An investigation is underway to pinpoint whether an icy two-day winter blast may have triggered a giant sinkhole at a Lower East Side complex.
An estimated 2,000-3,000 square feet of courtyard at 415 Grand St. collapsed onto an underground parking garage just before midnight, damaging several vehicles, authorities said.
There were no reports of injuries.
“The building shook and I saw a tree disappear and pieces of the ground started sinking,” said Eddie Santiago, a resident of 417 Grand.
Added neighbor Michael Franklin: “I thought it was an airplane crash or an explosion.”
Ilyse Fink, a Building Department spokeswoman, said residents in a portion of a building northeast of the sinkhole were evacuated as a precaution.
In addition, IND F train service was suspended early today from Jay Street-Borough Hall in Brooklyn to West Fourth Street in Manhattan.
The collapse came at the end of a two-day goulash of snow, sleet, freezing rain, icy slush and thunder.
But all the walkers, riders, drivers and flyers plagued by delays, cancellations, skids, slips, floods, fender-benders and power outages are in for a breather today and tomorrow.
“The weather’s going to be tranquil,” National Weather Service meteorologist Ingrid Amberger promised yesterday.
Yesterday’s early freezing rain, followed by regular rain – nearly an inch fell after midnight – was the icing on a horrible winter layer cake.
Ice and falling branches led to scattered power outages for about 1,500 Con Ed customers in the five boroughs and Westchester. On Long Island, some 22,300 homes and businesses lost electricity.
For the second day in a row, hundreds of flights out of the three area airports were canceled or delayed.
Two frustrated business consultants, whose flight to Boston had been canceled Thursday and again yesterday, left La Guardia and headed to Penn Station to catch a train.
But other travelers had the same idea, and Amtrak reported one- to four-hour delays throughout the day.
“It’s the business trip from hell,” said one of the consultants, Cheryl Vines, 32, of Boston. “It’s a standing-room-only train. I’m thinking of going to a hotel for the night.”
Going to work in town was no picnic either. The subway system had some icing problems, and so did the Long Island Rail Road.