Did Garden City Get Hit With More Than Just a Hurricane?

Hurricane Irene certainly left her mark in Garden City, evidenced by downed trees, downed wires and, in some cases, downed spirits of those who have to chain saw their way out of this mess.

Patricia Chicco of Hawthorne Road said she woke up to “trees in our windows. The noise last night was horrific! The house shook and it felt like it was being lifted off the ground. Here we were, worrying about another tree, and then the neighbor’s maple tree hit the front of our house.”

Chicco’s property wasn’t the only one hit on Hawthorne. Three additional trees came down as well, entirely blocking the road and bringing down an electrical pole and wires.

As crowds gathered from all over to survey the damage, the friendly Fays and the Norniellas served coffee.

Up and down Meadbrook Road damage of the storm was evident. Tom Gordon and Joe Abbate with the Garden City Recreation Department were cutting up Lisa Brown’s fallen tree. The Village of Garden City “has all hands on deck,” Gordon stated.

The Maglio siblings were having fun climbing an unusual way- sideways on their tree that fell across the road, blocking everything. Further down the street a Lexus was crushed. A bicyclist tried to get through without success.

Down from the Brown's and Maglio’s houses, John Blair was with his family surveying the damage to his property on Newmarket Road.

Next door to Blair, Sean McAuley remarked, “I’m just happy the tree broke in the middle, rather than the whole thing coming down. It definitely would have landed on my house.”

Some residents believe a microburst or tornado may have touched down since there were so many downed trees within the same two blocks, a swath between Stewart Avenue and Newmarket/Fenimore Avenue.

Send storm photos to carisa@patch.com.