New York Begins Drying Out After Being Stunned and Soaked by Record-Breaking Rainfall

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    Pedestrians walk along a flooded sidewalk, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. A potent rush-hour rainstorm has swamped the New York metropolitan area. The deluge Friday shut down swaths of the subway system, flooded some streets and highways, and cut off access to at least one terminal at LaGuardia Airport. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)

    NEW YORK (AP) — New York City began drying out Saturday after being soaked by one of its wettest days in decades, as city dwellers dried out basements and traffic resumed on highways, railways and airports that were temporarily shuttered by Friday’s severe rainfall.

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    While the fierce storm has moved on, some of its damage lingered into the weekend.

    A power outage in a Brooklyn neighborhood caused by the storm prompted city officials on Saturday to evacuate staff and about 120 patients from a city hospital, after the region’s power company, Con Edison, said the facility’s emergency power had to be shut down so the utility can make repairs.

    City officials said the repairs could take several days before the hospital in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood can resume full operations.

    Residents watch as workers attempt to clear a drain in flood waters, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. A potent rush-hour rainstorm has swamped the New York metropolitan area. The deluge Friday shut down swaths of the subway system, flooded some streets and highways, and cut off access to at least one terminal at LaGuardia Airport. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)

    Parts of Brooklyn saw more than 7.25 inches (18.41 centimeters), with at least one spot recording 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) in a single hour, turning some streets into knee-deep canals and stranding drivers on highways.

    Record rainfall — more than 8.65 inches (21.97 centimeters) — fell at John F. Kennedy International Airport, surpassing the record for any September day set during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.

    More rain was expected over the weekend but the worst was over, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Saturday morning during a briefing at a transportation control center in Manhattan.

    What could have been a life-threatening event was averted, she said, because many people heeded early calls to stay put or head for higher ground before it was too late.

    As a result, Hochul said, “No lives were lost.”

    But the governor said 28 people had to be rescued from the “raging water” by first responders in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island.

    “We’ve seen a whole lot of rainfall in a very short period of time,” Hochul said. “But the good news is that the storm will pass, and we should see some clearing of waterways today and tonight.”

    The deluge came two years after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped record-breaking rain on the Northeast and killed at least 13 people in New York City, mostly in flooded basement apartments. Although no deaths or severe injuries have been reported, Friday’s storm stirred frightening memories.

    Ida killed three of Joy Wong’s neighbors, including a toddler. And on Friday, water began lapping against the front door of her building in Woodside, Queens.

    “Outside was like a lake, like an ocean,” she said.

    Within minutes, water filled the building’s basement nearly to the ceiling. After the family’s deaths in 2021, the basement was turned into a recreation room. It is now destroyed.

    City officials received reports of six flooded basement apartments Friday, but all occupants got out safely.

    Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams declared states of emergency and urged people to stay put if possible.

    The deluge also came less than three months after a storm caused deadly floods in New York’s Hudson Valley and swamped Vermont’s capital, Montpelier.

    Hochul blamed the frequency and intensity of storms on climate change.

    “This is the scale in terms of the water that dropped from the heavens during this torrential rain event that actually was the same as Hurricane Ida. The blessing is that we didn’t have the wind associated with it that accompanied Hurricane Ida. But I remember that event like it was yesterday,” the governor said Saturday.

    In this photo taken from video, a man drives a scooter through flood waters, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. A potent rush-hour rainstorm has swamped the New York metropolitan area. The deluge Friday shut down swaths of the subway system, flooded some streets and highways, and cut off access to at least one terminal at LaGuardia Airport. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)

    The White House said FEMA was at the ready if needed. It said the president had been briefed on the flooding Friday and again Saturday.

    As the planet warms, storms are forming in a hotter atmosphere that can hold more moisture, making extreme rainfall more frequent, according to atmospheric scientists.

    For the most part Saturday, most New Yorkers returned to their usual weekend routines, strolling through still-damp pathways in Central Park and city sidewalks.

    Traffic was again flowing through highways that had been at a standstill just a day before, with water above car tires and forcing some drivers to abandon their vehicles.

    Flight delays at LaGuardia Airport could no longer be blamed on downpours and flooding, which forced the closure of one of the airport’s three terminals for several hours before resuming later that night.

    While skies remained overcast, one of the culprits for the severe weather — the remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia — had moved on.

    Some service interruptions continued Saturday throughout the city’s subway system, which had been in complete chaos the day before because of flooded tracks.


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    14 Comments
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    Toronto
    Toronto
    1 year ago

    Instead of cutting and posting useless information, maybe a Jewish news site should be reporting on how acheinu bnei Yisroel fared over the two days of Yom Tov that coincided with this storm?!?

    anonymous
    anonymous
    1 year ago

    “Hochul blamed the frequency and intensity of storms on climate change” .So what else is new

    Bill
    Bill
    1 year ago

    Mayor and the governor should spend the money to fix the nyc infrastructure not the illegals who are in this country illegally.

    Nachum
    Nachum
    1 year ago

    The news media made a big tsimmis about all of the rain. It was only a few months ago, during the winter, that they were bemoaning the fact that NYC hardly had any snowfall this past winter. In the Summer, they were commenting how hot it was. The Native Americans survived in this area for thousands of years, and they didn’t have any of the conveniences which we have; therefore, everybody should stop kvetching!

    Dr Benjamin Franklin
    Dr Benjamin Franklin
    1 year ago

    Wow, 6 flooded basement apartments. Sounds apocalyptic