Storm Causes Damage, Kills 3 Across Region

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The Nor'easter that swept in yesterday left a lot of damages and three deaths in its wake. Two people were killed by a falling tree in Teaneck, NJ while a woman in Bay Shore, Long Island was also killed by a falling tree. Others experienced more downed trees, power outages, and flooding.

Winds hit 60 MPH, and 126,000 residents were left without power in NYC, 145,000 without power on Long Island, 66,000 without power in Connecticut, and 273,000 without power in NJ (some service has been restored). A few subway lines were suspended temporarily due to trees on tracks and track flooding while the Staten Island Ferry's service was suspended for six hours, because the winds made it difficult to dock the ferries. LIRR suspended some service and hundreds of NJ Transit passengers were stuck on a train for five hours. Also, there were (naturally) delays at the three area airports.

The city's 911 and 311 systems were overwhelmed: NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said, "On a busy Saturday night we may get as many as a thousand calls in an hour. This Saturday evening we received as many as 4,000 in an hour, most of them weather related." One woman whose grandparents' home had no heat or electricity and also had flooding told the Daily News, "We were calling for over an hour. We need the Fire Department more now than ever."

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By Jen Chung in News on March 14, 2010 9:30 AM

Comments [rss]

longacre

JFK's wind measuring equipment was blown off the control tower and shattered on the ground.

Greenpoint60

Fucking rusty?

longacre

Possibly. I hope the FAA publishes a report about it...pretty important piece of equipment when you're running an airport, and the wind was not even at its peak when it fell down.

They have not fixed it yet as of now. If not for the National Weather Service operating a station at the airport, there would be no wind info and they probably would have had to close the airport.

eric620

I was on that NJ Transit train that was stuck. It was stuck for 2 hours halfway out of Newark then stuck for 3 and a half more outside Rahway. In the dark. Eventually a diesel engine came to take us back to Rahway but no one at NJT had any idea what to do. First there were buses, then there weren't. Then they were only going to Trenton, then not. Then to New York. Then not. Then Newark, then not. Finally the trained was pulled into Newark - no extra trains, no emergency shuttle buses (and no idea if the people who stayed off at Rahway had their buses). It was good luck you're on your own.

So of course Path was out of service after one stop due to flooding and the taxis were gougging people - 40 dollars to go to the next working Path stop, 50-80 to get to Manhattan.

But NJT should be ashamed of themselves. There is no communication between stranded crews and any sort of home base. One emergency responder and one NJ State Police made it onto the train when it was stuck and they had no idea what was happening either. The 2 or 3 NJT people at Rahway had no idea either. No one knew anything - excepting the original conductor of the train who ranted on the way back to Newark that this was never an emergency, she should have been taken off the clock, and she's worried she'll be punished for still doing her job. This wasn't an emergency?

Guest

killed by falling trees? like it did here in central park?

shit, it's the lord of the rings, part 2. encore. gather our leaders: we should ask what the trees want.

Greenpoint60

The immigrants from Bangladesh and China are looking out the window today and saying , we get really light rain in NY compared to the Old Country.