Powerful winds blew off a building scaffold, causing a worker to plunge to his death from 13 floors. The fatality was identified as Jose Palacios, a 43-year-old Mexican migrant worker who was installing stucco at the top floor of a building under construction along Clinton Avenue.

A second worker was also blown off, but he sustained only minor injuries after he fell on a landing one floor below, while a third crew held on to a roof bulkhead.

Fellow worker Ricardo Uribe, who was on the seventh floor, recalled hearing the crash. He described the gust that carried away Palacios as a whirlwind.

Following the accident, the Building Department issued a stop-work order on the construction where a condominium development is being built. Department spokeswoman Kate Lindquist said the city is investigating if the scaffold, installed at the rooftop instead of suspended from the building's side, was properly secured.

Palacios had been working as construction crew for the past three years in New York. He lived with his niece, but sent money every week to his family in Mexico.

Because of the growing number of construction-related deaths and accidents in the city, which peaked to 43 deaths in 2006, Brooklyn will come out with new construction guidelines next week.

Weather forecasters earlier predicted winds up to 39 miles per hour will hit the city Wednesday. The Buildings Department usually issues warning advisories to contractors when winds over 30 mph are expected to hit the city.