Severe Heat, Thunderstorms Rock New York's Wednesday
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After temperatures hit triple digits Wednesday on the hottest day of the year, the rain came down fast and furious across the city. NY1's Polly Kreisman filed the following report.A quick whip around the city Wednesday afternoon looked more like something on the Weather Channel.
In Chelsea, hailstones pelted unsuspecting pedestrians.
On City Island in the Bronx, a power outage grinded business to a halt and workers brought in ice so the food wouldn't spoil.
At Manhattan's Peter Cooper Village, flash flooding made it look more like a pond.
In Washington Heights, lightning struck the Bridge Towers Apartments overlooking I-95.
In Queens, the skies turned black and opened up.
"I thought it was going to produce a tornado 'cause of how black it got," said one resident. "It was bad."
"It was thundering," said another. "It was popping. It was crazy. I was standing under the awning. It was just flickering. It scared me enough."
At least the pounding rain cooled things down. Wednesday was New York City's hottest day of the year. The rain gave New Yorkers a chance perhaps to add layers of clothing rather than take more off.
Thursday is expected to break the streak of 21 consecutive days of above normal temperatures.