By Akane Otani
A man was killed by a falling tree branch in New York City and
more than two million households in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut were left without power on Tuesday as Tropical Storm
Isaias barreled through the region.
Isaias unleashed torrential rain and powerful winds, knocking
down power lines and trees, and disrupting transit service.
Multiple tornadoes swept through the region, including in Cape May
County and Ocean County in New Jersey, according to spotters for
the National Weather Service.
In Queens, a 60-year-old man sitting in the passenger seat of a
car was killed at around 1:04 p.m. when a branch fell and struck
the vehicle, New York Police Department officials said. No other
storm-related injuries had been reported as of Tuesday afternoon,
city officials said, but the city's 911 system was experiencing
heavy call volume.
The city received more than 11,400 reports of downed trees and
hanging limbs and branches, although some of those reports might
have been about the same tree condition, according to a spokesman
for the city's Department of Parks & Recreation.
Around 1.4 million households in New Jersey, 578,000 households
in New York and 395,000 households in Connecticut were without
power, according to estimates provided by utilities for those
states.
Most of the utilities were unable to provide estimates for when
power would be restored. Consolidated Edison Inc., which provides
electricity to New York City, said it was assessing damage from the
storm.
By late Tuesday afternoon, the brunt of the storm had moved past
the New York City metropolitan area, according to the National
Hurricane Center.
Mr. de Blasio said emergency management workers would continue
to monitor for possible flooding Tuesday evening.
"I think the important thing is for people to be vigilant," he
said in an television interview with NY1. "If you're in an area
that's prone to flooding, obviously, we've got to be really careful
about that."
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who declared a state of emergency
late Monday and urged state residents to stay off the roads and at
home, said Tuesday that his office was in close contact with
utilities throughout the state.
"Some of these outages may last for a few days due to the
severity of the storm. We are working closely with the utilities to
restore power as quickly and safely as possible," Mr. Murphy said
on Twitter.
New York City workers spent Monday preparing for the storm,
laying sand bags and "tiger dams" -- flood barriers filled with
water -- around a mile-long stretch of lower Manhattan that experts
believed was particularly susceptible to flooding. Tuesday's storm
marked the first time the city deployed the dams, which cost
approximately $446,000 to set up, according to a spokeswoman for
the city's Emergency Management agency.
After making landfall in North Carolina late Monday as a
Category 1 hurricane, Isaias generated multiple tornadoes in the
state and in Virginia, causing at least one death and a number of
injuries. While Isaias has since been downgraded to a tropical
storm, officials warned that residents in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut should be on alert for potentially dangerous
conditions.
New York City officials prohibited swimming at beaches on
Tuesday, citing forecasts from the National Weather Service that
ocean swells could be as high as 10 feet.
"While surfing will still be allowed, lifeguards will not be on
duty, and we strongly urge all New Yorkers not to risk their lives
by ignoring this directive," Mitchell J. Silver, commissioner of
the city's Department of Parks & Recreation, said in a
statement.
Staff at city-owned marinas also checked on water pumps and
generators ahead of the storm. The facilities will have staff on
site 24/7 during the storm, said Nate Grove, chief of waterfront
and marine operations at the parks department.
Several tourist attractions and businesses announced on social
media and online that they were closed for the day, including the
Statue of Liberty National Monument and the 9/11 Memorial &
Museum. The New York Yankees, which had been scheduled to face off
against the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday evening at Yankee
Stadium, postponed their game.
New York City's subway system said it was suspending most
outdoor service and primarily running underground-only train lines
until the storm passed because of trees falling on train tracks in
Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. New York City's ferry service and
the tram connecting Manhattan and Roosevelt Island were suspended
as of noon, while Metro-North Railroad suspended service on its
Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines. NJ Transit suspended all rail
service, citing overhead wire and signal issues.
Isaias is the second tropical storm to sweep through New York
this summer. Last month, Tropical Storm Fay hit the city, causing
minor flooding in some subway stations and power outages.
Ben Chapman and Katie Honan contributed to this article.
Write to Akane Otani at akane.otani@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 04, 2020 19:25 ET (23:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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