Results tagged “lightning”

            

The summer storm that rolled into town a couple hours ago was brief but powerful: There are a number of incidents about downed trees all over Manhattan (see the Gothamist Newsmap), such as "Trees down at West Side Hwy & 70th St," a "downed tree on a taxi" on E 86th St, and "Tree down on a car" at Riverside Dr & 101st St (a tipster writes, "Man was stuck under car for 20 minutes after an entire tree fell on him while he was driving in Riverside Park on 101 st)—some even have requests for "additional chain saws"—we hope no one was hurt.

      

It's such a pretty day today that it's a little hard to believe that yesterday was practically apocalyptic with the big afternoon-into-evening thunderstorms. Now the National Weather Service has confirmed that the funnel cloud seen in Wantage, NJ did touch the ground and is in fact a tornado. According to WCBS 2, there was a lot of havoc from the tornado, whose winds were up to 120 mph: "Officials say an EF2 tornado tore through the town of Wantage, ripping roofs of some houses, destroying barns, and causing extensive damage to roadways in its path... Two barns were ripped apart; their walls tossed around like pieces of paper. Then there was the silo that tumbled like it was a toy. The silo was made with about 40 tons of concrete and steel all meshed together."

Yesterday's afternoon thunderstorms claimed the life of a NJ man in Newark while a cricket player in Brooklyn was seriously injured. In Marine Park, Brooklyn, Patrick Gibson had been playing cricket when the storm broke out: The Daily News reports that he may have lagged to collect equipment. A witness said, "His pants were burned. His tongue was out of his mouth and his eyes were rolled back in his head." Gibson had a heart attack and is currently in critical condition at Beth-Israel Medical Center. And in Newark, according to the Star-Ledger, four men were seeking refuge from the rain in a wooded area behind an apartment complex. All were struck by lightning: One died, while another remains in critical condition; the other two men suffered burns but are stable.

When our weather guru Joe Schumacher proclaimed that this week's weather would be unsettled—"The primarily west-to-east flow of the summer jet stream will let surface fronts flop around like an oversized Montauk Monster in its death throes"—he was not kidding! Who wasn't woken up by the insanely loud thunder and lightning around 2:30 a.m.? The National Weather Service issued an urban flood advisory: "At 822 am EDT Doppler radar and local observations indicate very heavy rain occurring from a line of thunderstorms. The storms will move through New York City during the next 30 minutes... and Nassau County during the next hour." And AccuWeather says, "This will be the first of several waves of showers and thunderstorms expected to overspread the region through the end of the week" and "While the storms will most likely not be capable of producing tornadoes, they will feature damaging winds and some hail." Well, at least the dog poo gets washed away, right?

Lots of excellent weather action going on today. The source of weather fun is a big old low pressure system moving up the Ohio Valley toward Buffalo. Tentacle-like warm and cold fronts extending from that low will give New York a variety of springtime weather over the weekend.

Some of the victims struck by lightning on Sunday spoke to Newsday about their ordeal, with one describing how, "The lightning came out of my body through the foot, and my shoe exploded." A group of men who had been playing and watching soccer in a Hicksville park took shelter under a tree during the storm. But lightning struck, injuring five men. Elber Guerra has second- and third-degree burns on 35% of his body (his clothes caught fire) while Rene Castro has less severe burns; three others were released. Guerra doesn't remember being struck, but said his friends told him he "was choking on my tongue, with blood coming out of my mouth. They had to open my clenched teeth to get the tongue."

Hazy, hot and humid are today's buzzwords. The weak cold front that was responsible for the thunder and lightning (note: lightning safety tips) that brushed the city yesterday should scuttle across the metro region later today. The high should reach the upper 80s before the front passes. There's a slight chance of scattered showers this afternoon and evening.

Lightning strikes from NJ to Long Island hit twelve people. One of those people was fatally hit--a 38-year-old NJ man who was laying on a Sandy Hook beach with friends (two of them were also hit). Five men who had been playing soccer in HIcksvile but took shelter from the storm under a tree were also hit when lightning struck the tree. Four other were injured during a lightning strike in Cape May, NJ. While a National Weather Service meteorologist told the NY Times, "It was just a stormy day," a National Parks Service spokesman said of the lightning on Sandy Hook, "I’ve been here for 17 years, and it has never occurred on my watch.”

Lightning lit up the skies and thunder roared as storms rolled into the region. Winds gusted through, blowing construction debris into the streets and knocking scaffolding and trees down.

Rangers 2 Tampa 1: New York got back on track quickly, coming out in the first period with intensity and jumping to a 1-0 lead thanks to Fedor Tyutin. Henrik Lundqvist wss his usually brilliant self, making 32 saves including several huge ones while the Rangers clung to a one-goal lead. It wasn’t until Colton Orr hit a knuckleball off the stick of a Lightning defenseman at 2:05 of the third period, that the...

Meet Sam Ellis, Broadway’s esteemed “technical wizard”, who is in charge of all the myriad effects in Young Frankenstein, which is rumored to have cost between $16 million and $20 million – about twice the price of the average Broadway musical. A big part of that budget was poured into making the adaptation “more zowie!” than the movie. According to a profile in Christian Science Monitor, some of Ellis’s responsibilities include overseeing: A Tesla coil...

