Light showers at that. Some of the wind gusts, laguardia officially 55 Miles Per Hour. Teterboro, 55. Larchmont, 67 miles an hour. The east end of long island, about 57 Miles Per Hour. Right now, its calm and quiet. Mostly cloudy, couple of sprinkles in spots. Temperatures will drop. Bounce back to the 50s and drop to the 40s towards the end of the day. Brisk and breezy. But no heavy rains to worry about or damaging winds. More on the forecast in a bit. Surveying the damage on the roads, heres lauren. Thanks. Im going to talk to you about two closures that will get in your way. Well start with the bronx River Parkway. All lanes shut down. Its a small stretch here. You can get around it. Head over to route 100 instead. Heading over to new jersey, we do have a closure on route 22 westbound. This starts at king george road. Thats also because of floofding. Two things to beware of. Lauren, thank you very much. The nasty storm, we all felt it. Knocked down trees and power lines and scenes like this several parts of Westchester County. This live wire caught fire in elmsford. Left many homes in the dark. This is in new rochelle. Also in new rochelle, a large tree slammed into a home on barn ard road. In i dont think ergs, a tree hit a car. The driver rushed to the hospital. That person in serious condition. Con edison reporting 6,000 customers without power. 4700, thats just Westchester County. 36,000 pseg customers in the dark. Close to 5,000 in new jersey affected. Tracie strahan is in albertson, new york. Whats the situation there . Reporter i can tell you, pseg is right. Power at this hour here in nassau county. We just got back from following a pseg crew as they went house to house to see what it would take to get the lights back on here. Were across from the lirr train station. Nothing going on right now. Thats been the case since the wind came through last night. Lets show you how power powerful that wind was. It uprooted a tree in massapequa last night it nearly crushed a home there. Hicksville road as well. Very powerful winds causing havoc as a result of this. Trees down all over the place. In places like Cold Spring Harbor as well. Sunken meadow parkway, signs were down as well causing a lot of traffic headaches as well. The downed power lines at pseg, that theyre reporting, they caused issues as well. A car fire because of the wires that was sparked in massapequa last night. The downed wires that really several locations. The downed lines caused all of the power out apples, like the one you see right here, michael. We dont know what the situation is for this lirr station, because theyre certainly in the dark. Of course, well bring you more updates on the situation as they become available. Going to bring as many people back as quickly as possible. Thanks very much, tracie. Reporter absolutely. 5 04. In queens a terrifying situation that fortunately happened in the middle of the night when no one was around. A piece of a building came crashing down. Its on broadway in elmhurst. Chunks started falling from that building around 1 00 this morning. Katherine creag is there. It could have been a lot worse. Reporter absolutely. It was in the middle of the night as you pointed out. Not a lot of people out here in this area. It damaged so many cars down the street. You see that huge piece of the facade from the building. From what we can tell, it looks like its about 60 feet high, 20 feet wide that came down. Police have blocked off dieter avenue at broadway here in elmhurst queens after a huge part of that building, the facade. The bricks literally peeled off of the building. This is the verizon building. According to residents and police officers, the bricks damaged at least three cars. But didnt crush them as far as we can see. People are blaming the fierce weather last night. The winds and rain for causing this. No one was hurt from what we know and police will be here for quite some time. The department of buildings involved as well. The worry is, if parts of the facade come crashing down. Again, theres police tape here but all around the verizon building here. Its unsure if people will be able to go to work this morning. Back to you, darlene. Katherine creag. Thank you. A wire started sparking when a Building Collapse in the belmont section of the bronx. Wind is likely what caused that vacant house to cave in last night. Time for a check of weather and traffic on the 4s. In long island, westchester power. A rough morning for a lot of folks. A lot of folks didnt escape some form of damage. The good news for the folks without power, its not frigidly cold behind this. Temperatures in the 50s across Suffolk County this morning. 49 the cooler spot. The city at 53 degrees. The temperatures are starting to drop now. As i said, the cooler air wraps around from the south. Its actually warmer to the north this morning. 61 in poughkeepsie. The flooding is receding here. The good news on top of that, no additional significant rain. Maybe a couple of showers come on through. They will not exacerbate the problem there. Southwest sections of pennsylvania, lets say. Thats going to track to our west today. A few of the lighter showers may glance parts of the area, especially west of the city this morning and into the afternoon. Cant rule out a stray shower. Most focus early on in the day. Lot of clouds. The breeze is light. Not the damaging wind. Temperatures generally in the low 50s will fall to the 40s by the end of the day. Lot of problems on the roads and the buses and things of that nature. Lets navigate it. Lauren . Lets talk about the buses. As far as detours go, this is reported thus far. So far the city, q 20b has downed cables in upper manhattan. Nj transit buses, 25, 400, 409 on detour. We have closures out there. That could continue to grow, that list. Build extra time into your commute this morning. The mta just tweeted out that due to weatherrelated issues, customers should allow extra travel times. Follow the lirr and metronorth. I say follow traffic 4 ny as well. Leave yourself extra time. No delays just yet. Possible delays for metronorth and lirr. Nj transit and path doing fine and alternate side of the Street Parking rules are in effect. More weather and traffic on the its 5 07. Charges are dropped against five teenagers accused of gang raping a woman in a brooklyn park. The 18yearold has recanted her alss and does not want to pursue charges. She initially claimed the teens chased her father away with a gun and sexually assaulted her at Osborn Playground in brownsville last month. The teens claim the sex was consensual and when they encountered the woman, she was having a sexual encounter with her own father. News 4 s oke to the mother of one of the teenagers. I tried to be more praying and trust god. I believed the truth will come out, so i am very relieved. The d. A. Also says the woman is refusing now to cooperate with any prosecution against her father. There is questions about whether the city could have prevented a child from dying in a brooklyn fire. Leila aquino faces charges for leaving her 2yearold daughter alone when her home caught fire on tuesday. Services was looking into whether aquino had previously left her child alone to go dance at a strip club. Theres an open investigation from last year about reports that her daughter had bruises. Police are looking for this man. He flashed. A group of children. The children are 8 and 9 years old. The man starting talking to them before exposing himself. It happened at their schoolyard. When the chirp screamed for help, the man ran off. The Suffolk CountyPolice Commissioner is expected to release video of a mysterious shooting on long island. This happened two years ago at oheka castle. Thats in hunting ton. A mass gunman wounded the owner, gary melius. Investigators are hoping the video helps them find the shooter. The fbi has been called in to help in the case as well. Happening today, the woman accused of killing her fiance during a kayaking trip head back to court. Several motions submitted by her lawyers, including a request to have the case dismissed. Defense claims prosecutors left out evidence in the grand jury presentation. Grass walled is accused of killing her fiance while kayaking on the hudson river back in april. More citizens in new york could qualify for property tax relief. Legislation was passed to raise the amount of money a senior can make and be eligible for a partial property tax exemption. It would be the first time the income eligibility level has been increased since 1994. The measure now goes to the assembly for approval. Its 5 10 now. Still ahead, what mitt romney says about Donald Trumps ta returns. Plus, its something a lot of people waited a long time for. A final new york city circus sendoff. This morning, the storms are gone. The temperatures are falling. Weather and traffic on the 4s just ahead as we look at the hamilton bridge there. In new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. All across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. Like in buffalo, where the largest solar gigafactory in the western hemisphere will soon and in syracuse, where imagination is in production. