The storm that churned through New York City spawned two destructive tornadoes and a fierce macroburst with wind speeds up to 200kph that barreled across a large swath of Brooklyn and Queens, authorities said on Friday.
The storm on Thursday evening toppled trees, peeled away roofs and killed a Pennsylvania 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 on Friday 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 on Thursday, with winds up to 128kph, and carved its way northeast from the Park Slope section, Struckmann said. The second one hit Queens at 5:42pm, with winds up to 160kph, traveling 6.4km.
A macroburst packed the biggest punch with winds up to 200kph, said Brian Ciemnecki, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Stretching 12km long and 8km 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.
Stunned residents sifted through the debris on Friday and utility crews worked to restore power in blacked-out neighborhoods. The number of customers without power peaked at 37,000. About 14,000 customers, mostly in Queens, had no power as of late Friday.
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