In the dead-aired aftermath of Tuesday’s late-day severe rainstorm, the grumbling of portable gas generators echoed through the streets of the Rondout.
A walloping combination of rain and wind saw multiple blocks of houses lose power for the second time in as many weeks. When the air conditioners died, the rising temperatures inside saw neighbors emerge into the relatively cooler temperatures in the streets outside.
Samantha Collins, who lives on Ravine Street, recalled that she had gone outside to roll up the windows of her car just before the rain started.
“I was upstairs, and then at first there was a real bucketing of rain,” she said. “There was rain coming into the house, and so I went around the house closing windows. The rain only lasted for a short while and then the wind came. It was really, really strong.”
On Spring Street, Dave, last name not offered, had been laboring in his yard l before the storm rolled in.
“I was outside working, you know — hot, sweaty — and the rain started to come down,” said Dave. “It was like 95 degrees. And it felt good! But here’s the winds picking up, and the rain’s getting harder, and I said, Maybe I should go inside.”
During the worst of it he stood at a window, watching the tops of the trees bend over 90 degrees.
At the end of his block, where Spring Street meets Hudson, a two-trunked black locust tree whose roots were pulled out of the ground had toppled over, making the road impassable. Laid out on the road, it measured nearly a hundred feet long.
Hudson Street is a popular uphill conduit for drivers coming into Kingston along the creek to get from Route 213 onto Broadway or 9W. Crime-scene-barrier tape had been stretched between two stop signs to block off the road. Local children playing basketball on the other side of the tape kept busy telling drivers about the impasse.
A small green dump truck had been winged by the tree on its way down. Even with the hood crumpled above the front left fender, the damage could have been worse. An American flag draped over his shoulder, the owner of the dump truck himself acknowledged as much.
A group of neighbors had gathered outside to commiserate.
“Sometime around 6 p.m. I heard a transformer go,” said Dave. “Went boom.”
Dave’s neighbor, Barbara, sipped from a wine glass as she recounted events.
“Do you remember three weeks ago when the last one came through?” she asked. “I was sitting on the porch, and I literally sat down and covered my head because the wind blew so suddenly. And my deck furniture was going. I was waiting for the gazebo to go over. We’ve been getting kind of pummeled every other week or so.”
Mike Barnes, who lives on West Pierpont, was driving back from Catskill on the Thruway when the storm hit.
“It was sunny,” he said, “and the rain started just pouring down. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Hitting the wind was like hitting a wall. I mean, the wind was trying to pull the steering wheel from my hands. Absolutely crazy. I didn’t even know to expect a storm, and I could see the sun the whole time. I did get a picture of a rainbow.”
A little after 8:30 the lights in the houses along Spring Street flickered and then stayed on. The groups of people clustered on the street began to break up.
At 7 a.m. on Wednesday, DPW workers finally arrived with chainsaws and a woodchipper to clear Hudson Street of the enormous two-trunked tree; a black locust, which is a hardwood, averages 42 pounds per foot, and with two trunks could weigh as much as four tons.
Central Hudson lists 668 people in Ulster County still without power. The largest numbers of those without power are in Shawangunk and Plattekill.
More stormy weather is forecast to arrive in the afternoon, with wind and rain expected to accompany thunderstorms. Inland counties are being warned that hail and tornadoes are possible ahead of an approaching cold front. Temperatures afterwards should drop into the Eighties.
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