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2 tornadoes strike NYC during storm
Source: Agencies |
September 18, 2010, Saturday
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THE storm that churned through New York City spawned two destructive tornadoes and a fierce macroburst with wind speeds up to 200 kilometer per hour that barreled across a large swath of Brooklyn and Queens, authorities said yesterday.
The storm on Thursday evening toppled trees, peeled away roofs and killed a woman in a car who had just swapped seats with her husband.
The fury of wind and rain that pummeled the area was New York City's ninth and 10th tornadoes since 1950, the National Weather Service said last night.
Kyle Struckmann, a meteorologist with the agency, said it was amazing that only one person died.
"It's practically a miracle considering the population that was affected by this," he said.
One of the tornadoes struck Brooklyn at 5:33pm local time Thursday, with winds up to 128 kph, and carved its way northeast from the Park Slope section, Struckmann said. The second one hit Queens at 5:42pm, with winds up to 160 kph, traveling 6.4 kilometers.
It was that second twister that snapped trees and scattered them like bowling pins, downing power lines and crushing vehicles, including a car in Queens where Aline Levakis was killed, according to the National Weather Service. She was in the parked car with her husband, Billy Levakis. The couple, from Pennsylvania, had just switched seats in the car, said a former business partner, Peter Markos. Billy Levakis survived.
It was the macroburst that packed the biggest punch with its winds up to 200 kph, said Brian Ciemnecki, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Stretching 12 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide, the macroburst started in the Middle Village section of Queens and ended in Forest Hills. A macroburst is an intense gust of wind that pours down from a storm.
"The large majority of damage was associated with the macroburst," Ciemnecki said.
Officials initially had reported that a microburst hit the city but later corrected that to say it was a macroburst, because it was more than 4-kilometers long.
Strong winds caused storm damage on Staten Island, authorities said.
The storm was part of a line that rippled across much of the Northeast before completing its run in New York City during the Thursday evening rush hour in a matter of minutes. It caught nearly everyone off guard, including commuters heading home and parents picking up children from after-school activities.
"There are lots of stories of people who came very close to being hit by a big tree and killed, but fortunately there was only one," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday. "And that one was really tragic."
The storm on Thursday evening toppled trees, peeled away roofs and killed a woman in a car who had just swapped seats with her husband.
The fury of wind and rain that pummeled the area was New York City's ninth and 10th tornadoes since 1950, the National Weather Service said last night.
Kyle Struckmann, a meteorologist with the agency, said it was amazing that only one person died.
"It's practically a miracle considering the population that was affected by this," he said.
One of the tornadoes struck Brooklyn at 5:33pm local time Thursday, with winds up to 128 kph, and carved its way northeast from the Park Slope section, Struckmann said. The second one hit Queens at 5:42pm, with winds up to 160 kph, traveling 6.4 kilometers.
It was that second twister that snapped trees and scattered them like bowling pins, downing power lines and crushing vehicles, including a car in Queens where Aline Levakis was killed, according to the National Weather Service. She was in the parked car with her husband, Billy Levakis. The couple, from Pennsylvania, had just switched seats in the car, said a former business partner, Peter Markos. Billy Levakis survived.
It was the macroburst that packed the biggest punch with its winds up to 200 kph, said Brian Ciemnecki, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Stretching 12 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide, the macroburst started in the Middle Village section of Queens and ended in Forest Hills. A macroburst is an intense gust of wind that pours down from a storm.
"The large majority of damage was associated with the macroburst," Ciemnecki said.
Officials initially had reported that a microburst hit the city but later corrected that to say it was a macroburst, because it was more than 4-kilometers long.
Strong winds caused storm damage on Staten Island, authorities said.
The storm was part of a line that rippled across much of the Northeast before completing its run in New York City during the Thursday evening rush hour in a matter of minutes. It caught nearly everyone off guard, including commuters heading home and parents picking up children from after-school activities.
"There are lots of stories of people who came very close to being hit by a big tree and killed, but fortunately there was only one," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday. "And that one was really tragic."
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