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An estimated 225,000 homes were without power as the result of what National Grid was calling the worst windstorm in more than five years in the northeast Friday and into Saturday.
Warren and Saratoga Counties were the hardest hit in the entire state, according to National Grid.
The fierce winds with gusts up to 70 mph crashed trees into houses, took down electric and telephone lines and poles. Two deaths were attributed to the storm. A state Department of Transportation worker was killed in the Saratoga Spa State Park when a tree crushed his pickup truck and a 52-year-old woman in suburban Rochester died when a tree fell onto her vehicle.
George Green of Saratoga Springs was driving on the historic Avenue of the Pines in the Park about noon Friday when a tree that measured about 50 to 60 feet in length with a 24 to 30 inch girth snapped about 15 feet from its base and fell onto his truck.
Fires attributed to the storm destroyed or heavily damages several homes. Roofs blew off from buildings and in Chestertown, the steeple was blown off the Chestertown United Methodist Church.
Temperatures plummeted from the 50s on Thursday down to the teens by Friday night, dropping 20 degrees in an hour in some places. By Saturday, the winds continued to be brisk, creating wind chills way below zero as people struggled to stay warm without heat and tried to keep their water pipes from freezing and bursting.
The highest wind speed in Saratoga County was clocked at 67 mph Friday according to the National Weather Service but an observer at the Saratoga County Airport said he clocked winds at 98 mph around 1 p.m. on Friday.
Many shelters have been set up in various towns, especially at the local fire houses, to provide people with food and warmth. Stores quickly sold out of generators and kerosene heaters. Hotels and motels were booked with people forced out of their homes by no electricity and no heat.
By Sunday, daytime temperatures were near 20 but were supposed to drop back into the single digits overnight. The thermometer was supposed to rise into the 30’s by mid-week with nighttime lows in the 20’s and teens.
Saratoga County was the hardest hit. Although National Grid said they had approximately 1,200 people working throughout the state trying to restore the power, it was estimated that some locations may not have power restored until Tuesday or Wednesday.
As of Saturday night, about 76,000 customers across the state continued to be without power, 50,000 of those in the Glens Falls, Saratoga Springs and Warrensburg- Stony Creek areas. 2-19-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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