A tree that crashed through the side of a home in Wantagh, N.Y., lies across cars in a driveway today. (AP)
The brutal nor’easter that dumped more than four inches of rain on the city this weekend killed five people, flooded the New York City 911 system with calls and left half a million people in the dark, authorities said.
The weekend storm’s 70 mph wind gusts left trees and power lines down across the tri-state area.
The NYPD received 65,000 calls to the 911 system during the 24 hours starting 11 p.m. Friday. It was the second highest volume for a one-day period, eclipsing the number of calls on Sept. 11, 2001, but short of the 96,000 calls during the 2003 blackout, the police department said.
As of this evening, about 110,000 Con Ed customers in New York City and Westchester were without power, with the greatest concentrations on Staten Island, Con Ed reported. The Long Island Power Authority, which also serves the Rockaways, reported 222,000 were powerless. PSE&G reported about 150,000 without power in New Jersey.
The storm proved deadly around the region.
– A Brooklyn woman was killed Saturday in Bay Shore, Long Island, when she was hit by a falling tree as she left a 5-year-old relative’s birthday party.
Julia Hughes, 73, a retired elementary school teacher, was walking out of the house on Lanier Lane around 8:20 p.m. when a massive maple crashed down from across the street. Two others were injured when the tree fell, fire officials said.
– Earlier yesterday in Teaneck, NJ, a tree killed two men walking home from a synagogue.
Lawrence Krause, 49, a lawyer, and neighbor Ovadyah Mussaffi, 52, were just minutes from their homes on Jefferson Avenue when a tree on Krause’s property crushed the pair about 7:30 p.m.
– Two other people, one in Westchester and another in Westport, Conn., were killed when falling trees landed on their cars.
Brendan McGrath, 58, was killed when a 100-foot tree fell on his Hyundai sedan on Pinewood Road in Hartsdale.
In Westport, Jennifer Thibault, 39, of New Jersey was killed inside her vehicle.
The storm dropped 4.27 inches of rain on Central Park over Friday, yesterday and today, according to Accu-Weather meteorologist Brian Edwards.
It battered luxury beachfront homes across the Hamptons, forcing some owners to take emergency measures.
Billionaire Ronald Lauder’s oceanfront house in Wainscott remained standing only because engineers hurriedly installed 25 cubes, each containing 1.5 tons of sand, to shore up the rapidly eroding shore.
Additional reporting by John Doyle and C.J. Sullivan.