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One person was killed and three people were injured on Friday morning when a crane collapsed onto a Lower Manhattan street, striking buildings before crashing onto parked cars, the authorities said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking at news conference near the scene, said that while the wind was picking up, workers were trying to secure the crane when it toppled onto Worth Street shortly before 8:30 a.m.

The tangled metal wreckage spanned roughly two blocks between Hudson and Church Streets, and the impact caused leaks to gas and water mains in the area.

The collapse made for a jarring scene with the hulking piece of construction equipment — its boom stretching 565 feet — filling a typically busy area of Lower Manhattan.

The person killed, identified by the police as David Wichs, 38, of the Upper West Side, was sitting in a car parked on Worth Street when the crane fell, the authorities said. Two people were seriously injured by falling debris: A 45-year-old woman who injured her leg and had a laceration on her head was taken to New York Downtown Hospital; a 73-year-old man who had a laceration on his head was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center. Both are in stable condition. A third person had minor injuries.

At the news conference, Mr. de Blasio said it was remarkable that the human toll was not worse, with the collapse coming during the morning rush in an area typically bustling with commuters. He said that as the crane was being secured, workers on the ground were keeping pedestrians away and that the precaution had saved lives.

“This is a very, very sad incident — we’ve lost a life,” Mr. de Blasio said. But, he added, “It was something of a miracle there wasn’t more impact.”

The crane was doing work on 60 Hudson Street, the former Western Union building, but the call came, at 8:24 a.m., from 40 West Street, city officials said. Immediately after the collapse, a city official, citing preliminary information, said that at least 15 people had been injured, but as officials gathered information, the injury toll was revised.

1 World Trade Center

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Site of collapse

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Many streets in the area have been closed, and the scene was crowded with emergency responders searching cars for anyone who might be trapped, as well as with workers from utility companies checking gas lines. Multiple gas leaks have been found nearby, but the authorities said that the leaks had not reached dangerous levels and were being closely monitored. Gas has been turned off in the immediate area.

New York City Transit said trains were bypassing stations at Franklin Street and Chambers Street.

The machine, known as a crawler crane, was last inspected by the city’s Buildings Department on Thursday morning in order to approve an extension to its present length. The crane was being used for a project to replace generators and air-conditioning units on top of the building, officials said.

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The crane came down shortly before 8:30 a.m. Friday, spanning more than the entire length of a city block, officials and witnesses said.

Mr. de Blasio said that as crews arrived on Friday, they noted the high winds, reaching 20 miles per hour, and went ahead with securing the crane. The crane is supposed to be secured when winds reach 25 m.p.h., he said.

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