Nearly 50,000 tri-state residents were without power Thursday after violent thunderstorms rolled through the New York City area, felling trees and forcing flight cancellations as furious winds topped 60 mph regionally.
At least one person died as a result of the storm; a tree fell on her car in Armonk, authorities say.
New York and New Jersey bore the brunt of the outages, with each state reporting at least 20,000 as of 10 a.m. The bulk of those outages were in Westchester and Monmouth counties, respectively. Eversource in Connecticut was reporting fewer than 6,000 ongoing outages at that time.
Utilities said they were working to restore service to affected customers, though significant wind damage hampered their efforts. NYSEG, for example, had reported 180 downed wires and more than 30 broken poles as of 8 p.m. Wednesday, with strong wind gusts still expected to continue throughout the evening. A drop in temperature compounded matters, creating concerns about heavy, wet snow north and west of the city that could interrupt service.
Winds in Connecticut's Fairfield County approached 70 mph in spots. In the town of Brookfield, a tree fell on a car with a mother and three kids inside who had just returned home from grocery shopping. The family wasn't hurt, though the vehicle was destroyed. There were similar reports of wreckage elsewhere along the East Coast.
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Lightning struck the Statue of Liberty at the height of the storms Wednesday evening, and low-lying areas braced for coastal flooding. Parts of New York City, like Ozone Park in Queens, saw nearly 3 inches of rain total from this system, while some areas in New Jersey, such as Hillside, saw almost 4 inches of water.
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Coastal flood warnings remain in effect for the hardest-hit areas, while flood and river flood warnings were issued for a number of counties in New Jersey and New York. A winter weather advisory, meanwhile, is in effect for New York's Sullivan County. The flood threat persists through Thursday, though no significant additional rainfall is expected.
Check the latest weather alerts for your neighborhood here.
Winter weather moves in
The heavier rain tapered to scattered showers for most by late Wednesday, though some in the northwestern counties saw rain transition into a wintry mix. Snow and ice accumulations were most likely in Sullivan and western Ulster County. Snow showers could linger through the day on Thursday, making travel difficult.
Skies clear for Yankee home opener
We are still on track to dry out in time for the Yankees’ home opener Friday afternoon. It’ll be mostly cloudy, cool, and still breezy. If you plan on heading to the Bronx, you’re going to want the extra sweatshirt and make sure your baseball cap is on tight. Check out the forecast below.
