Wednesday, April 3 and Thursday, April 4, a series of powerful storms originating from the Midwest swept through the Northeastern United States, leading to the deaths of at least four people in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. These incidents, caused by heavy rain and winds exceeding 50 mph, resulted in fatal outcomes due to falling trees.
In Westchester County, New York, Cathy Tusiani, 50, was killed close to her home when a tree, uprooted by strong gusts, fell on her car along Route 128 near the hamlet of Armonk, close to the Connecticut border. Tusiani, a mother of two daughters, is survived by her husband Michael Tusiani, a senior vice president with the New York Yankees. The Yankees publicly mourned her loss, emphasizing Cathy’s enduring impact on the organization and its members. “Cathy was beloved by our front office staffers, who were privileged to experience and bear witness to her kindness, intelligence, sense of humor, and great love for her husband, Michael, over the two-plus decades of dedicated service he has provided to the Yankee organization and the Steinbrenner family,” shared the organization committing to supporting the Tusiani family through this devastating time.
This incident was part of a broader pattern of destruction in the New York City metropolitan area, where several large trees fell, including one in Central Park and another in northern Manhattan that damaged parked cars and disrupted power lines.
Pennsylvania also experienced the storm’s wrath, where two additional fatalities occurred on Wednesday. In Aston, about 25 miles from Philadelphia, a person died around 6:30 pm when a tree fell onto their car, a death confirmed by a Delaware County spokesperson, though further details about the victim were not provided. In Collegeville, 82-year-old Mary Baker met a similar fate; a tree uprooted and struck her vehicle while she was stopped at an intersection. Baker was taken to a hospital in Phoenixville, where she succumbed to her injuries.
In response to the incidents, some in Collegeville had taken preventive measures, including the removal of potentially hazardous trees from their properties.
In Derry, New Hampshire, another life was lost when a falling tree is believed to have caused a propane tank to explode in a home, resulting in a fire. An 11-year-old girl suffered burns in the incident but managed to escape and was transported to a hospital in Boston for treatment.
The severe weather brought significant disruption across the Northeast, with power outages affecting hundreds of thousands in New Hampshire and Maine. Flooding and an unusual layer of spring snow further compounded the situation. According to the Storm Prediction Center, some areas expect an additional 4 to 8 inches of snow during the weekend.
Massachusetts faced strong winds of up to 60 mph, causing coastal flooding and property damage. The storm, having traversed the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and Southeast earlier in the week, left a path of destruction, including tornadoes, but resulted in relatively few injuries considering the damage inflicted.
