STORM TOLL 5
250,000 homes in dark from the deadly winds
THE DEATH TOLL hit five Wednesday, including two people killed by falling trees in upstate Newburgh, as nearly 250,000 homes were left powerless by a wicked spring storm.
Cleanup efforts were underway across the region after devastating winds late Tuesday afternoon brought trees crashing down, killing people in upstate New York, Connecticut and northeast Pennsylvania.
Those killed in Newburgh in Orange County included an 11-year-old girl fatally injured when powerful winds brought a tree crashing down on her mother’s SUV outside their home. The mom escaped with minor injuries.
Cops in the area reported another “storm-related fatality” when a woman was struck by another falling tree as she drove through the storm about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The National Weather Service announced a tornado with a peak speed of 85 mph touched down in Newburgh, traveling along the ground for about one-third of a mile.
Authorities also confirmed the storm spawned a pair of tornadoes in Putnam County. And a mini-tsunami appeared in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast, creating only minor issues.
Gov. Cuomo deployed the National Guard to aid storm-damaged Putnam, Dutchess, Orange and Sullivan counties, where some 157,000 customers remained without power.
The two major Connecticut utilities reported 88,500 utility users without electricity. Meteorologists said the winds in Connecticut topped out at up to 110 mph
in the area of Brookfield in Fairfield County.
“We are estimating a multiple-day restoration here,” said a spokesman for Eversource Energy.
Metro-North’s Hudson Line endured up to 10-minute delays Wednesday morning because of the storm, while service on the Harlem line ran on limited service, according to the MTA.
Downed trees wreaked havoc on the Tuesday night rush hour to the northern suburbs, with officials announcing that a powerful microburst, or intense downdraft, carved a 250-yard swath of fallen trees through one wooded area.
And the fallout continued at local airports, with hundreds of flights canceled or delayed at Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia, according to FlightAware.com.
Though the winds died down from the tree-toppling strength of Tuesday night, the bad weather was expected to linger.
Rain was in the forecast, along with patchy fog, through Thursday night and precipitation was predicted through Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Two of the other fatalities occurred in Connecticut, where a man in the Candlewood Lake area took refuge from the storm in his truck — only to die when a tree fell on the vehicle, said Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton.
The other death was a 41-year-old woman crushed when a tree toppled onto her car, although the tragedy came with a miracle — a 3-year-old passenger escaped uninjured.
An uprooted tree crushed a Pennsylvania man in the Poconos as he was driving Tuesday afternoon, Lehigh Valley Live reported.