High winds topple trees, bring down power lines across the area

By WNYT

Trees topple over, winds cause power outages

Fulton, Saratoga and Warren counties had the highest number of lingering power outages

Strong winds left damage across the Capital Region overnight Thursday, with thousands still without power Thursday afternoon.

Warren County was particularly hard hit, with several roads expected to be closed until Friday as crews worked to repair utility poles sheared off by intense winds. The number of customers without power was steadily decreasing Thursday evening.

A county spokesman told NewsChannel 13 no one was injured despite widespread damage.

“Our emergency services people, our public works people are out looking to get some roads reopened and kind of assess the damage and hear how long this might be. We’re thinking if what we hear from National Grid, it’s going to be into tomorrow for many people before they get their power on,” said Don Lehman, Director of Public Affairs for Warren County, in an interview on Thursday.

In Lake Luzerne, Call Street near Daniels Road was closed for several miles. The county reported nine downed poles there, as downed power lines litter the road.

“It was a pretty crazy night for our fire departments, rescue squads, DPW folks, a lot of them have been going for 12, 18 hours at this point,” Lehman said Thursday afternoon.

NewsChannel 13 spoke to a homeowner in Queensbury who was home when a tree fell into her house. It narrowly missed her bedroom door. She and her family had to evacuate.

“Right outside my door. There’s two branches coming into the little hallway, and when I walked out I just saw tons of debris, I look up and I just see trees down my ceiling, hanging from my ceiling. I’m just perplexed that I’m alive pretty much, and that did not continue protruding down the ceiling,” said Luz Guzman.