This afternoon's rain will continue into the evening, as some areas are being warned about the storms. New Jersey is supposed to have heavy thunderstorms, a tornado warning was issued, then canceled, for Nassau County, and an urban flood warning was issued for Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens until 7PM!

• IIndians 12, Yankees 3: Well, that didn't go as planned. Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his sinker, gave up a ton of two-out and two-strike hits, and the Yankees got buried. Their patient bats wore out C.C. Sabathia, but they only got three runs for their efforts against him, and that wasn't nearly enough given the way Wang pitched. Then they stunk up the joint against the Indians bullpen, but by them the game was over. It's only one in a five-game series, but the Yankees have an uphill battle. Remember who's likely pitching in Games 3 and 4: Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina. Andy Pettitte will face Fausto Carmona in Game 2 on Friday. Want a positive spin? The Yankees have never lost a division series in which they have lost the first game. That includes 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004. Those teams were better than this one though.
• Rangers 5, Panthers 2: A sluggish second period couldn't slow down the Rangers, who lit the lamp four times in the final session to pick up a win in their season opener. Who knows what Tom Renney said in the dressing room during the intermission, but it worked. The Rangers got three goals in two minutes and two in 12 seconds. Chris Drury, one of the big offseason signings, got a goal in a five-point performance.
• Lightning 3, Devils 1: Things didn't come up roses for the Devils, who started a season-opening nine-game road trip with a loss in Tampa Bay. Why the long trip? They're waiting for their new arena.
• FC Toronto 2, Red Bulls 1: Ah, the own goal. Soccer players' way of giving back -- to their opponents. Blame this one on Chris Leitch, who kicked the ball into his own net for the deciding score. New York will have to wait for a playoff berth.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: An Early Hole"

Will lightning strike twice for Mel Brooks, who hopes to enliven his stage adaptation of Young Frankenstein with the same spark that made The Producers a money making machine? His new monstrosity is already selling advance tickets for a Broadway run in October – a top ticket price of $450 sets a new record for excess – but last week Young Frankenstein came staggering out of the lab for an out-of-town rampage in Seattle. The haunting question at the show’s world premiere Thursday night was whether his 20 million dollar baby would be embraced by the Emerald City or get trampled by critics with torches and pitchforks.

SHOP: We don't normally talk about shopping here, but today marks the beginning of that Barney's Warehouse Sale we always hear so much about. Get your comfy heels on and get ready to fight for your fashion!

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Melrose Ave. in the Bronx, a lightning strike at 82nd Ave. and 249th St. in Queens, and a hate crime on the walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge.
• 25-year-old former model and current vice president of the Trump Organization Ivanka Trump was appointed to the board of directors of Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc. A recent New York Times column noted that investors in Trump's casinos would have lost 93% of their money since the company went public in 1995.
• Two people were rescued from the Hudson River yesterday after they fell from a jet ski just south of the George Washington Bridge. A helicopter was needed to pluck a 25-year-old woman clinging to pylons after being swept downriver by the strong current.
• NJ State Senate Majority Leader Bernard Kenny Jr. was found severely injured on a street in Hoboken this morning. Kenny was jogging this morning when he stepped in a pothole and broke bones in his pelvis, leg, and face.
• A new limited bus line on Staten Island will enable mass transit between Eltingville in New York and Bayonne, NJ.
• NY Sen. Chuck Schumer thinks FAA chief Marion Blakey should be forced to resign, citing growing flight delays at area airports.
• Curbed notes some religious real estate development and marketing by Orthodox Jews in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
• The area around the Chelsea Health Clinic on 28th St. and 9th Ave. is reportedly overrun by rats.

- As an alternate route, customers are advised to take the Q43 bus to the Sutphin Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue bus stop and take the j train at the Supthin Boulevard Station.

Thirty years ago tonight, New York City lost electricity when a Con Ed substation was hit by lightning strikes and a "cascading effect" caused the system to shut down around 9PM. And NYC, as well as parts of Westchester County, were powerless for over a day in the sweltering heart of the summer. Subways were stuck, mobs set fires and stores were looted.

Oh dear. Not only is today Friday the 13th, and the thirtieth anniversary of the 1977 lightning-caused Blackout, it is also time for another Manhattanhenge. Could it just be astronomical coincidence or evidence of something more sinister?

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at Edwards Ave. in the Bronx, a disorderly crowd at Bay St. and Richmond Ave. on Staten Island, and a bank robbery near Bowling Green (that's why the 4/5 is passing Bowling Green).
• The New York Sun thinks the Live Earth concerts over the weekend were pompous, middle-aged and lame.
• Real estate group Pinnacle is accused of racketeering for siccing lawyers with eviction notices on thousands of tenants.
• Toys 'R' Us is being sued for $400 million by two women who were asked to show their sales receipts before leaving one of the chain's stores. They allege it is because they are black.
• Tenants sue their landlord for racketeering and corporate slumlording!
• The new bike racks at North 7th and Bedford have been installed by the Department of Transportation...
• ...and bike lanes on Tillary and Henry Sts. in Brooklyn have been painted green by the Dept. of Transportation in an effort to increase driver awareness.
• Getting struck by lightning is bad, but is even worse when one is struck by lightning while listening to an iPod.

