MADISON, NJ — The New York metropolitan area is recovering from the early effects of a double-thickness storm. Severe storms knocked down trees and flooded busy roads Tuesday night, and more storms are on the way. Debby’s remains move north.

Some of the highest rainfall were reported in Ridgewood, New Jersey, with 5.79 inches of rain and in Fordham, New York, with 5.48 inches of rain.

There were still showers on Wednesday, but it felt about 15 degrees cooler, with highs around 21 degrees. Next: We turn our attention to Debbyas the rest is expected to reach our area from Friday to Saturday.

Major damage in Madison, New Jersey

Madison, New Jersey, has been a mess since Tuesday evening. Dozens of trees fell on homes and streets, including a near miss on Alexander Avenue. A large tree branch fell into a resident’s front yard around 5 p.m. Tuesday, crushing a black SUV. The homeowner said he had just gotten out of the car minutes before the chaos began.

“I had just pulled into the driveway about two minutes earlier. When it started raining, I got out of the car, went out on my porch and then it started to really rain, then the wind started whipping through. And then I heard a loud crack,” said homeowner Tim Begley. “I saw the tree fall. I hope it doesn’t take down the wires and land on my car, but both of those things happened.”

Begley described the violent winds.

“The wind must have been 120 mph. The trees were lying across the wind,” Begley said.

Less than a mile away on Park Avenue, a large pine tree broke off like a twig and fell onto the roof of a house. The roof was significantly damaged, but everyone was unharmed.

A tree branch fell into a house on Albright Circle.

“So there was a huge branch that they had sawed off and thrown there. It ran the entire length of that part of my house,” said homeowner Frank Cerutti.

The roof of his house is now covered with blue tarps.

“When I got home, water was coming into my house through the damaged roof. The ceilings were damaged and warped,” he said.

In Keep Street, a family of four lost almost everything when a huge tree fell on their house. The damage was extensive, but no one was injured.

“They were really lucky. Actually, most of the community was very lucky,” said Christian Licciardi of A Grade Property Restoration.

The mayor said about 150 people were without power, but no injuries were reported. The National Weather Service will come to assess the damage and determine if it was possibly a tornado.

Tree crushes several cars in the Bronx

A huge tree also crushed several parked cars on Clafin Avenue near West 195th Street in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx. One of them belonged to Jakiem Crayon, who said he was lucky to get a parking space on the busy street and had just brought in his groceries minutes before the tree fell.

“I appreciate life a lot more now because, like I said, I was sleeping in the passenger seat two minutes earlier and the tree fell on that side,” he said. “If I had been there another two minutes, I would have ended up under the tree.”

“It’s completely unreal. There are actually a lot of trees falling on this block,” said resident Joseph Gonzalez.

Rescue workers began removing the tree on Wednesday morning, but residents told CBS New York they had been raising the alarm for years.

“You can see how the concrete is raised. It had been like this for maybe 20 years before I came to this block,” said one resident.

A local resident submitted a service request to CBS New York at 311 in 2023 regarding the damaged tree that was uprooted.

“It’s an old tree. I knew it would fall at any time because the roots reach up,” added another resident.

The park administration said the tree was inspected on July 31 and would be removed.

Another large tree split and landed on the roof of a car at the corner of 204th Street and 35th Avenue in Bayside, Queens.

In Williamsbridge, a stairwell was flooded because large amounts of water had entered an apartment building.

“It sounded like it was raining in my house,” said resident Kyle Matthews.

Other residents reported that they had to deal with flooding in their apartments every time it rained. Parts of the ceiling were lying on the floor.

“This always happens when it rains. This always happens. It rains into my house, on my baby’s clothes. The blanket has fallen on my head before,” Matthews said.

Line 17 remains closed after the morning rush hour

Several major highways, such as the Major Deegan Expressway, Tuesday night filled with flood waterwhich left some drivers stranded for hours.

As of daybreak Wednesday, northbound Route 17 was still closed to morning rush hour traffic near the Route 46 overpass in Teterboro, New Jersey. It is unclear when it will reopen.

“When I got to 17, I decided to stop at the diner. I picked up a newspaper and realized the place was closed because of the weather,” said a driver who was taking his daughter to Newark Liberty International Airport. “There’s maybe two feet of water over there, that’s pretty bad. It’s probably going to stay that way for most of the day, and some drivers are going to be angry, that’s for sure.”

NJ Transit service on the Morris and Essex Lines was suspended overnight due to trees covering the lines, but later resumed with delays.

Airlines are once again struggling with delays and cancellations

Passengers again had difficulty reaching their destination on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Wednesday, 91 flights to and from LaGuardia Airport were canceled and over 200 were delayed. At Newark Liberty International Airport, there were 86 cancellations, while at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 69 flights were canceled and over 300 were delayed.

CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg said airlines have no control over the increase in weather-related problems.

“The reality is that there is more bad weather. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is reporting more storm activity than ever before,” he said.

What airlines can do, however, is improve their customer service and software systems.

“Nothing replaces talking to a real human being, and that’s where the real blame lies with the airlines because they are understaffed in this area. Leaving people on hold for 12 hours to reach customer service is not customer service,” he said.

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