The freak Halloween weekend snowstorm is being blamed for the death of a sickly Bronx great granny who died when her home lost power — and her oxygen machine shut down.

Kheowla Ramprasad, 77, died Saturday evening at her Heath Ave. home, cops and relatives said.

The Guyanese matriarch suffered from a heart condition and diabetes. A nursing service set her up with a daytime aide and oxygen support two weeks ago, relatives said.

“She was a very, very good person. It’s sad that this is the way she passed away,” said her daughter Shala Mahmood, 50.

“She was sick but she was doing okay. Once she couldn’t breathe that generated all the other problems.”

Mahmood said power was off and on in the house all day during Saturday’s storms and went off completely before 5 p.m.

Within minutes, Ramprasad began struggling to breathe and they called paramedics, relatives said.

Her Visiting Nurse Service aide rushed around the dark house looking for a flashlight to set up a backup device that does not need electricity, said her son Anoop Kalicharan.

“It was already too late. She needed oxygen,” said Kalicharan, 57.

“We’re angry that the lights went out . . . I assume the aide was trained and did what she was supposed to do.”

Ramprasad went into cardiac arrest before paramedics arrived at 5:07 p.m. Emergency medical technicians worked in the dark for an hour but were unable to revive her.

“She was already in arrest. They had all the stuff they needed at the scene,” a Fire Department official said.

The Visiting Nurse Service did not return a request for comment Sunday.

Relatives said Ramprasad, a retired factory worker with 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, was referred to the nursing service by her doctors at Montefiore Medical Center.

The family — who huddled under blankets and kept warm by boiling water and standing near the stove — was still without power Sunday afternoon, as was much of their block.

“We slept in the freezing cold. Our phones are dead. We have to call family members,” Mahmood said.

“I’m very upset right now,” she said. “I feel frustrated. Con Edison could’ve been more sympathetic. I’ve called once, twice, three times. I’m getting the same answer.”

ConEdison spokesman Allan Drury confirmed a storm-related problem had cut power to the home. “It’s a sad and tragic reminder of the impact a storm like this can have on people,” Drury said.

Kalicharan said they were trying to make arrangements to host mourners.

“People will come here in the evening and we provide food and comfort. It will be extremely difficult for us to do it in the dark. We have no heat,” he said.

More than 4,700 customers across the Bronx were without power Sunday afternoon, according to Con Edison. Drury said ConEd is working on restoring power to the area.

A total of 7,003 customers were dark in the city as of 4p.m. Sunday, with another 70,533 without power in Westchester, Con Edison said.

With Rocco Parascandola, Erin Durkin and Barry Paddock

The freak Halloween weekend snowstorm is being blamed for the death of a sickly Bronx great granny who died when her home lost power — and her oxygen machine shut down.

Kheowla Ramprasad, 77, died around 8:45 p.m. Saturday at her Heath Ave. home, cops and relatives said.

The Guyanese matriarch suffered from a heart condition and diabetes and had gone on oxygen support two weeks ago, family said. It was unclear if there was a backup battery for her machine.

“She was a very, very good person. It’s sad that this is the way she passed away,” said daughter Shala Mahmood, 50.

“She was sick but she was doing okay. Once she couldn’t breathe, that generated all the other problems.”

Mahmood said power was off and on in the house all day Saturday and went off completely at 5 p.m. About ten minutes later, Ramprasad began struggling to breathe.

Mahmood called paramedics who came and worked on Ramprasad in the dark for two hours, but they were unable to save her.

The family — who huddled under extra blankets and kept warm by boiling water and standing near the stove — was still without power Sunday morning.

“We slept in the freezing cold. Our phones are dead. We have to call family members. Our cell phone batteries are dying,” said Mahmood.

“I’m very upset right now,” she said. “I feel frustrated. Con Edison could’ve been more sympathetic. I’ve called once, twice, three times. I’m getting the same answer.”

Mahmood’s brother Anoop Kalicharan, 57, said they were trying to make arrangements to host mourners.

“People will come here in the evening and we provide food and comfort. It will be extremely difficult for us to do it in the dark. We have no heat.”

Sixteen people were also hurt — two of them critically — in a nine-car pile-up on the icy Cross Bronx Expressway early Sunday morning.

Two women were thrown from their car and fell 50 feet from the elevated highway into a sand pit at a construction site below, witnesses said.

“She spun out, hit the wall and they must have shot out, both of them, these two ladies. The cops found them down here,” said Joe Torres, 34, who works for nearby Anthony’s Collision on Chesbrough Ave.