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov ive been a turkey farmer my whole life. And i raise turkey for shady brook farms. We dont use growthpromoting antibiotics, thats just the way things should be done. Thats important to me. And im an independent turkey farmer. female announcer shady brook farms. No growthpromoting antibiotics, here are four things to know this morning. The storms that lasted into the morning toppled trees and power lines across our area. Right now, more than 40,000 people are without power. The majority on long island. A piece of building came crashing down in queens. Now, this is elmhurst. Katherine creag is on the scene there. Well have an update from her in 15 minutes. A court salt warnings will be added to chain menus. The National Restaurant association called it illegal. But a judge disagreed. Tonight the ring willing brothers elephants will perform for the final time in new york city. Its opening a show called lenl ends at the barclays center. The elephants will be retiring to florida, like many people. Much calmer weather this morning. Wouldnt take much to be calmer than last night. A couple of passing showers. Especially west of the city. Nothing heavy. It will be breeze toy windy at times. Nothing extreme. No damaging winds anticipated. The temperatures will trend cooler and eventually colder by tonight into tomorrow. Thats going to be brief in nature too. The heavy rains are running off. Some of the streams and rivers and creeks are rising. Could cause minor flooding in the counties shaded in red. Various streams, creeks and rivers involved. We also have advisories that extend into portions of passaic and Bergen County. School day forecast, improvement here too. It will be mild and in fact, temperatures in the low 50s at recess time. At dismissal time, maybe dropping into the 40s past 4 00 or 5 00. A lot of clouds around. A shower early on this morning. Down to 46 in sheepshead bay. 53 in central park. Milder yet to the north and west. Wrapping around from the south and west this morning. Cooler off the ocean waters too. Meantime, heres the center of storm in western pennsylvania. It will tech to the west again today. Some of the lighter showers will brush across the area, especially the first half of the day. Were between the nastiness from last night and this morning. Not a big problem. Couple of light showers spec willing the area, this is 9 00 in the morning. Most of the shower activity moved to the north and northeast. By the evening hours, clouds around. Notice whats happened here. They stay off to the north and west. The skies clear out nicely. Were back into plenty of sunshine. It will be chilly tomorrow. We stay in the 30s. By the time we get to saturday, were in the 40s. By the time we get to sunday, how about 50s. The high is early in the day then we level off, drop into the 40s. Southwest wind gets going at 50 to 25 miles an hour. 32 the low in the city tonight. It will feel like winter again by tomorrow in the upper 30s with a chilly breeze. Its sunny. 41 on saturday. A big jump on sunday. The wind goes southwest. 355, mid50s monday. Stays mild through next week and maybe rain later wednesday. Let get the latest from lauren scala on the commute. We have a bunch much closures out there. No major delays or accidents. Thats at least a plus. Lets get through the flooding. The bronx River Parkway, all lanes shut down from the Westchester County center to chatter ton avenue. Its something that you can get around. Hopefully its gone when you get out the door. Route 9w also shut down in both directions between east palisade avenue and east clinton avenue. Thats in Englewood Cliffs because of downed wires here. Heading over to 78, we have an accident out there at exit 44 in berkeley heights. That blocks the right lane. Flows, not causing a delay. Route 22 westbound shut down between park avenue and terrell road. Further west of there, shut down by king george road. Thats what you need to know. Otherwise, the road are moving around nicely. Nothing else. Alternate side of the Street Parking rules are in effect. The next update on the 4s. Its 5 18. Now to decision 2016. Another showdown tonight for the republican candidates. Today in new york Kerry Barrett is in the newsroom. This will be smallest debate, i think five candidates. Five candidates. The republicans tenth debate as you mentioned. The last heading into super tuesday. Ted cruzs home state. The latest polls show him with a double digit lead there over donald trump. Nationally, hes still neck and neck with marco rubio. Donald trump still winning handily. Yesterday, the governor there ep but the gop party is growing more frustrated because rubio and cruz continue to battle one another instead of trump. So a lot of people are asking if thats the right strategy. I think thats an interesting question given that im the only candidate on that debate stage who has consistently pointed out Donald Trumps liberal record. I dont have any voters begging me to attack anyone. Im not in this race to attack any republican. Im more than happy to show differences. Rubios strategy seems to be to lay off trump, wait for cruz to fail. Both candidates, though, appear equally competent. Rubios campaign looking forward to the primary in his home state of florida. Thats in three weeks from now. However, the difference there is that that state awards all of their delegates to the winner. Second place Means Nothing there. Well see you get a ribbon but no delegates. You get a participation prize. Kerry, thank you so much. Sure. 5 19 right now. Republican to take on donald trump. He challenged trump to release his tax returns. He speculated that those returns could contain a bombshell. Trump will decide in the next couple of months whether to release them. He tweeted in 2012, romney totally blew an election that should have been won. Today, Connecticut GovernorDannel Malloy will be over the border in massachusetts campaigning for hillary clinton. We saw clinton stump for malloys election. Now malloy will try to help hillary in whats considered a tight race against bernie sanders. Massachusetts voters will head to the polls in next weeks primary on super tuesday. Just ahead, one airline offers everyone on board a free flight. Well tell you theres a catch. Always a catch, right . Speaking of flying. Your next trip could be a little less expensive. What you have to give up to save a few bucks. Youre watching today in new your daughter wants to stay organic. Your husband wants to stay free from artificial ingredients. You want to stay free from artificial preservatives. And your debit card wants to stay on a diet. Fill your cart with Small Victories like stop shops natures promise brand. Great prices on over 800 items. Eat well for less. Welcome back. Booking plane tickets is about to get cheaper. More airlines are adding no frill fares. Theyre known as basic economy fares which means for rock bottom prices, you give up extras like choosing your own seat. There you go. You give up choosing that your ticket. American and United Airlines will offer the fares. Spirit and frontier already have them. I feel like you can never cancel your ticket. I could physically me die and i cant get a refund on my tickets. Do you know where that right. Pay for regular fare, you cant choose your seat. A lot more frills slashed from that no frills. Meaning no, capital no frills. Sit down there, scala. Will they have flight attendants . Just kidding. No frills for the weather. Things are quieting down considerably. It will turn breeze toy wind i again later today. Nowhere near the damaging wind gusts. Temperatures in the low to mid50s. Will start to fall into the 40s. Could be a couple of showers or sprinkles until mid afternoon. Feel in the low 30s. Chilly tomorrow. I dont think we get out of the 30s. Towards the weekend, it starts out on the brisk side. Its bright and sunny at 41. But look at the jump in temperatures. By sunday in the mid50s. Outdoor plans, sunday is the da i to do them. Great. Its getting entertaining seeing the people come from the clubs as we drive in. Theyre wearing nothing. Theyre Walking Around enjoying the evening. The good old days. All right. Let talk about traffic. Not the club. Right now we have an accident on the sprain brook parkway before jackson avenue. Watch out for that. Long island, we keep getting more reports of closures there. A bunch of them in the same area. Old brookville shut down northbound at chicken valley road. Northern boulevard closed by cedar swamp road and glen cove road closed by northern boulevard. Downed trees and wires and what not not. Be very careful heading out the just ahead, Team Coverage of storm damage that were all waking up to this morning. Reporter im Katherine Creag live in elmhurst queens where a huge portion of this Office Building comes crashing down. Bricks all over the street. Coming up. Reporter im Tracie Strahan live in albertson, long island. Outages have been the issue all counties. Get an update on where things stand straight ahead. If youre about to head out the door, take us with you. Download our app on your mobile thousands in the dark this morning. This storm toppled trees. Several reports down overnight. Some blocked roads and some fell on to houses. The whipping wind may be to blame for a scare in queens. A piece of a building crumbled to the street. Today in new york starts now. Good morning everyone. Its thursday morning, february 25th. Im darlene rodriguez. Im michael gargiulo. Tfrs certainly a wild night. The storms really hammered our area and we have Team Coverage this morning. Our crews have been out all night. Well start with chris cimino. Rough go. Down. Where is the storm . Still to the west of us. That was at cold front that came through with nasty showers and winds. It will meander to the in hes nest of us later this morning. Most of those will tend to be north and west of the city. No more heavy rain or gusts. Laguardia, 55 Miles Per Hour. Bridgeport 58. 