High winds ripped down trees and power lines across the New York area yesterday, knocking out electricity to more than 35,000 homes and businesses.

Hardest hit was North Hempstead, where 11,447 Long Island Power Authority customers were without power at 6 p.m., the utility said.

Con Ed crews in Westchester County sought to restore power to 1,475 customers at 6 p.m. Smaller outages were also reported in Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens, the company said.