“Her car was demolished,” he said. “There were cars spun out everywhere up there.”

Torres said he and his work partner were sitting in their truck waiting for tow calls when he heard someone scream from inside a fenced-off construction site nearby.

“At first I thought we were going crazy,” Torres said, “Then I hear her yelling, screaming at the top of her lungs.”

Torres said he and cops from the Emergency Services Unit rushed to the site to find the women.

“Me and like six cops ran through that hole in the fence over there and then they broke this gate down,” he said.

“The ESU guys ran down the hill and there (were) two ladies laying there on the floor…One looked like she was (conscious), the other one didn’t, she wasn’t moving.

“It was awful,” he said. “I felt so bad for them… she was yelling at the top of her lungs.”

The two women were in critical condition Sunday morning at Jacobi Hospital.

City parks reopened Sunday morning after being closed overnight because of danger from falling tree limbs.

Parks officials said they received 1,000 calls to 311 overnight about downed trees and branches.

Power was out at 8015 homes in the city as of Sunday morning, with another 66,218 homes dark in Westchester, according to ConEd.

With Rocco Parascandola

The MTA has emergency action plans in place to handle all sorts of mayhem, like blizzards, hurricanes, power outages – and egg-wielding pranksters.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is prepared to stop running buses in three neighborhoods if Halloween mischief strikes this year, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.

In recent years, lines in the Edgewater Park and Country Club sections of the Bronx and Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn, were shut down because of vandalism.

“These areas notoriously have been problem areas,” Ortiz said.

He said the MTA Halloween action plan includes additional personnel ready to respond to reports of vandalism and coordinate with police.

Cleaning crews in mobile units will also be stationed to specific locations “and moved as situations dictate,” Ortiz said.

“It’s definitely a safety concern,” he said. “We deploy this action plan to ensure employees and customers are provided with a safe environment when working or using our buses.”

This year, snowballs also could be a problem, he said.

But some Bronx residents weren’t convinced a shutdown was needed or even fair.

Ryan Wirsing, 21, of Country Club, didn’t think the bus lines should be stopped because of a few bad apples.

“It’s a little crazy to shut down a bus for just egg throwing,” he said. “A lot of the elderly people in the neighborhood take it. What will they do?”

Anthony Amora, 55, agreed.

“I don’t think the bus line should be shut down,” he said. “People here don’t know about it and they rely on it.”

Service suspensions are likely on sections of the following routes: Bx8 (Edgewater Park); Bx24 (Country Club) and B31 (Gerritsen Beach).

pdonohue@nydailynews.com

BY SETH WALDER

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

AT THE END of a half, soccer players usually saunter to their bench, gasping for breath. Not yesterday – when freezing cold and mixed precipitation forced players to sprint to the locker rooms following halftime whistle.

St. Francis Prep beat Xavier 3-0 yesterday morning, but the real story was the weather.

Four Catholic school playoff games were on the docket, but the St. Francis Prep match was the only one that made it into the books. By the time Iona Prep and Christ the King reached the field, snow, gusty winds, rain, sleet, hail and cold had taken over. To make matters worse, all four matches were schedule at SUNY Maritime, on a small peninsula off the Eastern shore of the Bronx. The field is on the water, but one wouldn’t know it watching the soccer, as fog had enveloped the view entirely.

But despite it all, the Gaels and Royals trotted out onto the pitch, ready to play a very wet game of soccer. What ensued was exactly what the weather called for.

Almost instantly, Iona GK Alex Kapp dove for a ball near the edge of the box, but hydro planed well beyond the edge, giving up a free kick to Christ the King.

By half time, the boys were hurting. One Iona assistant told his players, “nothing’s gonna fall off, no one’s gonna die.” Warm words of half-joking encouragement.

But soon after, commissioner Paul Gilvari decided enough was enough.

“It’s just a high school soccer game,” Gilvari said. “It’s certainly not worth taking a chance on anybody’s health and wellbeing.”

The commissioner said the referees expressed concern about playing on, and when he told the coaches, each understood. Even by half time, puddles had begun to form at various points across the turf.

“It was cold,” said referee Keith Fisher. “The players were asking me if this was OK (to play in). It was unsafe.” Christ the King midfielder Andreas Brock seemed in agreement.

“It was freezing. I couldn’t see nothing. The hail was hitting your face,” he said.

The two remaining games, Molloy vs. Holy Cross and Fordham Prep vs. Regis were also postponed. Gilvari did not yet know when the matches would be scheduled, but said Monday was the earliest possible date and Tuesday was more likely. Iona and Christ the King will pick up where they left off, 0-0 with 40 minutes left after a sloppy first half.

