Woman dies as tornados wreak havoc in New York

The high winds and rain toppled trees, tore off roofs and killed a woman in a car who had just swapped seats with her husband.

Kyle Struckmann, a meteorologist with the US National Weather Service, said it was incredible that only one person died: "It's practically a miracle considering the population that was affected by this."

One of the tornados struck Brooklyn late Thursday with winds up to 80mph, and carved its way northeast. The second, known as the "macroburst", hit Queens minutes later.

It was that second twister that snapped trees and scattered them like bowling pins, downing power lines and crushing vehicles, including a car in Queens where Aline Levakis was killed. She was in the parked car with her husband, Billy Levakis. The couple, from Pennsylvania, had just switched seats in the car. Billy Levakis survived.

It was the macroburst that packed the biggest punch with winds up to 125mph, said Brian Ciemnecki, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Stretching eight miles long and five miles wide, the macroburst started in the Middle Village section of Queens and ended in Forest Hills. A macroburst is an intense gust of wind that pours down from a storm.

"The large majority of damage was associated with the macroburst," Ciemnecki said.

Strong winds also caused storm damage on Staten Island.

The storm was part of a front that rippled across much of the north-east of the United States before completing its run in New York City during the Thursday evening rush hour in a matter of minutes. It caught nearly everyone off guard, including commuters heading home and parents picking up children from after-school activities. "There are lots of stories of people who came very close to being hit by a big tree and killed, but fortunately there was only one," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday. "And that one was really tragic."

Investigators mapped out the width and intensity of the storm to determine whether a tornado touched down, Struckmann said. The probe included surveying the aftermath by helicopter.

Stunned residents were this weekend sifting through the debris, and utility crews worked to restore power in several neighbourhoods. The number of homes without power peaked at 37,000, but that gradually improved. About 14,000 homes, mostly in Queens, still had no power yesterday.On a badly hit Brooklyn block of 1890s brownstones in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood, the storm swept away parts of rooftops on at least six homes.

All over the city, witnesses compared stories of what they had seen - street signs uprooted, storefront windows blown out, thick tree trunks snapped in half, a parked van lifted a foot into the air.

The line of storms began its work in the west. At least seven tornados were confirmed in Ohio, where storms flipped mobile homes, injured several people and damaged part of an Ohio State University campus. A small tornado also touched down in southern New Jersey, knocking over trees and damaging two houses.

The last twister to hit New York City was a small one in July. In 2007, a tornado with winds up to 135mph touched down in Brooklyn, where it damaged homes and tore the roof off a car dealership.