speeds of 64 miles per hour at LaGuardia Airport, according to Con Edison. 

The high winds, which came on suddenly and ferociously around 7:30 p.m. Saturday, damaged trees on streets and in parks across the city, and knocked branches — or in some cases, entire trees — onto overhead electric delivery equipment. 

In Downtown Brooklyn, visitors playing on the turf or sitting on benches in Cadman Plaza Park fled as the wind whipped branches, leaves and dirt into a frenzy. Two local residents trying to cross Cadman Plaza West had to wrap their arms around a tree in the median to prevent being blown down the streets as branches hurled past. (One of them had to wrap his other arm around his little dog to prevent it from being blown down the street as well.)

The glass in the revolving entrance door of a co-op on Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights was shattered into thousands of pieces as the wind slammed with great force through the lobby. Luckily, no one was moving through the door at that time, and the safety glass held together within the frame, residents said.

The secret_nyc Instagram account posted a video of people fleeing a rooftop pool in Brooklyn, as metal garbage cans and lounge cushions blew across the enclosure and beach umbrellas took off into the air like missiles. One commenter identified  the event as a “gustnado.”

Also in Brooklyn, firefighters braved the storm at its peak to rescue a man from the churning East River off Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. A 911 call reporting a person in the water came in at 8:13 p.m., according to an FDNY spokesperson. Firefighters rescued the man, who was transported to NYU Langone Hospital. One firefighter was also transported to an area hospital as a precautionary move. FDNY had no further information about how the man came to be in the river. His condition and the condition of the injured firefighter is unknown at this time.

In Queens, a falling tree killed an 85-year-old man in Forest Park during the storm, according to the Daily News.

More than 19,000 Con Ed customers across the city and in Westchester County were without power on Saturday.  By Sunday afternoon, power was restored to nearly 14,000 customers, with  approximately 5,200 more still awaiting service, Con Ed said.

The hardest-hit borough was Queens, where thousands lost power after the wind brought down trees in sections of Bayside, Douglaston, Jamaica, Little Neck and Maspeth. By late Sunday afternoon, 3,979 Con Ed customers in Queens and 130 in Brooklyn were still without electricity. Con Ed estimated that power would be restored by 7 p.m. Monday.