High Winds Collapse Shack, Killing Man Making Maple Syrup

THERESA, N.Y. (AP) — High winds have collapsed a sugar shack in northern New York, killing a 36-year-old man who was making maple syrup.

State police say Jonas Swartzentruber was working in an outbuilding in the Jefferson County town of Theresa around 1 p.m. Wednesday when high winds knocked it over. He was pinned to the ground with debris.

Police say a 15-year-old boy escaped before the shack collapsed and alerted neighbors who used jacks to lift the wreckage off the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Wind gusting to 75 mph toppled trees, flipped tractor-trailers and knocked out power to nearly 80,000 customers in western and central New York Wednesday.