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Hundreds Of Trees Damaged By Storm In Central Park

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Central Park, ordinarily a winter wonderland when covered in snow, looked more like a Halloween nightmare on Monday.

The park is open after this weekend's snowstorm but people are warned to be cautious.

1010 WINS' Juliet Papa reports: Assessing The Damage In Central Park

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The ground is littered with mangled, broken limbs and more could snap under the weights of the heavy, wet snow.

"It looks like a bomb went off in Central Park," Dena Libner, spokesperson for the Central Park Conservancy, told WCBS 880

PHOTO GALLERY: October Snowstorm

The group that manages Central Park said that as many as 1,000 trees could be lost because of Saturday's unprecedented storm. The park has a total of about 24,000 trees. Replacement of the trees could cost up to $500,000.

"We're hoping an appeal to donors will help us to fund these recovery costs and to weather this storm that has turned financial in nature now for the conservancy," Libner said.

Mother Nature did most of her damage at the south end of the park. A storm in 2009 destroyed large stretches of the northern end of the park taking down 500 trees in 30 minutes.

1010 WINS' Juliet Papa on clean-up efforts in Riverdale

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Crews in the Riverdale section of the Bronx were using buzz saws to clear downed branches out of parking lots on Independence Avenue.

"It's very tough," one resident said. "We had a freak event and we hope it remains an aberation and not a common thing."

Was your neighborhood damaged? Let us know below...

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