Storm Cleanup: Strong Winds Cause Trees To Topple Onto Homes, Cars Across New Jersey
MADISON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) – Severe weather caused massive power outages and widespread damage overnight.
Strong winds gusted up to 60 miles an hour, taking down trees and wires, even sparking a fire.
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Police said a 9-year-old girl was injured by a falling tree while trick-or-treating in New Rochelle.
There were tense moments in New Jersey as the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset counties in New Jersey. No touchdowns were confirmed, but firefighters and first responders had their hands full.
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In Madison, officials issued a state of emergency and canceled Friday classes.
One tree split off and took down the front porch of a home on Sherwood Avenue, where 70-year-old Dee Pedicini was sleeping inside.
"It almost sounded like a train coming through, and then a big crash. Came out and saw this tree," she told CBS2's Meg Baker. "I was so surprised, because it's a healthy tree."
The large tree landed on her neighbor's car and garage.
"It was noisy, it was loud, it was amazing," said neighbor Kevin Lee. "Almost felt like it could lift the house."
Web Extra: Watch Drone Force 2 Over Madison Storm Damage
Students got their wish and school was closed the day after Halloween.
"Three schools in particular – the damage right around those three schools was pretty intense," Mayor Bob Coniley said. "Just the safety, you know. It's still windy and the trees are compromised. Trying to keep people inside and safe."
Crews started removing trees and reopening streets at 4 a.m.
"It has the makings of either a microburst, or we'll find out in a few days probably, whether it could've been a tornado," said Coniley.
WATCH: Tree Crashes Through Roof, Lands On Bed In Livingston
In nearby Livingston, a neighbor's tree crashed through Patricia Desmond's roof and landed on her son's bed. Fortunately, he wasn't home.
"It sounded like the loudest bang I have ever heard - a loud boom. Then, went upstairs and saw a tree through my house, my roof collapsed into the bedroom, the ceiling is now on the floor and water running everywhere. Horrible, horrible," she said. "Power was shut off, gas was shut off and everybody's safe. That's all I care is that everybody's safe."
Another tree toppled onto a home in Union, several others fell in Bayonne, and another crashed down onto the attic of a house in Morristown.
"It did go through the roof in the back. It went through - like the tree stump is through the roof, and there's like two other marks where it like punched holes," Morristown homeowner Pat Simms told CBS2.
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As of noon, PSE&G and JCP&L reported more than 8,000 customers were still without power across New Jersey.
Long Island was also slammed by the storm. A tree uprooted and fell onto a home and car on Vespucci Avenue in Copiague. Another collapsed onto a house on Parkway Drive North, right near Hoyt Farm, in Commack.
WATCH: CBSN New York's Jenna DeAngelis Reports From Copiague
As for New York City, trees landed on cars near 43rd Street and Astoria Boulevard South in Astoria, Queens, branches damaged cars and power lines across Richmond Hill, and other branches partially blocked 143rd Avenue in Rosedale.
In Brooklyn, a tree came down onto cars along Nostrand Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and downed wires caught fire in Gravesend.
