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Crews Respond As Storms Topple Trees, Cause Power Outages Across New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Hundreds of Con Edison customers are without power thanks to Sunday storms. Crews will work through the night to repair smoking power lines and clearing toppled trees from roofs, cars and power lines.

"Some of these storms come in real quick and then they disappear but they're doing a lot of damage lately," Scott Hogan of Pleasantville told CBS 2's Dave Carlin.

The grueling work started mid-afternoon and intensified by the hour. The top priority is removing toppled trees on some of the busiest streets in Laurelton, Queens.

Tree Collapse In Pleasantville
Tree Collapse In Pleasantville (credit: CBS 2)

"It seemed like there was a small tornado just pretty much tore through here and minutes later you had about a dozen trees down," said resident Karim Fernandez.

Residents of one home on Bedford Road in Pleasantville are not allowed to return, so long as a toppled tree remains hanging over the front door.

The inclement weather also caused problems for Long Island Rail Road riders. There are 30 to 60 minute delays on the Babylon branch between Jamaica and Valley Stream, courtesy of downed trees on the rails.

Bus service is being provided. For more information, click here.

Drivers on the roads likewise weren't spared.

"Zero visibility you couldn't see more than three or four feet in front of you. It was really bad," said Fernandez.

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