A 76-year-old New York woman was killed Sunday when a 7-foot solar panel came loose due to high winds as the East Coast was hit by a powerful nor’easter.
Around 10:30 a.m. ET, a woman was found unresponsive on a walkway in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City police said Monday.
Authorities determined the pedestrian had been struck in the head by a solar panel. She was transported to Lutheran Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
On Sunday afternoon, inspectors from the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) were called to the scene to investigate “reports of a partial collapse of a solar panel installation in an outdoor parking lot,” the New York DOB told NBC News on Monday.
“Our inspectors observed that a 41” x 87” solar panel had become disconnected from the steel structure of the carport that is located above the outdoor parking lot,” the DOB said.
“The detached sign was carried by the wind and blown approximately 20 feet away, where it fatally struck a pedestrian on an adjacent walkway.”
The woman was struck near one of the entrances to the Q train’s Ocean Parkway above-ground subway station. The New York DOB coordinated with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to close that entrance as concerns about high winds persist.
The incident occurred after the National Weather Service issued warnings and advisories for strong winds and coastal flooding throughout the Northeast in anticipation of the Northeast.
