A falling tree destroyed two cars in Queens as high winds and torrential rain battered the city Monday.
The roughly 65-foot-tall 90-year-old tree plummeted onto a silver 2003 Mercedes-Benz E-320 and a gray 2025 Hyundai Elantra parked on 86th Ave. near the Cross Island Parkway in Bellerose.
Payal Mathur, 27, was working at her home office when she heard “a big crash” and looked out her window shortly before 1 p.m.
“I saw the tree come right towards us,” said Mathur, who owns the damaged Elantra. “It completely crushed the fence, crushed the car. I don’t know the damage, but it’s totaled.”
A large tree on top of a silver 2003 Mercedes Benz E-320 on 86th Ave. near the Cross Island Parkway North Service Road in Queens on Monday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Mathur, who was home with her father, grandfather and dog, said the tree narrowly missed crushing her house. Her car remained unreachable hours later behind a thick tangle of leaves and branches.
“You got to look on the bright side,” she said.
The Mercedes owner, Roland Vergel De Dios, was in Queens visiting family when his car’s rear windshield and trunk were crushed by the falling tree.
“There was a wind. I don’t know if it’s a twister. It was like a circle of wind. (My wife) said she’d never seen that before,” said Vergel De Dios, 67. “It took the tree down.”
A large tree on top of a silver 2003 Mercedes Benz E-320 on 86th Ave. near the Cross Island Parkway North Service Road in Queens on Monday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
Vergel De Dios, who lives in Canada, said he and his wife have now been forced to extend their visit as they scramble to find an alternate way home.
“We can’t go back now,” said Vergel De Dios.
Monday’s storm downed trees across the city, including in Gramercy where a fallen tree blocked traffic on E. 18th St. near Second Ave.
A large tree on top of a gray 2025 Hyundai Elantra on 86th Ave. near the Cross Island Parkway North Service Road in Queens on Monday. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Daily News)
The NYC Emergency Management Department issued a flash flood warning as New Yorkers endured heavy rain, scattered thunderstorms and wind gusts.
The foul weather sent trees toppling across the city, including on the Upper West Side in Manhattan and in Woodside, Queens, where a food truck was struck by a fallen tree, according to ABC.
The city’s Parks Department on Monday received 269 reports of damaged or fallen trees, 92 of them for downed trees, a spokeswoman for the agency said.
“Many of these reports may be duplicates,” she said. “Parks forestry staff is currently reviewing incoming requests and creating work orders for storm-damaged trees. Our Parks crews are clearing fallen trees as quickly as possible.”