By Emily Drooby
Tropical storm Isaias created chaos as it blew through the tri-state area, with winds so strong that it ripped branches from trees. On the Upper East Side, trees damaged cars and filled the streets. Down near Union Square, debris filled the sidewalks.
The powerful storm claimed the life of a 60-year-old man in Briarwood, Queens. He was killed when a tree fell on his van, crushing it with him inside.
The strong winds even caused a Brooklyn building to collapse.
Many trees fell outside churches in the Diocese of Brooklyn, although none of the parishes were damaged; including, St. Brigid’s in Bushwick, Queen of Peace Church in Kew Gardens, Queens and Saint Mary’s in Woodside, Queens.
Out in New Jersey, a roof was peeled right off an Ocean City home, while nearby a tornado touched down.
Almost 2.5 million people lost power in the tri-state. As of early Wednesday evening, over 700,000 people were still in the dark. The power utilities throughout the tri-state area are working overtime to repair the outages.