BY PETE DAVIS, JESSICA LYONS, STEVE MOSCO and BOB DODA
It was a wild and wicked weather night that turned deadly for at least one woman and left thousands of residents without power and scrambling to begin to clean up the mess caused by the storm.
Experts are still trying to determine whether the fast-moving storm, which hit Queens shortly after 5:30 on Thursday night, September 16 — as tens of thousands of commuters were making their way home from work – was, in fact, a tornado.
So far, the storm was responsible for at least one death as 30-year-old Aline Levakis was killed when a tree fell on her car while she was driving on the Grand Central Parkway.
“On behalf of all our residents, we express our sympathy to her family and friends,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall.
While the storm only took a few minutes to whip through the borough, the violent winds toppled hundreds of trees throughout the borough and knocked down power lines throughout the city. Queens legislators are calling on the Governor to declare parts of Queens a disaster area so that they would be able to get federal funds to help with the cleanup.
As of noon on Friday, September 17, Con Ed reported just over 30,000 customers were without power. However, the largest concentration was in Queens with 28,532 customers without power in the borough. Marshall’s office said that Flushing, Rego Park, Maspeth and Jamaica were among the hardest hit areas without power.
Currently, Con Ed estimated that power would not be fully restored to all customers until Sunday, September 19 at 11 p.m. Any reports of new outages should be called in to Con Ed at 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633).
The storm shut down Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) service into and out of Penn Station on Thursday night, but by Friday morning all service had been restored, according to MTA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz.
The day after the storm, residents were still reeling, recounting the disaster they saw on Thursday.
Theresa Gordon, who was inside her home on 204th Street just off of Northern Boulevard when the storm hit, said sparks were coming out of the electrical sockets inside the house and power lines were immediately thrown to the ground outside of her home.
“I passed out,” she said. “The Fire Department came, and they said I got zapped.”
Her mother, Donna Gordon, said her family has been living in the house for nearly 20 years, said she has never seen anything like this wicked weather.
“It was terrible,” said Donna, who had called Con Ed on Friday morning and was told that it could take three to five days to send a crew out to her house. “All of my food in the refrigerator is going to go bad.”
Other residents like Nicole Romanelli had to deal with cars that were crushed by falling trees. Romanelli saw her Jeep Wrangler that was parked on 36th Avenue in Bayside get smashed when a large tree across the street came down.
“I heard it all happen around 6 p.m. and ran into the bathroom,” Romanelli said. “I’m just glad I wasn’t in the car. I’ve never experienced anything like this before.”
Other Bayside residents like Daisy Brito, who has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years, said that she has never seen a storm this bad. The roof above her outside door at the steps leading up to it collapsed after a tree fell on it. Brito said they called their insurance company about the damage and now just had to wait for a call back.
“It’s overwhelming,” Brito said of seeing the damage on her 214th Place block. “It seems like every…house is hit.”
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