Weather, the great equalizer, no doubt was in underdog Christ the King’s favor. The Royals controlled possession for the majority of the half, though it never really looked like they would score.

For Iona, senior forward Cesar Ceja had the majority of their opportunities, but was unable to convert on several half-chances. Perhaps the closest the game came to seeing a goal was in the 40th minute when Kapp collided with Royals forward Juan Obregon, who was attempting to play the ball. Calls for a penalty fell on deaf ears however, and halftime quickly followed.

In the first game, which began at 10:30, St. Francis Prep controlled the match. St. Francis is the favorite to win the tournament, and easily handled Xavier via two goals from Kenny Redzematovic and one from Jason Gonzalez. St. Francis will face the winner of Iona and Christ the King on Thursday at St. John’s.

BY SETH WALDER

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

AT THE END of a half, soccer players usually walk slowly to their bench, gasping for breath. Not yesterday, when freezing cold and mixed precipitation forced players to sprint to the locker rooms following the halftime whistle.

St. Francis Prep beat Xavier, 3-0, yesterday morning in what was supposed to be the first of four CHSAA playoff games, Instead, the real story was the weather.

Because of the storm that blanketed the area, the St. Francis Prep-Xavier match was the only one that made it into the books. By the time Iona Prep and Christ the King reached the field, snow, gusty winds, rain, sleet, hail and cold had taken over. To make matters worse, all four matches were schedule at SUNY Maritime, on a small peninsula off the eastern shore of the Bronx. The field is right off the water, and fog had enveloped the field entirely.

But despite it all, the Gaels and Royals trotted out onto the pitch, ready to play a very wet game of soccer. What ensued was exactly what the weather called for.

Almost instantly, Iona GK Alex Kapp dove for a ball near the edge of the box, but hydroplaned well beyond the edge, giving up a free kick to Christ the King.

By halftime, the players were hurting. One Iona assistant told his players, “othing’s gonna fall off, no one’s gonna die.” Warm words of half-joking encouragement.

But soon after, commissioner Paul Gilvari decided enough was enough.

“It’s just a high school soccer game,” Gilvari said. “It’s certainly not worth taking a chance on anybody’s health and well-being.”

Gilvary said the referees expressed concern about playing on, and when he told the coaches, each understood. By halftime, puddles had begun to form at various points across the turf.

“It was cold,” said referee Keith Fisher. “The players were asking me if this was OK (to play). It was unsafe.”

Christ the King midfielder Andreas Brock agreed.

“It was freezing. I couldn’t see anything. The hail was hitting your face,” he said.

The two remaining games, Molloy vs. Holy Cross and Fordham Prep vs. Regis, were also postponed. Gilvari did not know when the matches would be scheduled, but said tomorrow was the earliest possible date, but that Tuesday is more likely.

Iona Prep and Christ the King will pick up where they left off, 0-0 with 40 minutes left.

Weather, the great equalizer, was in underdog Christ the King’s favor. The Royals controlled possession for the majority of the half, though it never really looked like they would score.

For Iona, senior forward Cesar Ceja had the majority of the opportunities, but was unable to convert on several chances. Perhaps the closest anyone came to scoring a goal was in the 40th minute, when Kapp collided with Royals forward Juan Obregon, who was attempting to play the ball. Calls for a penalty fell on deaf ears, however, and halftime soon followed.

In the first game, which began at 10:30, St. Francis Prep — the favorite to win the championship — controlled the match , and easily handled Xavier. The Terriers got two goals from Kenny Redzematovic and one from Jason Gonzalez.

St. Francis Prep will face the winner of Iona Prep and Christ the King on Thursday at St. John’s.

A construction worker said he felt lucky to be alive on Saturday after a building fell down around him, killing a fellow hardhat.

“I made it out,” Orlando Acetty, 37, said after the collapse of a two-story building in the Soundview neighborhood. “I could have died in there.”

His coworker was pulled from the rubble around 12:30 p.m. and taken to Jacobi Medical Center in serious condition, FDNY officials said.

He died a short time later, cops said. His full name wasn’t immediately released.

Acetty said the two men began working at 8 a.m. and were jackhammering on the first floor. The two were cutting into the cement floor around a support beam when the roof came crashing down, he said.

“We cut the cement, the column is old,” he said. “Maybe the column moved and everything fell down.”

Acetty ran to the back of the building and into the basement. Mohammed ran toward the front entrance.

“Everything fell down on top of his head,” Acetty said. “It was so fast. Two seconds. It all came down.”