67 Miles Per Hour in larchmont. We saw the damage in queens, had a report out of Jackson Heights up to 60 Miles Per Hour wind gusts. Wind right now, relaxed in a big way. Weve seen it gust to 20 miles an hour in valley stream. In the low 20s on the east end. The winds will pick up later today out of west and southwest. Gusting close to 30 miles an hour. If not higher. Thats not damaging type of wind. Clouds break for a little bit of sun after a couple of morning spritzes and sprinkles. Low 50s will drop to the upper 40s by the end of the day. A shot of colder air on the way. Well talk about that in a its a messy commute for many. Whats the latest, lauren . Start with good news. We had the brorngs River Parkway shut down with flooding. All lanes reopened on both sides of the road. Thats good news. 22 westbound in green theres improvements where there was flooding but we have a lot of downed power cables. In both directions between east palisade avenue and east clinton avenue. Head to the palisades parkway to get around that. Disabled truck on the l. I. E. This is westbound out by exit 18. In the right lane. You can see minor delays as you make your way through there. More weather and traffic on the 4s. Thanks so much, lauren. 5 31 right now. The storms last night left tens of thousands without power in our area. Pseg long island reports 34,000 customers in the dark this morning. That includes 11,000 just in the north hempstead area. Con edison has 5,000 outages in westchester, the bronx and queens. In queens, the wind is likely for bringing town a piece of a building. It nearly crushed a car and left a big mess in the street. Its on broadway in elmhurst. Chunks starting falling. Storm team 4s kat creag is there. Whats the latest. Reporter we talked with a couple of taxi drivers who mentioned they saw traffic lights out. Theyre dark. They believe the storm caused outages in the areas where the traffic lights arent working. They also saw this and couldnt believe what they saw. You see an officer driving up there. On the other side of that car, there is debris on ground. We want to show you this video. Because its as if a huge sheet of bricks peeled off of the building and fell to the ground. This is vietor avenue at broadway. It came off of the building. The verizon building here on the corner. The bricks damaged at least as far as we can see. People are blaming the fierce weather, the winds and rain from causing this. Police officers tell us they will be here for quite some time. We want to show you a live picture, this is the verizon building. Theres part of the facade right there on the corner of viator avenue and broadway. Its a question right now if people can go to work in this Office Building. Coming up in the next half hour, youll hear from the taxi drivers worried about the other buildings around here, wondering about the structural stability of the buildings. Katherine creag, thank you. Wires were sparking as a result of a Building Collapse in the bronx. Wind is likely what caused the vak apartment house to cave in. It came crashing down on belmont avenue last night. The wind caused extensive damage overnight on long island as well. Tracie strahan is in albertson. Tracie, the big problem there, thousands of people dont have power right now. Reporter exactly, michael. Were going to show you the something you usually dont want to do on television, shoot into the dark. Thats a residential street and were showing awe an area where people park for the albertson lirr train. You can see how dark it is. The only lights youll likely see are from cars in this area. We want to show you video of pseg crews on the scene. We followed a convoy on to hilldale road to see them going from house to house surveying any damage there and trying to see what it would take to restore power for the 34,000 dark. County. Shop. Big on long island. Now. Happening. So i dont know what time theyre going to be what time are you supposed to open . 5 30. What are you going to do . Were going to wait. What you can do. Reporter one thing that tree on chicago avenue and massapequa off of this home. It was crushing this home as a result of the high wind that toppled many trees down in this area and knocked signs and other debris throughout the area. There was another tree down in Cold Spring Harbor. There were a lot of traffic delays cause as a result of this. Even signs on veterans highway and Sunken Meadow parkway in commack. We want to show you the problems that power lines caused when they fell on to the ground as a result of the wind. Can this was in massapequa as well. It caused a car fire. It was put out pretty quickly. As you can see, michael, its the reason why crews arent giving an estimate as to when everyone will be restored. They have their work cut out for them this morning. Back to you. Hopefullyt wont be long for that to happen. Thanks so much ziefrnl the storm state. Tornadoes mangled buildings. This morning, crews are still working to rescue people trapped under whats left of their homes. The Severe Weather is part of the system that spawned about 30 tornado in the south. Time for a check of weather and traffic on the 4s. Well continue our coverage. Chris, we saw deadly tornado in the deep south and deadly tornadoes in the midatlantic and virginia. A big range in system. Believe it or not, we saw the damage here. It weakended as it got fourth north. We had the wind damage, but its much calmer now as the system continues to exit towards the north and northwest of us. In the meantime, a couple of passing showers cant be ruled out, especially into the early afternoon for parts of the area. Breezy to at times wind you but its pretty calm right now. The wind will increase. Temperatures will turn cooler and colder. Theres the center of the storm. You can see that counter clockwise circulation in the were still in this warm wemg of air with temperatures in the 50s. It will get progressively cooler, especially late in the day. Its pretty quiet now. Not bad, 53 degrees. More degrees. Level off into the 50s and drop to the upper 40s by the end of the day. A gusty breeze with a changeable sky. Lets get over to lauren scala. The commute has been changing. Whats the latest . Its improving a little bit. Youve seen a lot of flooding. A couple of detours on the buses. This is whats reported. The q 20b for new york city and nj transit 25, 400 and 409 are on detour. On the rails, subways are fine. The mta tweeted earlier, we could see possible weatherrelated delays on the metronorth and lirr. So far so good. Nj transit and path are running on or close to schedule. Alternate side of the Street Parking are under way today. Thanks so much, lauren. After the the height of this storm, this happened on the George Washington bridge. Look at this. Tractortrailer causing major backups. It is now clear traffic is moving again this morning. The weather has made for an eventful commute home for metronorth riders. A train hit a tree near the ardsley station. That caused some damage to the train. Enough, that passengers had to be put on another train before continuing their commute. If you have the nbc new york app on your phoneu youre ahead of the storm. We sent alerts throughout the night as they came in. For the latest weather information, download the app in the Apple App Store or google play. Its 5 38. One of the largest private Ambulance Companies closed up shop yesterday after file for bankruptcy. Now the fdny will have to pick up the slack. Trans care operated 27 ambulances in the bronx and in manhattan. The Fire Department and private companies will fill that void. They also served 200 people in the lower hudson valley. Empress plans will provide service there. Blame to officially remaim 42 streets. One in far rockaway queens will be renamed for lan dolf holder, the detective killed last year near the fdr drive. Another Street Corner in south gentleman make are will be conamed anthony mai son. He died of a heart attack at age 48. They will decide whether Michael Skakel goes back to prison. He was in Connecticut Supreme Court yesterday. His lawyer defended an earlier ruling that skakel did not get a fair trial. He argued that skakels brother was also a suspect in Martha Moxleys death. Her mother dismiss that is argument, though. I am sure that michael is the young man who swung the golf club. Theres no doubt in my mind about that. Connecticuts Supreme Court is not saying when its going to rule on the case. It could take weeks or perhaps months. President obama may have a new strategy for his upcoming Supreme Court nomination. Considering a republican. Sandoval. Hes a former federal judge with a moderate record. That could put the senates Republican Leadership on the defensive. Theyll insisting they will not meet with any of president obamas nominees. 5 40 now. Ahead, one last time at the white house. The event the first family hosted last night. Plus, not only is apple not backing down. The company is upping the ante in the fight over security. What theyre reportedly working on. This morning, its calm again following a night of wild storms. Hooking at the hamilton bridge there, well have weather and welcome back. Almost 5 44 on a Thunder Showers things quieter and calmer. Still a little dampness out there. A couple more showers and spots to get there. The flags are moving around. That was not the case before. We had gusts of 40, 50 Miles Per Hour. 53 degrees right now. Wind out of the south. The morning commute will see damp roads, passing light shower or two. But much less wind through the morning. The wind will pick up a little bit again this afternoon. We do have flood warnings in effect along the rivers, creeks and streams. The ram poe. Towards the south, a little more rain has fallen. The rivers have to crest and there could be minor flooding when they crest later on today and in some cases not until tomorrow afternoon. 50 in middle village. 47 mill basin. The southerly wind off the chillier water. Thats why the 40s. 57 in sussex. 