Okay, who went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at 12:01AM? Was it good? Is it better when you draw a lightning bolt on your forehead or wear a Hogwarts scarf? The movie has a 77% Freshness rating, as per Rotten Tomatoes (though it may go up or down as more reviews come in), and offers Harry Potters devotees another way to bide time until the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released on Saturday, July 21 at 12:01AM.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A train derailed on Otto Rd. in Queens, a stabbing at Rockaway Blvd. and Broadway in Brooklyn, and a sexual assault at Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn.
• Visitors to the New York-New York hotel-casino in Las Vegas got an extra dose of big city verisimilitude last night, when shots rang out in the casino's mezzanine. Three people were struck, but none were seriously injured before the gunman was tackled.
• 20 newspapers around the country received letters postmarked from Queens and the Bronx that threatened investment firm Goldman Sachs. "Hundreds will die. We are inside. You cannot stop us."
• State Senator Marty Golden is proposing extending the Shore Parkway bike path over the Verrazano Bridge to Staten Island. Currently, Brooklyn riders who'd like to pedal around Staten Island have to cross the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan and then take the Staten Island Ferry.
• AM New York lists a variety of businesses around New York that are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including gyms, restaurants, spas, and the 5th Ave. Apple store.
• The New York Times reports on either one of the first, or the first Mr. Softee truck drivers ticketed under a new anti-noise ordinance for playing his jingle while parked at a curbside in Fort Totten, Queens.
• A six-month-old golden retriever puppy woke its sleeping owner by barking, alerting the man that his home was on fire after it got struck by lightning Thursday night in Garrison, a small town north of the city. The puppy named Ranger died in the fire after becoming lost in the smoke and flames, but he wound up saving the life of Richard Shafran, who escaped the burning home in time.
• A man is suing New York City after he was wrongfully imprisoned for 22 years after being convicted of rape. Alan Newton repeatedly asked for a review of DNA evidence from his alleged victim's rape kit, but was incorrectly told that the evidence had been lost, after the police conducted only a quick and cursory search for the exonerating items.

Is Upper East Side the new Queens? Because a series of manhole fires left hundreds of customers (and one customers could mean an entire apartment building of residents) without power from midmorning till late last night. One woman who was without power for over 12 hours complained, "It's terrible if that's how it's going to be. I'm upset with the whole city. Con Ed is becoming a nuisance."

Con Ed is laying the blame on Mame Mother Nature for the two power outages this past week. The utility issued a statement saying that the 48-minute blackout on Wednesday - the one that hit the Upper East Side and South Bronx - was caused by a "strong lightning strike." This is what the Con Ed statement said:

Information obtained from real-time lightning tracking data show that detection instruments measured a lightning strike of 34,000 amperes in the vicinity of a substation in Queens at 3:42 p.m. on Wednesday, precisely at the time of the power loss. The lightning strike momentarily affected communication equipment that prompted circuit breakers on multiple transmission feeders to open, causing the service interruption.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: person under a bus at Park Ave. South and East 24th St., a shooting on Church Ave. in Brooklyn, and shots fired on East 169th St. and Tinton Ave. in the Bronx.
• As part of its 20th anniversary weekend, WFAN 660-AM will be airing four hours of old Imus shows, which used to be the morning anchor of the station.
• Queens and Brooklyn residents team up to protest eminent domain at City Hall - at stake, Willets Point and the Atlantic Yards.
• The New York highway system was ranked 48th worst out of the 50 states. Only New Jersey and Alaska were deemed worse in the survey.
• Huh: Circle Line lost its contract to run ferries to the Statue of Liberty; instead, the service that runs ferries between San Francisco and ALCATRAZ will be taking over.
• The News of the Weird reports that the growing wealth of a certain class of New Yorkers and Brits has resulted in a critical shortage of professional butlers; no word on whether there's a shortage of personal umbrella handlers.
• ArtsJournal.com is reporting that the historical validity of the 6th Century BCE Etruscan chariot at The Metropolitan Museum is being questioned.
• ABC News is issuing alerts of storm warnings this evening all over the tri-state area.

Wednesday power woes weren't just for parts of the Bronx and Manhattan: Over 4,000 (or 8,000, depending on what you read) Queens residents were without power when last night's storm made its presence known. In fact, two hours after the MTA said LIRR service was a-okay after the Bronx-Manhattan power outage, the rain screwed up Long Island Rail Road track signals, causing hours of delays after service was suspended. In this instance, we feel bad for the MTA: You can't count on Con Ed or Mother Nature.

We're getting reports of a blackout on the Upper East Side, from the East 60s up to Harlem, on Third Avenue (mostly about transit blackouts) and York Avenue in the 80s. Subway service is affected - the 4/5/6 line is down. A reader whose friend was at Randalls Island says a Con Ed station exploded.