Acetty identified the worker who died as Mohammed, a married father of three who lived in the neighborhood.

Witnesses were stunned.

“I was just walking across the street and I looked and the whole thing was just collapsed all the way down – gone,” said Robert Garcia, 23, who lives down the street.

Garcia said witnesses immediately pulled out their phones and called 911.

“Firemen went in and they pulled a guy out from the basement and put him on a stretcher,” Garcia said. “He wasn’t moving or breathing or anything.”

The top floor of the part of the building that collapsed belonged to Star Billiards, a pool hall. Witnesses said the ground floor used to be a restaurant, but it closed a few months ago for construction.

Maria Velez, 19, was crossing Stratford Ave. near the building when “all of a sudden it just all crashed, in a split second – boom!”

“I’m really shocked,” she said. “I was so close to it. There was a [box] truck parked in front of it and everything just landed right on top of it.”

Arafat Igbara, 36, Manager of Bx Linen right across the street from the collapse said construction has been going on for about a month.

“They must have taken a beam out or something because nothing would collapse like that,” he said. “We heard a big noise and looked outside and just saw the whole thing on the ground.”

Owner Stratford West LLC was hit with a ,000 fine for a 2009 violation for running the pool hall in the building, city records show. A hearing on the violation was set for April 30, 2010, but the owner defaulted, the records show.

The owner couldn’t immediately be reached Saturday.

Acetty – whose kids are 18, 16 and 7 – said he considered himself lucky.

“Mohammed ran the other way and everything crushed him,” he said. “I ran to the back of the basement and I was ok. I have kids, my wife. I can’t be without them.”

tmoore@nydailynews.com

When Steven McDonald wheeled down the hall to Courtroom LL-210 in the Bronx Hall of Justice Friday, it was a welcome surprise for embattled officers.

The hero detective – a quadriplegic since being shot by a teenager in 1986 – is the city’s most potent living symbol of bravery and sacrifice by men and women in blue.

Cheers filled the corridor as McDonald, 54, approached the courtroom where 16 officers were being arraigned on corruption charges stemming from the ticket-fixing scandal.

Inside, the third-generation cop waited in the center aisle, the whoosh of his breathing apparatus filling any silence between cases. As the accused officers were released, they each stopped by McDonald’s wheelchair to express gratitude.

“Thanks for being here,” one said quietly. “You’re an inspiration.”

Police union officials said they didn’t know McDonald – whose son joined the force last year – was going to attend.

He didn’t speak but sat next to them, with an American flag quilt covering his lap, at a pep rally of sorts after the hearing.

“The word hero is thrown around an awful lot these days – and it’s not usually pegged at those who wear a uniform,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said.

“Today, another person that had the courage to stay with us, to be here in this courtroom, took the time and difficulty to be here.

“And I heard the respect you’ve shown as he went up the sidewalk, went into this building and rolled down that hallway,” he added. “Well, let’s do it again!”

With that, several hundred cops cheered or yelled “Steve!”

Thousands of criminal cases could be in trouble in the Bronx – an unprecedented headache for prosecutors due to the ticket-fixing scandal.

A Daily News analysis of cases dating back to 2000 found hundreds of cops involved in the probe either testified or were potential prosecution witnesses. More than half of the 15,000 cases are closed, but could be reopened, legal experts said.

The cases – pinpointed by a cross check of the implicated cops with 11 years of court records – involve everything from shootings to assaults to drug dealing.

A flurry of recent cases involving alleged ticket-fixing cops have been resolved through plea deals. Defendants scored acquittals in at least three.

“Any of those cases that are still open are going to be a problem,” said one law enforcement source. “A routine case that would have been an easy conviction before just became a hot potato because of this (scandal).”

At least 15 cops are expected to be arraigned Friday on criminal charges stemming from the two-year investigation. More than 500 cops are caught up in the probe and could face departmental charges. Many of those cops have dozens of arrests under their belts, but could still cause credibility problems for prosecutors.

Among the 13 Bronx precincts involved in the scandal, the 46th Precinct has the most arrests by cops involved in the probe. There were more than 2,700 since 2000, sources said. That precinct covers Fordham, University Heights, Morris Heights and Mount Hope.

The Bronx district attorney’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

At least three juries have already acquitted defendants because they didn’t trust arresting officers’ testimony. As a result, prosecutors have increasingly opted to keep troubled cops off the stand, sources said. They have also become more secretive about the officers’ involvement in cases, drawing the ire of two judges in recent weeks.

At least two prosecutors have sought to have documents about the officers sealed.

kdeutsch@nydailynews.com

When Steven McDonald wheeled down the hall to Courtroom LL-210 in the Bronx Hall of Justice Friday, it was a welcome surprise for embattled officers.