57 bridgewater. Like stepping outside into spring. You dont need to change too much. The cold weather waits until tonight. Theres the center of the storm pivoting across ohio and pennsylvania. Its going to wobble northeast later today. A couple of rain showers could slip in. A couple of sprinkles in northwest new jersey now. This area pivots up towards the north and northeast, we may get brush by a shower or two passing through. Primarily north and east of the city. Most of it shuts down by the time you get to noontime and later. Temperatures at best, low to mid50s. The temperatures keep dropping. The wind goes more west. A chilly breeze. Temperatures drop to near 30 in the city. 20s in the suburbs north and west. The breeze will feel chillier. That should subside somewhat. Towards the weekend, only in the upper 30s for a high tomorrow. Below normal. 41 on saturday. Closer to norm will. By sunday, the northwest wind becomes a southwest wind. Thats a milder wind direction. Sun angles getting higher and higher. Temperatures should climb back into the mid50s on sunday afternoon and stay in the 50s into early next week. No sign of any cold weather coming our way. No snow in the sevenday forecast. 50s today. Upper 30s tomorrow. Low 40s saturday. But mid50s for sunday and monday with clouds and sun mixed. Still mild tuesday. Maybe rain by the time you get to late wednesday. Heading out the door, what can you tell us about the commute, lauren scala. The new haven line, you will experience 10 to 15 minute delays because of some cable damage out there. We do have delays on downtown 2 trains as well. Thats it for the rails right now. The roads, another thing that came in flooding after crow ton point. Between east palisade avenue and east clinton avenue because of clound wires out there in the roadway. The accident came in westbound on the bqe by the kosciuszko bridge. Delays are building in the right lane. Hopefully that clears out soon. Well look at the long island expressway by the Grand Central parkway. Traffic is building out there. But the good news, a disabled tractortrailer westbound on the l. I. E. By exit 18. Thats maurice avenue. That cleared out. One less thing in the way right now. More weather and traffic on the 4s. Metallica is going to let us hear a performance from their past to help the paris terror attack victims. On april 16th, the heavy metal band will release the recording of a concert from back in 2003. It was done at the bataclan theater, the same venue where begun gunmen shot and killed concertgoers. The proceeds will benefit the apple is working on an iphone jaup grade to make it impossible for the government to they want software to access one of the San Bernardinos shooters phones. A wrongway driver sped right past a Florida Police officer and it is all on camera. Imagine seeing this when youre driving. Thats a wrongway driver in the breakdown lane. Deputies say that driver was drunk. Blood alcohol level that was three times the legal limit. Amazingly and fortunately, no one else on the road was hurt. Ras baraka is creating a new office to oversee the Port Authority. One would watch over at Newark Liberty airport, another one on the seaport. Mayor baraka says it will give oversight of the citys finances and identify new job opportunity for residents. Living in Bergen County new jersey could be more expensive the county executive says theres a possibility of a tax increase this year. He didnt offer more details about that on the budget, just saying its going to be a challenge. Rise in Employee Health care cost, paying for a new Justice Center. That could be maim juror factors in the increase. Jason pierrepaul is suing espn. According to the post, hes accusing the network of violating his privacy by making his medical records public. Espn posted the records online while reporting on the accident that seriously injured pierrepaul in miami. The giants defensive end says the records were improperly obtained and should have been confidential. The unmistakable music of ray charles filled the halls of the white house. Thats day and hamilton of their version of let the good times roll. You can seep the president swaying along there. He led a singalong at one point. This is the final in performance at the white house with you said you were able to see ray charles once. One. Best concerts ive ever seen. It was great. Jetblue gave away 150 round trip tickets for free. But there was one catch. Its a big one. All the passengers had to agree where to go. Do you think they managed that . 150 random strangers have chosen unanimously to go to costa rica. Congratulations everybody. Good choice. It was called congress of the air. Jetblue wanted to prove that people could Work Together. All these perfect strangers debated. Then made compromise and decided to go to costa rica. I think its a great experiment. I think when thats the end game, you could work it out. Its not like picking a Supreme Court nominee. A lot more pleasant. 5 50 right now. A handful of starbucks get the go ahead to serve more than just coffee. Battling widespread flu outbreaks. New information on how effective this years vac seep is. Dont forget, follow us on facebook and twitter and instagram. Michaelg4ny and darlene4ny. Youre watching today in new york. In new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. All across the state, the economy is growing, incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. Like in buffalo, where the largest solar gigafactory in the western hemisphere will soon energize the world. And in syracuse, where imagination is in production. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow today at business. Ny. Gov what makes this simple salad the best simple salad ever . Heart healthy veggie dish ever . Heart healthy california walnuts. The best simple dinner ever . Heart healthy california walnuts. Great tasting, heart healthy california walnuts. So simple. Ran aground near the Silver Point Beach Club. No word of injuries to anyone on board. While responding a u. S. Coast guard boat capsized. All five crew on that boat also okay. Our newsroom is working to get more information on this story. Well update you as we can. In new jersey, one assemblyman wants to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18. Morris county republican, Michael Patrick caroll. He says if youre old enough to vote or go to war, you should be old enough to buy a six pack. It could stands to lose millions of dollars in highway funding if it became law. Starbucks will soon be selling beer and wine in several locations on long island. Coffeehouses in long beach and miller place received licenses already. Selling beer and wine in the spring. The authority says four other coffeehouses have been approved. Licenses not issued yet, though. Interesting. There you go. Except you get it in the paper cup. Theres foam on top. Boilermaker, you put a shot of espresso in a beer. A new adventure. Good luck with that. In the meantime, things finally improving. Nice and calm weather picture. But were picking up the mess from the nasty storms that came through last night. Temperatures, generally speaking in the low and mid50s. Dropping into the 40s later in the afternoon. Could be a couple light showers. Just the light umbrella compared to yesterday. Colder tonight. Back to the coats again. By tomorrow morning, back to the hats, scarves and gloves. Temperatures low 30s in the city. Teens probably in the windchill department. Why not look at the weekend. It looks bright and sunny. Starts chilly saturday but warms in the mid50s. Thats nice. Wow. Some sunshine. In february. Ill take it. Whats going on, lauren . There are a lot of road closures. Thats good. A lot of downed trees and wires. Ill continue to update you. Were getting more and more information. I want to get you information on the rails. Delays on uptown 2 trains. Thats the only issue on the subways. Metronorth commuters, for those who commute through greenwich and rye, you will ex experience delays because of overhead wire damage. Nj transit and path on or close to schedule right now. Lauren, thanks very much. News for your health, you can thank the flu vaccine for fewer sick calls to the office. Early data shows people who got the vaccine are 59 less likely to get the flu. Big improvement from last winter when the vaccine was 20 effective. The accept terse for Disease Control recommends everybody get a flu shot. Usually only half of americans do. Coming up next at 6 00, strong storms create a mess across our area. We have live Team Coverage with a look at the damage. If youre about to head out the door, download the news 4 new york app on your mobile device right now. Youre watching today in new york. Smoking causes 16 different types of cancer. Ones that can kill you fast. Ones that can kill you slower. Ones that can take away lifes most basic pleasures. There are 16 different types of cancer caused by smoking. You have one clear way to reduce your risk. You can quit smoking. In the dark. Sniefrmts parking wires. Storm team 4 is covering it all for you. Today in new york starts now. Good morning everyone. Thursday morning. It is february 25th. Im darlene rodriguez. Im michael gargiulo. Big story of course the weather last night. We have a team of reporters out throughout the area covering the latest. Were going to start with storm team 4s chris cimino looking at the aftermath. This is the good part of the story. The weather calmed down. The heavy rain moved out. The strong winds are gone. The storm is actually to the west of us. Not going to be a big, big player today. Just a few light showers. Trying to work into western sections of new jersey. We could see a light shower pass through. We have flood advisories in effect now in Somerset County and mercer county. A lot of the creeks are cresting. The news is getting better. The areas getting smaller too. No more heavy additional rain to worry about on top of it. Clouds around this morning. 