Storms Knock Down Trees, Cause Flooding Throughout Tri-State Area
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A hot and humid day gave way to severe storms in the Tri-State Area.
Trees toppled onto streets, cars and homes, especially in areas north of New York City.
In Rockland County, the Sparkill Creek was running higher than normal Tuesday night, but a good eight feet below where it was in the afternoon.
It was swollen by rain, flooding the highway and punishing drivers who tempted fate.
Four vehicles got stuck in the flooding on Route 303. First responders rescued drivers and passengers who ventured into rapidly rising water and couldn't escape.
Orangeburg Fire Chief Neil Lynady says the Tuesday storm was "wild. Absolutely wild."
It was also damaging.
The Morris family moved into a home on Isabel Road just three motnhs ago. Now, the foundation has been washed away by the torrential rain, and their house has been deemed dangerously unstable.
"Can the house be saved?" CBS2's Tony Aiello asked.
"To me, it looks like it's gonna fall, it's gonna collapse," homeowner Katherine Morris said.
"I'm shocked, but at the same time, you can't cry over material things. You just have to deal with the consequences and move forward," homeowner Shervin Morris said.
The consequences in Orange County include damage on Orange Street in Port Jervis, where wind brought down a massive tree right onto the car of 19-year-old college student Taylor Brace.
"I was home. I heard it, like, a big collapse," Brace said. "I thought, 'Oh boy, let me call my mom.' ... I heard the winds first, and then the big collapse."
"The wind was horrible. We were watching it whip through and the torrential rain. It was scary," Port Jervis resident Diane Thiele said. "Good thing [the tree] didn't come into our homes."
There was another frightening scene in the Orange County village of Chester, where a tree split the rear of the Collazo home.
The incredible damage was tempered by a measure of good luck.
"My two sons were in the house. Luckily, they weren't in the bathroom or the bedroom or they would have been gone because it crushed the bedroom and it crushed the bathroom," homeowner Rick Collazo said.
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The storm also left its mark in Queens. A large tree snapped in half, landing on a car on 31st Drive near 14th Street in Astoria.
Firefighters taped off the roadway for cleanup, as some powerlines also came down.
There are no reports of any injuries.
Meanwhile, in Hackensack, New Jersey, the fire department helped bring the driver of a partially submerged Honda Civic to drier land.
In Fort Lee, New Jersey, manhole covers were bouncing up and down because of the force of the flood waters from beneath the surface. Workers there had to do their best to keep rain water from getting inside their restaurant.