Branch hits EMTs on call during storm

Two city emergency medical technicians found themselves in need of critical care when they were hit by a falling tree limb on a call during Thursday’s storm, authorities said.

The EMTs were called to Stanton St. near Norfolk St. on the Lower East Side at 4:10 p.m. for a report that a tree branch fell on a car, the FDNY said. The driver suffered a minor injury, officials said.

As the crew moved the motorist into their ambulance, a second limb snapped off the tree and slammed down on them and their rig, according to a video shared with The News.

Another ambulance was called and the EMTs and their patient were rushed to Lower Manhattan Hospital, all with minor injuries.

Some 150 “lower priority” 911 emergency calls were held between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. as the storm raged, an FDNY spokesman said Friday.

Updated numbers were not immediately available, but sources told The News the number of holding 911 calls climbed overnight — with some waiting up to three hours as ambulances struggled to traverse the gridlocked city.

NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said 22,882 911 calls were made between 2:30 p.m. and midnight Thursday — a 79% jump from this time last year. Of that number, 1,915 were calls about car crashes on the clogged streets — a 162% increase.

The massive rush hour traffic everyone faced during the storm — especially in Manhattan and the Bronx — was because of the multiple-car accident on the George Washington Bridge, according to Monahan. He also jokingly blamed the Waze navigation app, which sent motorists onto side streets which quickly became impassible.

“Once that George Washington Bridge shut down ... everything that happened after it kept snowballing one right after the other,” Monahan said.

“I’ve been doing this almost 37 years,” he added. “This was one of the most challenging nights I have ever seen with the way traffic hit