53 degrees right now. Temperaturesislide down another degree or two and stay in the low 50s before slipping into the 40s by the end of the day. Nothing more than a passing shower. Could get windy towards the afternoon hours. Little after 6 00 a. M. , the commute. How is it looking, lauren . An accident on by the kosciuszko bridge. Theres residual delays. A live look at the long island expressway by the Grand Central parkway. There is an accident in the eastbound lanes on the shoulder. You can see some flashing lights out there. No delays heading eastbound. Of the road, you see a slow stream of headlights. There are reports of potholes on the roads in the area. Just congestion as well. Something to keep in mind. Heading over to long island, we have a lot of road closures, local road closures due to downed trees and wires. You have northern boulevard shut for a stretch after cedar swamp road and 107 northbound shut down out by chicken valley road in old brookville. Thats because of downed wires in the roadway. More weather and traffic coming up on the 4s. Lauren, thanks very much. Breaking news in nassau county. A fishing boat ran aground near the Silver Point Beach Club in Atlantic Beach no. Word of injuries to anybody on board. While responding, though, a u. S. Coast guard boat capsized. All four crew members on that boat are also okay. We have a crew on the way in our newsroom working to get Additional Information on this breaking story. During the worst of the storm, a huge chunk of a building slammed into the street in elmhurst queens. Part of broadway remains blocked Katherine Creag is there with more. Kat . Reporter darlene, people passing by this astonished by what theyre seeing. What were zooming into now, that is a huge portion of the building that came down. It is as if a huge sheet of bricks peeled off the building and fell. We want to show you the video of the scene. Police blocked off vieter avenue in queens. A huge part of the facade came off the building, the verizon building on the corner. It damaged at least three cars but didnt crush them. People are blaming the fierce weather last night. The winds and rains for causing this. Theyre worried about other buildings, if theyre structurally safe. The buildings maybe too old. But we put our neighbors in anything like that. Yes. Reporter from what we know, no one was hurt. That they will be here for quite some time. Darlene, weve been mentioning this. There is police tape here but there is tape all around this hume Office Building. Its unknown if people can go to work in this verizon building here on broadway and vietor avenue. Wires started sparking when a Building Collapsed in the belmont section of the bronx. A vacant house caved in there last night. The collapse was likely caused by heavy winds. Tens of thousands of people without power in our area following the storms last night. Con edison reporting 5,000 customers in new york in the dark. 4,000 are in Westchester County. Jersey Central Power and light has about 5,000 outages. 37,000 pseg long island customers without power. Thats spread out in nassau and in Suffolk County. Tracie stra island. Lights on at some point today. Reporter were starting to see the effect the outages are having on people as we get into the morning rush. Well show you the area near the lirr train. Again, you can see nothing has changed since we joipd you at 4 30 this morning. Theres a car waiting to park at the station. As a matter of fact, we saw the effects this is having on the lirr directly. Look at this train rolling very slowly through the albertson station. About 20 minutes ago. Not only is blasting that horn. At one point he put on the high beams because this is an area where commuters usually walk outside. He wanted to make sure he could clear things safely. I want to show you some crews on hilldale avenue. We watched as they went house to house trying to figure out what it would take to restore power in this area. As you mentioned, pseg reporting a 37,000 customers throughout long island still in the dark. We spoke to the owner of a bagel shop about how thats affecting him. Take a listen. Come down at 4 00 in the morning. I dont know. Maybe open 10 00, 10 30. Thats going to hurt business though. Yes. Reporter the wind was the other part of that onetwo punch punch. Look what it did to this tree in massapequa. Everyone talking about this. It crushed this home. No injuries reported as a result of that. This wind so powerful it knocked over whole signs in massapequa. This one on hicksville road. It knocked down trees in Cold Spring Harbor as well. More signs down throughout the area, including places like commack. Pseg not giving an estimate when the power will be restored. You can see with 37,000 customers, thats a pretty daunting task. They have their work cut out for them today. Result of the heavy storms last night. Tracie was showing the trees down. In some cases they have to be take ep away before the trucks can get in. Reporter absolutely. Thats the problem with power lines as well. Tracie, thank you so much. In westchester the torm knocked down trees and power lines in several areas. This live wire caught fire leaving many homes in the dark. Another downed power line sparked a fire on pine brook boulevard in new rochelle. Also there, a large tree slammed into a home in barn ard road. In yonkers, a tree came down and hit a car. The driver was rushed to hospital in serious condition. Time for weather and traffic on the 4s. Chris, we saw this come from the south right to us. You said it was weakened each though what we went through, we went through, it was weakend. There was tornadoes throughout the area. We saw the damaging winds from it much that was enough. Much calmer weather, nice 48 hours. Could be a couple of passing showers this morning and early afternoon in spots. Especially west and northwest of the city. No heavy rain anticipated today. Breezy to windy, but not extreme extreme. Maybe up to 30 Miles Per Hour. Temperatures will trend cooler and gradually colder by tonight into tomorrow. More significant change by then. Right now, were watching whats left of the storm. Its filling in a bit. Light showers across eastern pennsylvania. Some trek northeast and well glance northwest through the commute. Take a small umbrella. May get a brief shower first half of the day. Clouds mixed with sunshine. We go from breezy to windy at noontime. In the low 50s. Then temperatures drop into the 40s. Colder weather on the way. It doesnt last. A nice warmup. Lets talk commute with lauren right now. Thanks, chris. Lets talk about the trains. We have dee delays on uptown 2 problems and for metronorth commuters on the new haven line, 10 to 15minute delays in the vicinity of greenwich and ryan. Lirr said you could see possible delays this morning. Nothing reported just yet. Nj transit and path commuters, everything is fine there. If you are getting on the road, another closure out there. This is because of downed wires. 9w shut down between east palisade avenue and clinton avenue. You need to move your car. Alternate side of the Street Parking rules are in effect. More weather and traffic ahead on the 4s. Chris was talking about how powerful the storms were. At least eight people lost their lives in the storms that traveled from the south up the east coast. Tornadoes killing four people in virginia last night. Among them a 2yearold boy. Rescues are happening right now. People are still trapped under piles of debris. Weather service says there were at least 60 tornadoes reported across the region tuesday into wednesday. Against five teenagers accused of gang raping a om in the park. The 18yearold woman has recanted her allegations and does not want to pursue charges against the teens. She initially claimed the teens chased her father away with a gun and raped her last month. The teens came it was consensual. They also said when they encountered the woman, she was having sexual relations with her father. News 4 spoke to the mother of one of the accused teenagers. I tried to be more, more praying and trust god. I believed the truth will come out. So i am very relieved. The d. A. Also says the woman is refusing to cooperate with any prosecution against her father. New this morning, a fire at a building used by several schools in east harlem. Firefighters were called to the building on east 109th street. They quickly got the fire under control. The building appears to house the esperanza preparatory academy. The global neighborhood talented and Gifted School for young scholars. No word if that affects classes later today. One of the citys largest private Ambulance Companies closed up yesterday after filing for bankruptcy. Now the fdny will have to pick up the slack. Trans care operated 27 ambulances in the bronx and manhattan. The Fire Department and private companies will fill the void. Trans care also served more than 200,000 people in the lower hudson sally. The empress Valley Company will provide service there. In the money report, the threat of cyber crimes. Its growing by day. Some Companies May not be prepared. Landon dowdy joins us with the details and more. Landon, you would think this is a major priority for big companies. You would think so. A hot topic right now. A majority of companies are unprepared for a cyber attack. Nearly half dont have an active Response Plan and 1 have no plan and a third say they dont believe they need one. List of worries for corporate america. Meanwhile, the faa will