1 Killed in Fast-Moving, Tornado-like Storm

A monster storm ripped through the city Thursday evening, killing one person, snapping mighty trees, and flipping tractor-trailers like toys.

New Yorkers scrambled for cover from torrential rain, hail the size of nickels, and 100 mph winds when the storm hit at 5:20 p.m. on the heels of tornado warnings.

Weather officials could not confirm a twister touched down, but witnesses reported funnel clouds in Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.

The sky turned a sickening shade of green as the destructive winds blew in, toppling a church steeple, blowing out windows and mowing down a forest’s worth of trees.

“It’s like a war zone out here,” said Jeanne King, surveying her Forest Hills, Queens, neighborhood. “Trees are down. Some houses have come apart.”

King said the front windows of a Key Food on Queens and Yellowstone Blvds. “imploded” and an air-conditioning unit atop a Sports Authority on Woodhaven Blvd. was dismantled.

A parking lot wall at the 112th Precinct stationhouse in Queens collapsed. The steeple of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Flushing lay crumpled across Main St. The roof over the circular driveway at Wycoff Medical Center in Bushwick, Brooklyn, was destroyed.

“I got chased by it,” said Caitlin Shann, 31, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who ran for cover. “It was an absolute washing machine.”

Five people were injured when two tractor-trailers flipped on the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn.

Aline Levakis, 30, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., was killed when a tree crushed a car she was driving on Jewel Ave. and the Grand Central Parkway in Queens. A passenger was injured and taken to New York Hospital Queens, police said.

Countless streets were blocked by downed trees, some four stories high, snarling rush-hour traffic for hours.

Con Edison responded to thousands of power failures, including 27,000 reported in Queens.

The utility warned people to stay away from downed electrical wires across the city.

The Long Island Rail Road suspended all service east of Jamaica station because of trees on the tracks, and at one point the B, D, F, M and L subway lines were suspended.

New Yorkers shared harrowing stories of close calls.

Ruby Ellis, 57, was washing dishes on Quincy St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant when she heard her roof crack.

“The ceiling just separated from the wall. I just screamed. I did not have the words,” said Ellis, who fled.

The roofs of five other apartment buildings on Ellis’ street also collapsed, but no one was injured.

Christina Juva, 31, of Forest Hills, sought shelter in a Chevrolet dealership on Queens Blvd.

“Literally, the entire showroom just shattered,” she said. “The window just blew out. I hid behind a Corvette in the showroom. I was just ducking behind this other guy. We saw it wasn’t stopping. More glass was just breaking.”

A team of National Weather Service meteorologists and Office of Emergency Management officials will set out today to assess the widespread damage and determine if it was caused by a tornado or simply powerful winds.

“This is one of those things that while it may be an act of God it doesn’t make it any easier for us. People are concerned. …The good news is that most people were safe, just annoyed – traffic being bad or a tree coming down in their yard,” said Mayor Bloomberg after assessing damage last night in Queens.

The quick but powerful storm left residents to marvel at the damage caused in mere minutes.

“Oh my God, it looks like ‘Jurassic Park,’ ” said Fiona Imboden, 44, who lives on Fifth St. near Fifth Ave. in Park Slope.

“My whole street is destroyed.”

Who to call

– To report fallen wires and power outages, call Con Edison: 1-800-75-CONED
– For LIRR service information: mta.info/lirr or 516-228-4000
– For subway and bus service information: mta.info/nyct or 718-330-1234
– For life-threatening situations, call 911. For everything else, 311.