Carmel Family Grateful 'Everyone's Fine' After Tree Crashes Through Roof
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The big cleanup continued Wednesday afternoon in parts of the Tri-State Area following a day of powerful storms.
Thousands were left without power after heavy rains and wind gusts knocked down trees and flooded roads on Tuesday.
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In Putnam County, the storm was selective. It didn't knock out Rueben Rivera's electricity; it just split the tree on the front lawn of his Carmel home and sent it crashing through his roof. The ceiling came in steps from where his two daughters were playing.
Another branch punched through the ceiling of his master bedroom. Rivera and his family will be staying with relatives Wednesday night, grateful that all they've lost is a place to live.
"Everyone's fine. Thank God...That's the best part of this," Rivera told CBS 2's Lou Young.
WCBS 880's Sean Adams On The Cleanup In Bedford
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The winds closed schools in Putnam Valley. Rows of relief trucks came in from Buffalo hope to get the power up Wednesday night.
WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs In Old Brookville
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Earlier, the storm left nearly 30,000 customers in the dark across the Garden State after strong winds toppled trees and downed power lines.
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At the peak of the storm in Connecticut, more than 40,000 customers of Northeast Utilities and United Illuminating were left without power, mostly due to falling tree limbs that took down power lines.
WCBS 880's Paul Murnane In Weston, Conn.
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The band of storms on Tuesday prompted the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning for southwestern Suffolk County. In Whitestone, the sights and sounds of Mother Nature were dramatic.
"It was just really loud and the trees were windy like they were about to fall," said Cristina Guardino of Glendale.
In New York City, flash flooding closed part of the FDR Drive, which became a river in several spots, including at 125th Street, where northbound traffic came to a standstill.
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A large tree came down between the Williamsbridge and Botanical Garden train stations in the Bronx, knocking out Metro-North service for a period of time.
Marie Casimir said she was was babysitting her grandson at her home in Hollis, Queens, when the skies opened up and the wind began howling -- snapping limbs from a tree in her front yard.
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"I heard something go 'boom' and when I came out, I saw the tree fell," she said.
A 90-foot oak tree came crashing down on top of a house in Ridgewood early Tuesday morning. No one was hurt.