consider allowing small drones to fly over people and that could pave the way for package deliveries and other commercial flights. Amazon and google aim to start delivering items within the next two years. They would face regulatory challenges beyond the faa. It doesnt sound like much of a big deal. Weve been talking about it for a while. It makes more of a difference over sporting events. Right. You have to think about the Public Safety aspect of all of this for sure. Definitely good angles on the sport action. True. Landon, thanks so much. Good to see you. Coming up next, a supreme plan. President obama may be eyeing a prominent republican to join the Supreme Court. Plus, weather and traffic on the 4s coming up. Its 6 14. Four things to know this morning. Tens of thousands of people without power across the area following the strong storms that lashed our area. The heavy rain and wind toppled trees and power lines all over. During the height of the storm, a large chunk of a building came crashing down in elmhurst queens. No injuries reported. Parts of broadway remapd blocked off at this time. Police are searching for a man who flashed Young Children in the bronx playground. This was on bryant avenue and hunts point. He exposed himself. New york citys Health Department say the salt warnings will be added to chain restaurant menus. The warnings will identify dish with high amounts of sodium. The National Restaurant association called it illegal. A judge disagreed. It is time for weather and traffic on the day after picking up the pieces from last nights calmer and gentler today. North and west of the city, brisk and breezy. Shot of cold air comes our way before we warm it up for the latter half of the weekend. Wind gusts yesterday, look at this. Laguardia 55 Miles Per Hour. Larchmont, 67 Miles Per Hour. Teterboro, also 55 Miles Per Hour. Temperature change last 24 hours, boy, its dramatically warmer out there. In some cases 25 degrees warmer. Poughkeepsie, 24 degrees warmer than yesterday morning. The city 15 degrees warmer. What does that translate to . Temperatures in the low 50s across northwest new jersey. Around 50 in blairstown. Califon. The city, in the lower 50s. Upper 40s in long island and mid50s down the jersey shore. Things will slowly cool down going through the day. There is a change heading our way. The wind will pick up. Colder air will head our way. The feelslike temperatures will be in the 20s to the north and west, low 30s in the city. Watch by tomorrow morning close to this time. Upper teens. Low to midteens through the north and west. Winter makes a comeback in terms of what it feels like tomorrow. Sunshine and feelslike temperatures throughout the day will be generally in the 20s tomorrow. A big change headed our way in that regard. Future tracker, couple of showers come through at 9 00, 10 00 in the morning. Take along the light umbrella. Thats all you need. Theyre gone by the afternoon hours. Up towards the north and northeast of us. Still clouds throughout the day and the cloud break up. Future tracker, this is friday arn and friday night. Skies basically clear. Few patchy clouds into saturday as well. A sunny sky anticipated. As far as the temperatures go, mid50s. Were close to that now. Thats where we peak. Back to the low 50s and 40s this afternoon as it gets colder. Colder tonight, around the freezing mark in the city. Upper 20s in nearby suburbs to low 20s north and west. With the wind, windchills in the teens tomorrow at this time. To the weekend. 55 on sunday. Still in the 50s early next week. Another round of rain later wednesday. The update on the commute, heres lauren. Thanks, chris. Not too many accidents on the roads. We have flooding and downed wires affecting the roads, traffic lights out. Leave yourself extra time no matter whr youre commuting from. Heading to new jersey, 78 eastbound out near glenside avenue. Rornts rorps of a disabled vehicle there. Once youre past it, things moving along okay. A live look at the bqe. People head around bend towards the Brooklyn Bridge. Plenty of cars on the roads today. No problems on the bq at the moment. We had an accident earlier westbound on the kosciuszko bridge. That cleared out. Heading over to the inbound side of the lincoln tunnel, you have about a tenminute wait into the tolls here. Same at the holland tunnel. Not bad yet. The George Washington bridge, minor delays into the tolls on both levels. At the hudsons. Alternate side of the street marking rules in effect today. The next update on the 4s. President obama may have a new strategy to stop a Supreme Court showdown with republicans. Kerry barrett is following all of this from our newsroom. Good morning, kerry. Good morning, darlene. Both sides have seemed determined. Republicans vowing that the vote president obama wants to replace Justice Scalia with. With that said, the white house and the senate are confirming that chuck grass lee, the republican head of the committee that would do the questioning of the Supreme Court nominee will meet with president obama next week. This may be why. One of the possible choices, a republican. Nevada governor, brian sandoval. Hes being vetted. He could give president obama a shot at breaking the Senate Republicans planned blockade of any Election Year confirmation. I think it will be very explain how, if the public con chuds cluds that this person is well qualified, that the senate should staph in the way simply for political reasons this is way for to extract maximum pain on republicans. So the republican position not likely to change too much. Leaders insist that they wont consider an obama appointee during an Election Year. Democrats have a petition 1. 3 Million People that the senate should not block the president s nominee. A lot more about the story as the weeks go on. No exact word on when the president will name a nominee. Perhaps next month mid month. Kerry, thank you. The republican president ial candidates will have one last head to head debate before next weeks super tuesday vote. Donald trump doing well in all but one battleground. Thats ted cruzs home state in texas. Cruz picked up the support of texass governor greg abbott. Hes won two of of the first three states and ive won one. I didnt run for office to tear up other republicans. Hours after making that remark, marco rubio seemed to shift strategy. He attacked donald trump on his stance on israel and on health care. Tonights debate takes place in houston. 6 21 right now. Still ahead, parts of our area could be seeing a tax increase. Well tell you where. Follow us on facebook and twitter. Darlene4ny. Michaelg4ny. Youre watching today in new in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. All across the state, the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. Like in buffalo, where the largest solar gigafactory in the western hemisphere will soon energize the world. And in syracuse, where imagination is in production. Let us help grow your companys tomorrow time for a check of weather and traffic on the 4s. Still thousands of people without power and trees down. Makes slowing down the there is a process. The good news is temperatures are warm. Not dealing with brutal cold behind us. The roads are still damp. But the weather cooperates. Less wind. Passing light shower here or there a possibility into the early afternoon. Much less wind, especially this morning. The wind will pick up a little bit again by this afternoon. Not the damaging type of wind but gusty and brisk. Temperatures in the low to mid50s. Dropping to the 40s in the afternoon hours. Clouds and some sunshine mix. Then tonight a clearing trend after evening clouds. Colder though. Windchills. By this time tomorrow morning into the teens. Hello february. Youre back. Not this morning. No. Whats going on, lauren. Talk about the rails. We have problems on the roads. Flooding, traffic lights out. But the major roadways are still moving. Everything is open. We have delays on uptown 2 trains because of signal problems. Also for metronorth commuters on the new haven line, youll experience 10 to 15minute delays in the vicinity of greenwich and rye because of overhead wire damage. There are possible delays on lirr. Nj transit and path are fine so far. Thanks, lauren. The damage you were just talking about, up next. Well talk about that damage across our area. Reporter im Katherine Creag live in elmhurst queens where a huge portion of this Office Building, the facade, came crashing down. Well show you what workers are doing right now to clean up all this debris. Thats coming up. Reporter outages are still an issue throughout long island. Breaking news here in albertson, the lights are back on. Ill update you on the storm situation straight ahead. If youre heading out the door, keep watching today in new york. Download the app on your mobile device right now and well be the storms have gone but the damage is done. Power outages, downed trees, falling buildings, each cars on fire. Storm team 4 is covering it today in new york starts now. Good morning. 