A violent nor’easter killed a 56-year-old Brooklyn man Saturday as it hammered the New York City region with pounding rain and dangerous winds.
The unidentified victim suffered “trauma throughout his body” when a tree toppled onto him on Euclid Avenue in East New York around 3:30 p.m., police said. Gusts reaching 45 mph had snapped the trunk, sending it crashing down on the man below. Paramedics rushed him to Brookdale Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 5 p.m.
Gov. Kathy Hochul had warned hours earlier that the worst was still building. “Mark my words, much more is coming,” she said at a Saturday morning press conference. She declared emergencies in New York City, Westchester and all of Long Island as the storm, which began late Friday, churned toward the coast. “With tonight’s full moon the tides may even be higher. We expect waves of 20 feet in some areas,” Hochul added.
The storm’s reach extended far beyond the single fatality. Two police officers were injured on the Jackie Robinson Parkway in Glendale when a tree and lightpole collapsed in the violent winds. As they waited for utility crews, a Nissan SUV slammed into their idling patrol car. The officers were hospitalized in stable condition; the SUV’s 60-year-old driver was treated at the scene.
Power outages cascaded along the Atlantic Coast, leaving at least 100,000 homes without electricity by Saturday morning. Nearly 30,000 customers lost power in New Jersey, where Gov. Mikie Sherrill declared emergencies in eight counties, while 20,000 went dark in New York.
Coastal communities absorbed the heaviest blows. Queens was inundated, with kayakers paddling through flooded roads in Howard Beach and an Uber driver bailing water from his submerged car on Almeda Avenue in Far Rockaway. Barrier islands in Long Island and New Jersey faced the worst conditions Saturday afternoon.
In Surf City on Long Beach Island, marina owner Kenny Formica watched the storm carry away boats despite docklines secured the day before. “This is like an 8,000-pound boat and, you know, a $150,000 boat — just gone,” he said. He added that he had not seen such heavy flooding since deadly Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Andy Carreno was photographed wading through knee-high waters in Surf City, a young relative clutched in his arms, as the surge transformed streets into streams.
Not everyone fled the chaos. Some beachgoers ignored warnings and headed to Rockaway Beach, where waves reached 10 feet. Preston Head, 35, had traveled from Laguna Beach, Calif., specifically to surf the storm swell. “The ocean can be cruel. Today it is very violent,” he told The Post. “I had some of the best barrels that I’ve ever experienced in my life.” The aggressive waves eventually snapped his board.
Local boogie boarder Bobby Gonzalez gave up faster. “It wasn’t working for me today. The waves were just smashing me in the face,” he said, adding, “It was exhausting just trying to get out there.”
The storm’s disruption rippled through the weekend’s plans. The Global Citizens Festival concert in Central Park, expected to draw 60,000 people, was canceled. The All Things Go Festival at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens was also wiped out. Ed Sheeran scrapped his weekend concerts in Foxborough, Mass. Several Queens bus lines were diverted due to flooding or downed wires, though subways ran on schedule. The Long Island Rail Road suspended service on its Port Jefferson and Long Beach lines Saturday morning because of fallen trees.
New York City’s Emergency Management Department urged residents in basement apartments to relocate to higher floors as the deluge continued.
Forecasters predicted the storm would dump 4-6 inches of rain on New York City and 6-8 inches on parts of the Jersey Shore and eastern Long Island before moving offshore Monday afternoon. Senior AccuWeather Meteorologist Mike Doll told The Post that “significant coastal hazards will persist along the East Coast as the strong northeast winds coincide with high astronomical tides into early next week.” He warned that “water levels from coastal flooding may be the highest for some locations in several years” and that severe beach erosion had already begun.
Doll noted that saturated ground and full tree canopies created additional dangers. “Trees are still full of leaves and the ground is saturated from recent heavy rain. This can lead to downed trees. Power lines may also come down, leading to power outages that could last into early next week for some communities,” he said. He offered a small consolation: “Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday look nicer. High temperatures for most places in the Tri-State area will be in the low to middle 70s with nighttime temperatures dipping into the 50s to lower 60s. Sun and clouds all three days.”