Tropical Storm Isaias: Officials Say More Than 7,000 Power Lines Came Down In NYC

From CBS New York:

August 5 2020

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The wind from Tropical Storm Isaias caused widespread damage across the five boroughs.

On Wednesday, CBS2’s Natalie Duddridge went to hard-hit Queens, where residents are still waiting for cleanup to begin.

#StormIsaias’s outage is the second largest in our long history. With 257,000 customers out surpassing Hurricane Irene; we are focused on safe restoration. Click the link for all the details: https://t.co/RCgS8w99Fu #poweringthrutogether pic.twitter.com/cJzUJP2H33
— Con Edison (@ConEdison) August 5, 2020

The city’s Office of Emergency Management commissioner said there have been more than 20,000 service requests for downed trees and branches across the city, like the one Duddridge saw in Bayside, a silver car crushed under the weight of a tree that came down with no warning near 46th Avenue and 206th Street.

“Yes, scary. Very scary. Wind very strong,” one resident said.

MORE: De Blasio Says Isaias ‘One Of The Most Serious Weather Events Since Hurricane Sandy’

The man alerted his next-door neighbor, the owner of the car. She didn’t want to give her name, but told CBS2 she was lucky to be inside her house with her three kids when the tree fell, adding she cried when she saw the damage.

Across the street, another resident said the overhead wires just barely stopped the tree from hitting her own car.

“It was very scary. Yes, it was, with all the wind and everything,” she said.

PHOTO GALLERY: Tropical Storm Isaias Leaves Path Of Destruction In New York And New Jersey

Residents thank goodness no one was hurt, unlike in the Briarwood section of the borough, where police said 60-year-old Mario Siles died when a tree fell on his vehicle at 143rd Street and 84th Drive.

In Harlem, Amin Mubarak put up caution tape and started directing traffic around a tree blocking the road near 111th Street.

“Take care of stuff until the Fire Department came to move the tree. The police said the Fire Department was going to do it. They never came,” Mubarak said.

Some residents said they spent hours calling 311 to report all the damage. Like in Brooklyn at 86th and Narrows, where a large tree brought down wires onto a bus. Another took out three cars at 72nd Street off 3rd Avenue.

“Mother Nature wins. The tree always wins,” one person said.

Con Edison said the storm brought more than 7,000 wires down across the city. As of Wednesday morning, 98,000 New Yorkers were without power, with about half of them, 46,000, in Queens.

Authorities said it will take days to replaces poles, wires, and transformers knocked down by the winds, which gusted up to 70 mph. They are cautioning everyone to stay away from downed wires. Do not assume they are no longer live.

Restoration will require clearing nearly 500 roads that are blocked by fallen trees, Duddridge reported.

Read more at CBS New York