6 30 on this thursday. Its february 25th. Im michael gargiulo. Im darlene rodriguez. We do have a team of reporters covering all the storm aftermath. We begin with chris cimino looking at conditions right now. Chris . Want to emphasize things getting much, much better, less wind, no heavy rain to worry about. A couple of leftovers from the storm. The nasty line of thunderstorms moving east of new england. The storm is sill centered to the west. Couple of light showers could brush across the area. In the afternoon, cant rule out a light shower or sprinkle. You take along the umbrella. The range, generally 55 to near 60 miles an hour in larchmont. The highest one at 67 Miles Per Hour. Its called down from wind gusts like that. Newark at 25. Elsewhere, between 8 and 10, 15 miles an hour. New jersey. Thats going to happen. The wind will pick up and sweep nothing terribly strong that will create damage. Clouds and sun mixed, a passing shower or sprinkle. Dropping into the 40s by the end of the day. Lets talk commute lauren. Thanks, chris. We still have a lot of problems on local roads. Downed trees and cables that theyre working on clearing. Traffic signals out. For the local commute, leave yourself extra time. As far as the major roadways, were doing okay. Theres a slow ride here. Heading over to 78, just after glenside avenue, we have reports of flooding in the right lane. Its a slow ride. Once youre past it, things are okay. More weather and traffic on the 4s. Lauren, thank you. 6 31 right now. Now, that breaking news were following in nassau county. A fishing boat ran aground near the Silver Point Beach Club in Atlantic Beach. No word of injuries to anyone on board. A u. S. Coast guard boat responding capsized. We have a crew headed to the well bring you new information as it comes into the newsroom. During the storm, a huge chunk of a building slammed into the street on elmhurst queens, part of broadway, still blocked off at this hour. Katherine creag is there this morning. Kat, whats the latest . Reporter michael, we just saw some workers and were going to step around these cars right here. Hopefully you can see them with the cars passing by in that truck that you see there. They just dropped off a big dumpster. Were told that the debris, this huge part of this Office Building that came down, of the facade, it will be take ep apart brick by brick and put in that dumpster. We want to show you the video of what happened here. Its as if a huge sheet of bricks peeled off of the Office Building here and fell. Police have blocked off vietor avenue at broadway here in elmhurst queens. Part of the facade 60 feet high and 20 feet wide came off the building, the verizon building on the corner. The bricks damaged at least three cars but didnt crush people blaming the fierce weather. The winds, the rain for causing this. Theyre worried about other buildings. Take a listen. We worry about other buildings, like how the structural stability of other buildings . It could happen. They need to check it. The city should check as well the building. This building is very old. You never know. Sometimes something could be happening. Reporter and this happened overnight. Officers have been here blocking off this area ever since then. You see traffic here, michael, getting very busy here. What weve been seeing people like mothers and their children walking to school. Taking a moment to take a look at this. Its so something that theyve never seen before, people going to work and just amazed, astonished by what theyre seeing here. Michael, back to you. Its the quite the sight there kat, thanks so much. Thousands waiting for power to be restored. Con edison has more than 4,000 most in Westchester County. Jersey Central Power and light has about 4,000 in the dark. Pseg long island report rs 37,000 outages. Storm team 4s Tracie Strahan is in albertson where the power just came back moments ago. Tracie. Reporter and its tough to tell, darlene, because now that its daylight outside, although the lights have been shut back off. Power restored about 15 minutes ago after a harrowing night in the dark. Were going to show you the Long Island Railroad station in albertson and what it looked like when we arrived. The trains were rolling slowly through the station and loudly beeping that horn and trying to put on high beams because it was so dark as a result of the outages in this area. We followed pseg crews throughout the area, specifically on hilldale avenue. They were going house to house trying to figure out how to restore things. But at least in this area it seems like theyve been able to tackle the outages. Now that the outages have been will have to work on the aftermath of the storm. We want to show you now an uprooted tree on chicago avenue in massapequa that crushed a home. All as a result of the high winds that came as a result of the storm. It wreaked havoc on signs in the area like on hicksville road. Each trees came down in Cold Spring Harbor and commack. Signs were all over as a result of wind. Pseg crews reporting 37,000 outages. Nassau county. Theyre starting to make headway as a result of what we see in this area. Again, power restored in the albertson area. But they have a long day ahead. Back to you. Tracie strahan, thank you. Westchester county, trees slammed into homes and cars, knocked down power lines. This happened in new rochelle. Large tree fell into the roof of a home on barnard road. Nobody was hurt. A driver head on. The driver had to go to the hospital in serious condition. Downed power lines sparked fires in new jersey. The video showing one line catching fire in westbounds lawn in englewood. In north brunswick, a fallen tree drus disrupted traffic. Another tree came down on a daycare. Due to the time, the daycare was closed. Could have been so much worse. Time for weather and traffic. Well check in with chris cimino. Hard place to find a neighborhood not impact to some extent light passing showers, nothing heavy. Breezy but not extreme wind. It gets gusty at times. Maybe 30, 35 miles an hour tops. Eventually colder by tonight into tomorrow. There are changes under way. The south wind off the ocean. Its a little milder at 53. Inland, its warmer yet. Still upper 50s poughkeepsie and newburgh. The chilly air hasnt moved in yet. A few clouds this morning. Theyll stay with us, i think, throughout the day. Fairly unstable atmosphere. Maybe breaks from time to time. It gets windy in the afternoon. Nothing more than a stray shower. Temperatures from the 50s into the 40s by days end. The weekend forecast is coming up. Lets find out about the commute from lauren now. We talk about the rails. Still delays on uptown 2 trains. On major commuter lines. 10 to 15minute delays in the new haven line in the vicinity of greenwich and rye because of wire damage. Nothing significant. Nj transit and path doing fine. A live look at the George Washington bridge. Were headed inbound, five to ten minutes wait. 30 minutes inbound aught the lincoln tunnel. Aults auts lternate side of the Street Parking rules in effect today. In brooklyn, charges were dropped against five teenagers accused of gang raping a woman in a park. The brooklyn d. A. Says the woman recanted allegations and does not want to pursue charges against the teens. She initially claimed the teens raped her in brownsville last month. But the teens claim the sex was consensual. Right now the search is on for a man who flashed a group of Young Children in the bronx. This man started talking to the children before exposing himself. It happened in their schoolyard. The Suffolk CountyPolice Commissioner he can expected to release video of a mysterious shooting on long island at oheka castle in huntington. A masked gup man wounded the owner, gary melius. They hope the video helps them find the shooter. As we told you yesterday, the weve learned a mother facing charges in her daughters death was under investigation by child services. Leila aquinos daughter was home alone when the home caught fire. Kaleenah muldrow was found dead. Just last week, the city was investigating reports that aquino left her daughter alone to dance as a stripper. Apple is working on iphone security upgrade that would make it impossible for the government to hack. Its according to the New York Times which cites somebody close to that company. Experts say if apple is successful, it would create a enforcement. Thats even if the fbi does win its court battle to force apple to unlock the phone of the San Bernardino shooter. Officials on long island say theyre blocking construction of a sikh temple because of traffic concerns. Not religious intolerance. The faithful worshipped for decades in an older build not guilty plainview. Then they stopped work on the temple. Traffic and the possibility of less available parking. There was already some trouble with parking and overflow and sort of the amount of people. The he is residents are seeing an uptick of cars left illegally in front of their homes. The Sikh Community is eager to iron out the problems to resume the construction of their new temple. The Port Authority conducts business in his city. The mayor is creating a team to oversee the operations of the Port Authority at Newark Liberty airport. The move would give the city greater oversight of both facilities and finances. Help identify hope flip new Job Opportunities for residents. It appears the flu vaccine is doing a better job. The people who got the vaccine were 59 less likely to get the flu. Thats an improvement when the vaccine was only 20 effective last year. Usually only half of americans up next, well tell you where theres a new tax hike that could impact some People Living in new jersey. Plus, a happy hour expansion. Were going to tell you which starbucks locations in our area will soon be serving up beer and wine. Were going to have weather and traffic on the 4s coming up. A look at the Brooklyn Bridge there. Youre watching today in new 6 44 on this thursday morning. A very stormy night. Picking up the pieces. The weather is calmer and treating us better. Cant rule a spripg will in spots. Its brisk and breezy this afternoon through tomorrow. Gets colder by tonight and tomorrow. The weekend turns mild again. Especially bip sunday. Big jump up in temperatures. School day forecast today. Still relatively mild at the bus stop, around 50 or so. A gusty breeze gets going at recess time. 52. 