The hero detective – a quadriplegic since being shot by a teenager in 1986 – is the city’s most potent living symbol of bravery and sacrifice by men and women in blue.

Cheers filled the corridor as McDonald, 54, approached the courtroom where 16 officers were being arraigned on corruption charges stemming from the ticket-fixing scandal.

Inside, the third-generation cop waited in the center aisle, the whoosh of his breathing apparatus filling any silence between cases. As the accused officers were released, they each stopped by McDonald’s wheelchair to express gratitude.

“Thanks for being here,” one said quietly. “You’re an inspiration.”

Police union officials said they didn’t know McDonald – whose son joined the force last year – was going to attend.

He didn’t speak but sat next to them, with an American flag quilt covering his lap, at a pep rally of sorts after the hearing.

“The word hero is thrown around an awful lot these days – and it’s not usually pegged at those who wear a uniform,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said.

“Today, another person that had the courage to stay with us, to be here in this courtroom, took the time and difficulty to be here.

“And I heard the respect you’ve shown as he went up the sidewalk, went into this building and rolled down that hallway,” he added. “Well, let’s do it again!”

With that, several hundred cops cheered or yelled “Steve!”

Hundreds of furious city cops cheered wildly Friday as 15 accused criminals – their NYPD brethren – rolled out of a Bronx courtroom after getting arraigned in the massive ticket-fixing scandal.

“This is not a prosecution, it’s a persecution,” said Roy Richter, head of the Captains Endowment Association, surrounded by a seething sea of blue that spilled from the courthouse into the streets.

The first court appearances of the indicted officers drew a huge crowd of expletive-spewing cops who loudly backed their presumed-innocent colleagues while blasting the NYPD brass.

“Ray Kelly, hypocrite!” the contemptuous cops chanted, led by a heavyset union member at one of the largest outpourings of police disgust in decades.

“Innocent! Innocent!” rose another cry.

Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association head Pat Lynch said the massive grand jury investigation focused on rank-and-file cops – and spared their bosses.

“There is white shirt immunity,” Lynch told an appreciative audience that chanted “P-B-A! P-B-A!”

Lynch echoed the cries of many cops who claimed fixing tickets was as much a part of police work as walking a beat – or making an arrest.

“It’s a courtesy, not a crime,” read one scrawled sign as the air crackled with anger over the nearly three-year probe.

“Just following orders,” read another.

Detective Randy Katakofsky, the Internal Affairs Bureau investigator who broke the case, was spotted across the street from the gaggle ofcops.

The outrage spread to several officers who skipped scheduled testimony Friday to protest the arraignments, sources told the Daily News.

“They can go f— themselves,” said one cop slated to testify this week. “Why the hell should we help [prosecutors\]?”

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the PBA arguments were wrong-headed.

“Those actions are crimes under the law and can’t be glossed over as ‘courtesies’ or as part of an acceptable culture,” Klly said of the alleged ticket fixing. “They are not. Those who try to rationalize them as such are kidding themselves.”

Asked if he’d ever fixed a ticket, Kelly replied, “No. And if I was approached, I’d say no.”

The accused cops were hardly treated as criminals after turning themselves in overnight as a way of dodging the media and delays in fingerprint processing.

The 16 cops – 11 were charged with fixing tickets – were spared the public perp walk that usually accompanies high-profile cases. They were instead loaded by fellow cops into a black unmarked van for the trip from central booking to the courthouse.

All 16 were hit with official misconduct charges for a wide range of offenses, including destroying summonses, taking expensive gifts or cash, or forcing other cops to lie in court.

The cops rallying on behalf of the accused officers hurled insults at Bronx prosecutors Friday as they shared a tightly packed hallway outside the courtroom where the suspects appeared before Judge Steven Barrett.

“You piece of s—,” snarled one cop at a Bronx prosecutor on his way to work.

“Cowards!” shouted another heckler.

The cops began assembling hours before the arraignments. Outside, one police union delegate waved a massive American flag amidst the

chanting crowd of cops. “I’m here showing support for those who have been accused,” said the Staten Island cop.

It was the largest police protest in the Bronx in nearly three decades, since an estimated 8,000 cops protested the indictment of an officer

in the shooting death of Eleanor Bumpurs. The 66-year-old woman was killed with a shotgun blast when she lunged at an officer with a knife.

“This whole thing is a bunch of bulls—,” said one cop, who declined to give his name. “They’re crucifying us over nothing.”

With Kevin Deutsch