You are reading

Eighth Storm Victim in Queens Found in Burnt Vehicle on Grand Central Parkway

(iStock)

Sept. 2, 2021 By Allie Griffin

The eighth victim of Tropical Storm Ida in Queens was found in a scorched vehicle on the Grand Central Parkway Thursday morning.

Police responded to a 911 call of a vehicle collision on the parkway near the Brooklyn Queens Expressway entrance in Astoria at 10:45 a.m.

Arriving officers found an unconscious and unresponsive person inside a burnt car at the location. EMS responded and pronounced the unidentified individual dead at the scene. The person was burned beyond recognition, police said.

Police believe the vehicle was involved in a collision earlier in the night. The NYPD Highway Collision Investigation Squad is investigating the incident, which is believed to be related to the storm and intense flooding on the parkway.

Videos of a car on fire near the incident location were posted on the Citizen app shortly after midnight Thursday. It’s unconfirmed if it is the same vehicle at this point.

Vehicle Fire on Grand Central Parkway @CitizenApp

Grand Central Pkwy & 43rd St 12:11:06 AM EDT

Videos posted to Twitter Thursday show leftover cars abandoned on the parkway due to flooding.

The deceased is the eighth storm victim in Queens. Seven other victims, including a two-year-old boy, died when their basement-level homes were flooded.

email the author: news@queenspost.com

One Comment

Click for Comments 

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Astoria doctor sentenced to more than two decades in prison for rape and sexual abuse: DA

An Astoria doctor was sentenced to 24 years in prison on Thursday in Queens Supreme Court for raping unconscious acquaintances and sexually abusing hospital patients.

Dr. Zhi Alan Cheng, 35, of Broadway, pleaded guilty on June 30 to four counts of rape in the first degree and three counts of sexual abuse in the first degree in satisfaction of the consolidated indictments against him. He additionally entered an Alford plea to one count of sexual abuse. The defendant — a former gastroenterologist at New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital — recorded the abuse of his unconscious victims with his cell phone in both his Astoria apartment and at the hospital.

Halletts Point esplanade in Astoria opens, reconnecting community to East River waterfront

Aug. 22, 2025 By Bill Parry

When The Durst Organization broke ground on its massive Halletts Point project in Astoria on a cold winter day in January 2016, the speeches were delivered inside a massive brick warehouse that had cut off public access to a stretch of East River waterfront for generations. That warehouse is long gone, demolished and then replaced by two high-rise residential towers, 20 and 30 Halletts Point, which launched leasing earlier this year, and a 58,000-square-foot waterfront esplanade that opened to the public this month.