Roads were closed, subway services were disrupted and basements were overwhelmed in the New York City area after “dangerous and life-threatening” torrential rain surged across the concrete expanse on Friday, CNN reported.
A month’s worth of rain – more than 4 inches – fell over parts of Brooklyn in just three hours. Intense rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour were falling across the region, and the National Weather Service warned totals exceeding 8 inches “are increasingly likely” in parts of the tri-state area.
The heaviest rainfall began to ease across hard-hit portions of Manhattan and Brooklyn late Friday morning, but another round is expected in the afternoon and could reinvigorate dangerous flooding.
“This is a dangerous weather condition and it is not over,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a Friday morning news briefing.
“I don’t want those gaps in heavy rain to give the appearance that it is over, it is not,” CNN quoted him as saying.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley Friday morning. In an interview with New York’s WNBC-TV she urged residents to stay home because of widespread dangerous travel conditions.
“This is a very challenging weather event,” Hochul said. “This a life-threatening event. And I need all New Yorkers to heed that warning so we can keep them safe,” CNN quoted her saying.
Meanwhile, the firefighters performed rescue operation at six basements in New York City, which were flooded by torrents of water, CNN reported citing New York City Fire Department.
The water also found its way into 150 of New York City’s 1,400 schools, which remained open on Friday, New York City school chancellor David Banks said at a news briefing.
One school in Brooklyn evacuated when floodwater caused the school’s boiler to smoke, he said.
“Our kids are safe and we continue to monitor the situation,” Banks added.
The floodwater spilled into subways and onto railways and caused “major disruptions,” including suspensions of service on 10 train lines in Brooklyn and all three Metro-North train lines.
Governor Hochul said the city was deploying additional buses to help fill the gap caused by the train outages, CNN reported.
Floodwater also overwhelmed sewers and flooded roads in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Hoboken, New Jersey, forcing road closures and water rescues there, authorities announced.
