Powerful Winds Topple Tree Onto New Jersey Home, Another Crushes Car In Brooklyn
SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Powerful winds took down trees across the area Sunday night, including one that crashed onto a house in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.
Neighbor Olivia Calcaterra showed CBS2's Christina Fan the heavy beating her yard endured during the brief but intense thunderstorms.
"Our swimming pool had a tree fall through it," Calcaterra said.
The strong winds flung around her family's patio furniture, brook off branches and uprooted trees. But it was her neighbor who suffered the biggest scare of all.
"He was watching TV when it happened in his living room, and that's right where the tree fell," said Calcaterra. "He told us that it landed like 8 inches above his head."
She said, luckily, her neighbor was able to crawl out to safety.
Meanwhile in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, there were numerous other close calls when winds toppled a massive tree, crushing Doris Velez's car.
"It was a rush wind, really, really heavy wind," she told Fan. "All of a sudden, that tree from the roots came all out, and it messed up my car. It destroyed it, destroyed the whole thing."
Neighbors said they've been calling the city the past eight years to get the tree removed. Every time there's a major storm, large branches snap and fall.
The winds were so powerful Sunday night, the entire tree finally gave way.
"To me, it's not a surprise. I said, if they don't do something, something's going to happen," said Alice Nunez. "I'm just glad it didn't happen this way, and that nobody that way got hurt."
The gusts were so strong in Neptune Township, New Jersey, at first a small tornado was believed to have torn the roof and aluminum siding off America Best Value Inn.
The National Weather Service later confirmed there was no touchdown. Instead, the damage was the aftermath of straight line winds gusting as high as 60 to 70 miles per hour.
"It sounded like you were almost underneath a waterfall pretty much. Very high winds," Neptune City resident Andrew Berger said. "I had the dogs outside. I was like, 'Get in, get in.' It was so bad, I've never seen anything like it."
CBS2's Christina Fan contributed to this report.
