Yesterday afternoon, a giant billboard over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway between Meeker Ave. and Metropolitan Ave. in Williamsburg collapsed and fell onto the highway and street below. Officials, who were still cleaning up debris today, say the 20-foot-high Mega Millions advertising sign came down due to extremely strong winds—but local politicians are unhappy it was there to begin with: "It is time the Buildings Department cracked down on illegal billboards," said Council Member Letitia James. "It is fortunate that no one was hurt in this incident, but it is time the City enforced this rule and held sign companies responsible."
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Results tagged “damage”
Officials Outraged At "Illegal" Billboard That Crashed On BQE
Photos: Andrew Cuomo, Sandra Lee Help Upstate Victims Of Hurricane Irene
Governor Andrew Cuomo and his girlfriend, lifestyle guru Sandra Lee, joined hundreds of volunteers who gathered upstate to help communities devastated by Hurricane Irene yesterday. It's part of the NY State "Labor For Your Neighbor" Labor Day weekend volunteering push, which the governor announced last Friday. According to his office, over 2,000 New Yorkers volunteered, and Cuomo said, "I am proud to be out here today with hundreds of my fellow New Yorkers to help first-hand in the cleanup and recovery efforts after Hurricane Irene. The response to our 'Labor for Your Neighbor' program has been overwhelming, but to me it is not surprising. New Yorkers are always ready to lend a hand to help someone in need. In our darkest hours New Yorkers shine the brightest -- and the proof of that can be seen all across New York today."
Cuomo: You Can Help With Irene Clean-Up This Labor Day Weekend!
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a volunteer effort for New York State residents to help each other clean up from Hurricane Irene's devastation in Schoharie Valley, Catskills and North Country. According to the press release, "Labor For Your Neighbor" will be a "Labor Day weekend effort to tap into the good neighbor instincts of New Yorkers and rally volunteers to pitch in on local clean-ups of public and private property following the devastation of Hurricane Irene."
How Badly Were The Rockaways Damaged By Irene?
The Rockaways began their post-Irene cleanup efforts this week, and while some locals were psyched for the storm to hit, not everything was peachy keen at the beach. "The beach erosion is significant. So is the boardwalk damage," said City Councilman Eric Ulrich, whose district covers parts of Rockaway.
Hurricane Irene One Of Top Ten Costliest Storms In American History
Earlier today, President Obama officially declared New York State a major disaster area in the wake of the massive amounts of flooding and damage caused by Hurricane Irene over the weekend. The NY Times reports that Irene will likely prove to be one of the ten costliest catastrophes in American history. Worst of all, much of the damage may not be covered by insurance providers, and partisan fights have already broken out over how NY will pay for over $1 billion in damage.
Some Residents Still Wait For Power Days After Tornado
About three thousand customers are still without power after Thursday's tornados hit Brooklyn and Queens. A Middle Village resident told the Daily News, "I threw out all the food today. Everything in the freezer was getting soft. Are they going to pay us?" she asked. "Are you going to reimburse us for the food I threw out?"
Double Tornado: One Each For Brooklyn, Queens
What does it mean? The storm that hit on Thursday around 5:30 p.m. was not one tornado but two tornado—plus a macroburst! According to the National Weather Service, there an EF-0 tornado that touched down in Park Slope, Brooklyn (winds of 80 mph, max path width of 75 yards and a length of 2 miles), while a EF-1 tornado hit Flushing and Bayside, Queens (winds of 100 mph, max path width of 100 yards, and length of 4 miles). The macroburst, which was the most damaging, was near Middle Village and Forest Hills (winds of 125 mph, max path width of 5 miles and path length of 8 miles).
NWS Surveying City To Determine Whether Tornado Hit
National Weather Service officials are all around the city looking at areas damaged by yesterday's storm to figure if a tornado did touch down. The Office of Emergency Management's Chris Gilbride tells us the NWS officials will be taking their surveys (both on the ground and aerial), photographs and videos, and the scientific data (plus other information) from the storm to make the determination, which could come in the next day or so.
The Sky is Falling—UPDATED!
So, about that wind. We've received numerous reports of incidents taking place throughout the boroughs—to name a few: Scaffolding is currently dangling from a building on lower Broadway (the NYPD and FDNY have closed it down at Houston); a large tree just fell on 21st Avenue in Brooklyn, causing structural damage...
Killer NYC Waterfalls Claim More Victims!
How many trees have to die before someone does something about Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls? Earlier this month the Parks Department and the Public Art Fund admitted that the salty East River spray from the Brooklyn Bridge waterfall was making the leaves on trees at the River Cafe in DUMBO go prematurely brown. Now the Brooklyn Paper reports that the trees at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade are suffering from the same affliction, brought on by the salt slowing photosynthesis. Officials have assured tree-huggers that the spray from what BP calls Eliasson's "four-headed killing machine" doesn't pose any "long-term danger," but the way things are going, it's only a matter of time before some Earth First! activists start climbing up the falls to try and hang protest banners.
Concorde Needs a Nose Job
The supersonic Concorde jet that spent 30 years flying fiercely through the skies went unharmed until retiring in Brooklyn, where the president of the foundation that operates the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Bill White, was charged with overseeing its care. After just two years in the borough, The NY Times reports it got it's signature needle-shaped nose taken off by a truck.
A Concorde that is owned by a British airline, was hit by a truck that was hauling equipment from a Jamaican music and soccer festival. The truck clipped the distinctive nose cone off the parked Anglo-French jet about 3 a.m. last Monday, prompting an impassioned uproar among the jet’s band of enthusiasts.The nose, of course, is the most physically dominant part of the jet, and is what makes it distinctive from others; The Times notes that it can be lowered to 12.5 degrees to help with takeoffs and landings. Concorde fans have united and blamed New York for the carelessness; when the jet had to leave the Intrepid, White housed it at Aviator Sports at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn for $15K/month.
Night at the Museum Ends in Crash
NYMag has the breaking news that the 15th century terra-cotta relief of Saint Michael the Archangel by Andrea della Robbia has taken a fall off the wall at the Met, from the same spot it has hung on metal mounts for twelve years (though the museum acquired it in 1960). The time of the tumble is uncertain, but occurred sometime overnight, and the curators have been assessing the damage today. While the sculpture is not irreparably harmed, how did the 62 x 32-inch piece fall in the first place?
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