53 dismissal time and dropping into the 40s Late Afternoon again. Nothing more than a stray 40s from city island to sheepshead bay. Out across the island, mainly 40s. Inland, its very mild. Generally in the mid50s to the up 50ers in the hudson valley. Moving forward in time, the gusts kick up a little bit. By 4 00 in the afternoon, were seeing gusts between 25 and 30 miles an hour in some cases maybe stronger up against the coast. This is not the gust that would create damage. But the wind will pick up a little bit. Gusts over 30 to 35 Miles Per Hour. And down a little bit during the day tomorrow. A passing shower cant be ruled out today. We start out in the low and mid50s. Becoming chilly tonight. Low 30s in town. Its a dry night. Nothing to worry about in terms much rain or snow showers. The feelslike temperatures, with the wind picking up an the temperatures dropping overnight, we go through the 20s. By tomorrow morning, it will feel like upper teens in the city. Low to mid teens north and west. Maybe even Single Digits in the feelslike department well north and west. Tomorrow staying in the 20s. So the high tomorrow only 38. Below normal but a bright sunny day. 41 on saturday, good looking start to the weekend. Better looking finish. Southwest wind on sunday. Temperatures climbing into the mid50s. It will feel like spring again. It stays mild into the start of next week. Heres the sevenday. 50s today. 40s by the end of the day. 20s north and west. Only upper 30s and 40s friday, saturday. Sun and clouds, milder. Sunday and monday in the mid50s. Next chance of rain, not snow. Late wednesday with a high near 50. Lets check on the commute from lauren scala. On local roads, expect a lot of downed trees and wires. Traffic lights not working. That will be the harder part of the commute. Its slow on the roadways. Plenty of congestion out there. Route 9 southbound after croton point avenue, you have reports of flooding and an accident. Then heading over to 9w in epg shut down between palisade avenue and clinton avenue because of downed wires and a downed tree out there. Theyre still in the process of clearing that. Flooding on 78 eastbound by glenside avenue causing delays. That takes out the right lane. We have reports of a few disabled vehicles in the area. Thats a spot to avoid. On the Staten Island expressway, delays eastbound and westbound by richmond road you have a pothole condition thats taking out two lanes. Not causing too much of a delay there. If you are parking your car in the city today, alternate side of the Street Parking rules are in effect. Back to you, darlene and michael lauren, thank you very much. In new jersey, if you live in Bergen County, it could become more expensive. The county executive says theres a possibility of a tax increase this year. He didnt offer more details about the bum et. Just that it will be a challenge. Rise in Employee Health care cost and paying for the Justice Center could be major factors. Starbucks will soon be selling beer and wine at several locations on long island. Coffeehouses in long beach and miller place have already received licenses. Theyre expected to sell beer and wine this spring. The authority says four other coffeehouses in huntington, east north port, nesconset and hauppauge have been approved. A beer chino. Weve been following this. A Coast Guard Boat capsized as the crew was trying to rescue another ship. Before we gt go to break, follow us on facebook, twitter and instagram, michaelg4ny and darlene4ny. Youre watching today in new welcome back. 53 degrees out. It is 6 571. Jetblue gave away 150 round trip tickets for free. But there was one catch. All of the passengers a had 150 random strangers have chosen man chosen chosen unanimously to go to costa rica. Did it. All those perfect strangers, they debated, made compromises and then agreed on a great destination. Costa rica. Jetblue wanted to prove that people could Work Together even if it doesnt happen in washington. I know. I have friends who would be, i dont want to go to costa rica. Why not the dominican republic. The today show is coming up in a few minutes. Well check in with matt and savannah. Look at you. Turks and caicos. What does it matter. Its turks and caicos or costa rica. You win, you win. Its not the flu or a cold. Exactly. Hes back. Hello. You look great, matt. Im up above the sheets. Which is good. Nice to see you both. Coming up on a thursday, widespread damage from the fierce storms that hammered a were live with the latest and what you can expect today. Also ahead, Johnson Johnson is under fire s there a link between the popular baby powder and cancer . What you need to know. Got those stories and will the dogs ever be the same . Well show you when kathie lee and hoda took an internship at a dog grooming salon. I hope your pet wasnt there at the time. Well see you here on a thursday among on today. My dog came back traumatized yesterday. She came back wanting to live with kathie lee and hoda. With a wine glass in his hand. We had one where i grew up called groomingdales. You worked there . No. Well be right back with a look at storm damage following this morning. Also people trying to get the power back on. Youre watching today in new tr look around and youll see, 61,000 sets of eyes that look at health care differently. Where others may see a curtain, we saw a way to invent a new one that reduces infection. Where others see a call light, we see a call that wont go unanswered. While others focus on healing your body with new medication, were researching a microchip that helps your body heal itself. In every one of our 21 hospitals and 450 community and research facilities, our 122,000 eyes are looking. To not just raise our standard of health care, but raise the standard of health care. The north shorelij northwell health. Look north. Now that breaking news were following in nassau county. A fishing boat ran aground near the Silver Point Beach Club in Atlantic Beach around 5 00 a. M. This morning. While responding a u. S. Coast guard craft, a small boat capsized as well. Were told no injuries on either vessel. We have a crew headed to the scene. We want to bring you any new information when it comes into the newsroom. A huge chunk of a building slammed into the street in elmhurst queens. Katherine creag is there. Kat . Reporter darlene and broadway, getting a little more jammed up. Drivers are trying to look at the debris on the other side. We want to show you this video. A huge portion of this Office Building came down about 60 feet high. 20 feet wide. Its as if a sheet of bricks came tumbling down. This happened overnight. A lot of people in the area blaming the fierce weather last night. The winds shall the rain for causing this. From what were told, no one was hurt. At least three cars terribly damaged by all of this. Back to you, darlene and michael. Thanks so much, kat. Now to Tracie Strahan on long island. More than 30,000 people without power this morning. Tracie . Reporter darlene, still better news in albertson where you can see the neon lights show that the power is on. We saw app lirr train rolling past the albertson station when this was still in the dark. It tried to get through slowly and avoid anyone in this area. We also saw pseg crews going house to house trying to restore things. Massapequa, a result of the winds in this area. A lot of cleanup ahead. Back to you. Thanks very much. We want to go to kai simonsen, breaking news weve been following. Coast guard vessel got in trouble while trying to help the crew of another vessel. Kai . Well, michael and darlene, what youre seeing is a rescue operation taking place on the carolina 3. This is the fishing vessel that ran aground early this morning. We have rough surf out here. Not wasting time getting the guys off of this boat. This is a coast guard helicopter performing the rescue. One person so far weve witnessed being taken off that boat. Pretty soon they will be dropping that person off on to the beach and presumably going back to the ship to get more folks. No injuries reported. You can see a large presence out here by the fdny and the coast guard. Of course, well continue to live in chopper 4, kai simonsen. Back to you. Oftentimes theyll winch them to the helicopter. But here theyre bringing them directly on to the beach. Absolutely. It would make sense. Because theyre so close to the beach here. As i come to the right, you can see the operation continuing out here. Usually when they have a greater distance to go, they will winch them up into the helicopter. But it doesnt seem necessary here since the ship is so close to shore. All right. So lucky that the circumstances are what they are at this point. Thank you very much. See that happening live. Lauren, whats going on in. Mass transit. 10 to 15 minute delays for metronorth commuters. Most of the roads are passable. No major accidents in the way this morning. Thanks, lauren. Chris, check of the weather. Clouds, early on, they take overment windy at times this afternoon. But more like 30 miles an hour. Only upper 30s tomorrow with one shine. Weekend, bright but chilly. Into the 50s on sunday and stay mild into the start of next week and no snow in that sevenday forecast. Sounds fantastic. The today show is coming up next. Thats whats happening today in new york. Good morning. Breaking overnight, fierce storms move up the east coast after slamming the south. Took my truck up in the air and glass is coming in. A new round of tornadoes killing at least four people in virginia. Heavy rain and high winds knock out power across the northeast and in the midwest a crippling blizzard. Mitt romney jumps into the president ial fray taking on donald trump. I think we have good reason to believe that there is a