Heatwave then storms cause damage in NYC area

[Meatpie]

[SUB]LIghtning strikes the Empire state, June 23 after days of unrelenting heat[/SUB]

About 1,700 Con Ed customers across Brooklyn and Queens lost power Friday morning amid the intense heat and humidity.

The storm did not last long, however damages caused by the storm were fierce. Trees crashed into cars, homes, and took down power lines. Many residents were left without power for several hours.


More damages were caused by hail. Residents in Hudson say some of the hail that fell was the size of a baseball and of a Ping-Pong ball.
Hudson Fire Department Assistant Chief Craig Haigh says the storm left many residents in shock. Chief Haigh explains, "I don't think anyone anticipated for it to be as severe as it was. We did have a lot of hail and very, very strong winds."


Owner of Anderson Motor Car Corporation Bob Anderson says all the cars in his lot are damaged from the hail. He says some of the cars could have about 120 dents in them. The damages also caused mirrors and windshields on some of the cars to crack.


Anderson hopes most of the damages will be covered by insurance. Anderson, along with many residents in the city, has massive damages to cleanup after.

http://www.news10.com/story/18863690/hudson-residents-cleanup

 

[pigfoot70]

yes the storm was scary

 

[Snerdguy]

The weather has been quite odd this year. A large area of the US, is having a pretty bad drought. It is so dry here that the ground is cracking. Grain futures for corn and soybeans are climbing in anticipation of a poor harvest. The thing I fear most about this drought is fire. My lawn is dry, crunchy and brown. A lot of weeds are going dormant or dying. The wheat fields are ripening now with harvest time very near. So there are acres and acres of dry straw. Just one carelessly discarded cigarette or a trash fire or even improperly discarded charcoal could start a huge grass fire. Even passing trains have been known to throw sparks and start grass fires.

While we pray for rain, other parts of the country are being inundated.

 

[Snerdguy]

Well, my fears were affirmed just a few hours ago and uncomfortably close. A bearing in a combine overheated and set a field of golden, dry wheat stubble on fire just behind the farm I live on. It burned a few acres before three fire departments got it under control. It had burned almost into the switch grass behind my house. Had it gotten to that, there would have been a considerable fire sweeping across the farm. It was very fortunate that the straw had been winnowed for baling. That caused the fire to spread slowly, being more fuel starved.

Yesterday, the weather forecast was for a 50 percent chance of rain. As night approached, it dropped to 30 percent, then 15. We got a spattering of rain of such a sort duration that had I not been awake to hear it on the roof, I would not have even known it occurred. It didn't even dampen the soil. No rain is expected for at least a week.

 

[stustustugoo]

shocking!!!!!!!!! lol

 

[Snerdguy]

Well, we got some rain. The storm came tearing through here yesterday with incredible force. Trees are broken and uprooted, roofs damaged and powerlines knocked down. Some buildings fell. Limbs and trash are blocking some streets still. My power has been out since yesterday and may not be restored for another week. I am using a generator to power enough stuff to get by and I am heating water on a propane burner. I was fortunate enough to already have a generator because the stores sold out of them quickly. If the power outage wasn't bad enough, it has been very hot. The temperature was over ninety degrees today and is expected to set records for days to come.

 

[Meatpie]

Any deaths or injuries in your area? Sounds scary the way you describe it.

 

[Snerdguy]

No deaths, but I think there are some injuries from falling debris. A number of farmers had grain bins destroyed. I have seen a lot of roof damage. In some areas, the wind was so strong, it snapped off utility poles. Many vehicles were dented by the large hail which also broke skylights in many stores. Many porta-potties were tipped over. There is going to be a massive number of property damage claims just from falling trees. The weather service says that there were wind gusts of sixty to eighty miles per hour. The power company says they will have the electricity in this area on by midnight Tuesday. We may have more severe storms tonight.

 

[Meatpie]

The US has seen it's fair share of disasters so far this year but Europe isn't any better.

It's 40'C here in Bulgaria during the day, forest fires burning out of control near Sofia.

We are bracing ourselves for a massive heatwave next week.