Cleanup Underway After Powerful Storms Slam Tri-State Area
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Residents are cleaning up Tuesday after powerful storms ripped through the Tri-State area Monday evening, flooding streets and downing trees and power lines.
Con Edison crews were out on 60th Street in Brooklyn Tuesday morning working to get burned out power lines repaired after a car fell victim to a manhole fire sparked by the storms.
The heavy rains and a strain on the power system helped ignite the blaze that left the vehicle totaled.
Other cars in Huntington Station on Long Island were damaged because of the heavy rains, a fallen tree and a good Samaritan gone wrong, CBS2's Magdalena Doris reported.
A man tried to clear a massive tree from the road using his truck as a tow, but in the process, the limbs wrecked four cars along Pulaski Road.
"People were telling him, 'stop, stop, stop' and he just kept on going down the street," one resident said.
Police said when the driver realized what happened, he took off. They're still looking for him.
Commuters also couldn't catch a break from the rain. The storm made its way inside train cars and onto the tracks, causing a transportation nightmare for Long Island Rail Road riders.
Service was suspended in all directions just after 6:30 p.m. Monday. Penn Station also had to be shut down due to overcrowding at one point after all LIRR service was halted.
"Very crowded, very tense," said commuter Emanuel Voyiaziakis. "I almost saw a fight break out over there."
Normal LIRR service has since resumed.
In New Jersey, driving was dangerous or near impossible in spots when as much as 2 inches of rain fell in an hour, causing flash flooding.
"When I saw this coming down, I thought it would be a flash storm but I see this is vicious," said Thomas Foster of Union City.
More than 6,700 homes and businesses are still without power across the Garden State Tuesday, mainly in Mercer, Somerset and Middlesex counties. That's down from more than 30,000 customers at the height of Monday night's storms.
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