New York, New Jersey Clobbered By Strong Storms; Thousands Lose Power in Philadelphia

Sean Breslin
Published: February 17,2016




 

Thousands of New Jersey homes and businesses lost power Tuesday afternoon as a line of strong storms moved across the Garden State. As the severe weather moved east, damage was also reported in New York City from gusty winds, even before the storms arrived.
Nearly 38,000 customers lost power in New Jersey in the wake of the storms, according to the Associated Press. Trees and power lines were felled by the nasty weather, but electric companies said they hoped to restore power to most of the affected areas by Tuesday night.
In Manhattan, two women were injured at about 11:15 a.m. Tuesday morning when broken glass from a table blew off a 22-story building at 7th Avenue and West 39th Street, just south of Times Square, according to ABC 7 New York. They were taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the report added, and although the incident preceded the arrival of the strong storms, there were gusty winds present in the area as early as Tuesday morning.
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As the storms moved into the city, wind gusts as high as 50 mph were reported, according to weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. In Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey, a wind gust of 65 mph was reported just after noon on Tuesday.
The nasty weather forced a Delta flight from the Dominican Republic to New York City to be diverted twice, the AP said. Scheduled to arrive in Queens at 6:15 p.m. Monday, the flight took a total of 30 hours after being diverted to New Hampshire and Boston. The flight finally reached its destination at about 8 p.m. Tuesday night, after the storms passed, the report added.
The storms left damage as far west as Philadelphia, where the roof of a Boys Club in the Holmesburg section was ripped off by strong winds, the AP also reported. As many as 20,000 PSE&G customers lost power in the storms, but most outages were restored by Wednesday morning, the report also said.
No injuries were reported in Philadelphia from the storms, but two tractor-trailers were knocked onto their sides on the Walt Whitman Bridge Tuesday due to strong winds, according to WPVI-TV.
"These tractor trailers were swaying and when I saw the one fall over it really looked like someone had a giant hand and pushed it over," witness Mike Scuilly told WPVI-TV.
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