4/22/02 6:09:40 AM Pacific Daylight Time

April 20 07:03 AM EDT

1 Dead as City Hit by Storm

By MARTIN MBUGUA

A raging thunderstorm ripped through the city last evening,
killing a man in Brooklyn and knocking down scaffolding and
trees around the region, officials said.

The storm was most intense between 5:45 p.m. and 6:45p.m.,
packing winds of more than 70mph and dumping up to 3 inches
of rain in parts of the city, said Ingrid Amberger, a
meteorologist at the National Weather Service .

A 40-year-old man died when he was struck by a 15-by-8-foot
section of a wall that blew down on Ingraham St. in East
Williamsburg, police said.

The victim, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead
on arrival at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center shortly after
the 6:07p.m. accident, cops said.

The wall was part of the building's facade, officials said.

'Everything Collapsed'

Two people were injured by falling cinderblocks when a wall
under construction atop an auto parts store in Clinton Hill,
Brooklyn, was brought down by strong winds shortly after
6p.m., police Capt. Timmy Bugge said.

Fire Battalion Chief Michael Rowley said, "Part of it
dropped onto the street, and part of it dropped inside."

Mark Diaz, 27, and a friend who works in the store on Park
Ave. were closing a steel gate below the wall when the
bricks came tumbling down.

"Everything collapsed and I got hit by the blocks," Diaz
said. "I fell down and lay next to the wall and the bricks
kept falling around me."

Diaz, a graphic designer, was treated at the scene for a
deep gash in his right shin. He also suffered scratches and
bruises.

A 35-year-old man in the store was taken to Woodhull
Hospital with a back injury and bruises, police said.

The front wall was to be demolished overnight, Rowley said.

Meanwhile, scaffolding collapsed at a building on W. 14th
St. and the corner of Park Ave. and 76th St. in Manhattan,
police said.

There were several reports of trees down around Beverly and
Argyle Roads in Brooklyn.

Amberger said showers will linger through the weekend, and
temperatures are expected to remain in the low 60s, now the
storm has broken the unseasonable heatwave.