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Summer storm uproots trees across the city

A massive summer storm packing rain and fierce winds slammed the city last night, leaving behind a trail of destruction across the five boroughs.

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The heavy deluge — and 70 mph winds — came at about 10 p.m., causing flooded roadways, downed power lines and destruction to cars, officials said.

“A path of devastation from Riverside Park through Central Park into East Harlem and through Randalls Island,” said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

New Yorkers awoke this morning to the storm’s aftermath, which included rain-soaked streets and toppled trees.

David Wally, a meterologist with the National Weather Service, said the storm was not a tornado.

“Evidence we have, looking at our radar data, is that there were no tornado signatures,” he said. “It was straight line winds.”

Riverside Drive was closed between West 97th and 101st Streets after dozens of trees had landed and crushed parked cars.

Parts of Central Park were also heavy hit, with nearly 100 trees ravaged by the strong winds, city officials said.

“We’ve got our tree crew and 10 contractors in the park right now assessing the damage,” said Kate Sheleg, a spokeswoman for Central Park Conservancy.

She advised the people dtay away from the northern part of the park today.

“Our first priority is to clear the drives and transverse roads — additional crews are being called in to help but clean up will take time — will then need to assess the damaged trees that are standing and see what will need to be removed,” said Sheleg.

A tree even crashed onto a taxi at West 86th Street near Central Park. No one was injured.

“We have never seen damage this extreme in Central Park,” said Benepe.

The storm is also blamed for partial damage to a Bronx building currently under construction and a scaffolding collapse on the Lower East Side.

In Queens, the storm knocked down numerous power lines, causing at least 20 neighborhoods to go without power.

The majority of those affected customers are in Flushing, officials said.

Con Ed said nearly 1,000 customers were without power and that it should be restored by this afternoon.