New York City tattered by furious storm

A short but fierce storm roared through New York City on Thursday evening, throwing down trees like sticks, paralyzing debris-strewn neighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, disrupting commuter rail service and killing at least one person.

The storm and its aftereffects bore many of the hallmarks of a tornado, with the tops of trees sheared off and roofs blown off houses, but National Weather Service officials were still analyzing data to determine whether it should be classified as one.

The fast-moving storm, with winds estimated at 60 to 80 miles an hour, caused widespread damage. There were numerous reports of small fires, power failures and damage to homes, stores and vehicles.

Robert Holden, president of the Juniper Park Civic Association, a community group in Middle Village, Queens, somberly looked over the damage as he walked through the storm-ravaged neighborhood.

"It almost brought me to tears," Mr. Holden said. "Every block, two, three trees are down into houses, smashed into cars. There's gridlock. There's debris everywhere."

The winds ripped some trees out of sidewalks and blew them 30 to 40 feet, he said, knocking out electricity as they landed on power lines.

"It wasn't the rain, but there was tremendous wind," he said. "It didn't last very long. A few minutes, it seemed like."

A woman was killed when a tree fell on a vehicle about 6:50 p.m. on Grand Central Parkway near Jewel Avenue in Queens. The police said the woman had pulled her car to the side of the parkway, possibly to avoid the storm.

The police could not immediately provide the victim's name. They said they believed she was alone, but that was not entirely clear because the tree was on the car.

Consolidated Edison reported just before 8 p.m. that more than 25,000 customers were without power in Queens, and more than 5,000 customers on Staten Island experienced power failures. Partial building collapses were reported in at least two locations in Queens -- on Roosevelt Avenue and on Yellowstone Boulevard -- and at least two in Brooklyn -- on Hamilton and Fourth Avenues.