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Severe thunderstorms cause havoc in Village of Warwick

| 19 Jul 2018 | 12:58
    Photo by Larry Miri This tree brought down wires on Third Street in the Village of Warwick Tuesday afternoon.
    Photo by Larry Miri This tree brought down wires on Third Street in the Village of Warwick Tuesday afternoon.
    Photo by Terry Reilly Damage at the Warwick Country Club.
    Photo by Terry Reilly Damage at the Warwick Country Club.
    Photo by Terry Reilly Oakland Avenue at the corner of Third Street. Oakland Avnue was closed because of downed wires.
    Photo by Terry Reilly Oakland Avenue at the corner of Third Street. Oakland Avnue was closed because of downed wires.
    Carol Beaugard shared this photo Tuesday afternoon: “I came home to a tree that had been struck by lightning from our neighbor, hit our house and buried my husband’s car parked in our driveway. We have no power and downed live wires. We’re waiting for O&R to come to the rescue. Looks like trees we’re downed up the hill also. Wow. Stay safe everyone.”
    Carol Beaugard shared this photo Tuesday afternoon: “I came home to a tree that had been struck by lightning from our neighbor, hit our house and buried my husband’s car parked in our driveway. We have no power and downed live wires. We’re waiting for O&R to come to the rescue. Looks like trees we’re downed up the hill also. Wow. Stay safe everyone.”
    Chris Olert shared this photo of O&R crews restoring electricity to 120 Warwick residents Tuesday night at Oakland Avenue and Third Street after a violent storm swept through southern edge of Warwick Village. Restoration to all took 14 hours
    Chris Olert shared this photo of O&R crews restoring electricity to 120 Warwick residents Tuesday night at Oakland Avenue and Third Street after a violent storm swept through southern edge of Warwick Village. Restoration to all took 14 hours
    Photo by Terry Reilly High wind gusts downed trees, which in-turn knocked down power lines and a transformer. At least one home and one vehicle as well as a telephone pole suffered serious damage.
    Photo by Terry Reilly High wind gusts downed trees, which in-turn knocked down power lines and a transformer. At least one home and one vehicle as well as a telephone pole suffered serious damage.

By Roger Gavan
WARWICK — At around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 17, a line of fast moving thunderstorms, traveling from west to east at 40 mph, caused havoc in the Village of Warwick.
The National Weather Service had predicted heavy storms north of Orange County, which did cause the most damage and power outages, but only scattered thunderstorms in this area.
Warwick was caught by surprise.
"It hit us fast like a mini hurricane," said Mayor Michael Newhard. "We had quite a mess. Our village was ground zero."
High wind gusts downed trees, which in-turn knocked down power lines and a transformer. At least one home and one vehicle as well as a telephone pole suffered serious damage.
More than 300 outagesOrange & Rockland Utility Co. spokesman Mike Donovan reported that 325 outages, the most throughout the Town of Warwick, were in the village. There were also power outages in Greenwood Lake and Monroe.
Warwick resident Larry Miri sent in photos of a tree down on Third Street. The tree fell on a Mercedes and knocked over telephone poles, leaving a transformer in the street.
Miri also said that he has an anemometer and recorded a wind gust of 68 mph.
Nearby on Orchard Street, Warwick resident Carol Beaugard said she came home Tuesday afternoon to find a neighbor's tree had fallen, hit her house and buried her husband's car parked in the driveway.
Power restoredBy Wednesday, morning, O&R and Warwick Telephone crews had performed all the necessary repairs and power and phone service was restored.
Village of Warwick crews, who had been performing road work on West Street, suddenly found themselves faced with another task and a longer workday.
"We have a wonderful crew," said Newhard, "and they did a great job."
Downed wiresOne of the most important warnings in the aftermath of severe storm damage is to stay clear of downed wires.
"Because of the downed wires," said Newhard, "Oakland Avenue was closed to traffic. My sister Beth parked her car across the road to stop the cars but some even drove onto the sidewalk to get around that barrier. Imagine that."
Erika Norton contributed reporting to this story.