Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A RUSH-HOUR rainstorm has swamped New York City, shutting down parts of the subway system, flooding streets and highways, and delaying flights into LaGuardia Airport.
Up to 5in (13cm) of rain fell in some areas overnight, and as much as 7in (18cm) more is expected throughout the day, New York governor Kathy Hochul said.
By midday, although there was a break in the clouds, Mayor Eric Adams urged people to stay put if possible.
#DEVELOPING: Major flooding happening now in NYC.pic.twitter.com/I926shVCKH
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) September 29, 2023
“It is not over, and I don’t want these gaps in heavy rain to give the appearance that it is over,” he said at a news briefing. He and Hochul, both Democrats, declared states of emergency.
No storm-related deaths or critical injuries had been reported as of midday, city officials said, but residents struggled to get around the waterlogged city.
Traffic was at a standstill, with water above cars’ tyres, on a stretch of FDR Drive – a major artery along the east side of Manhattan. Some drivers abandoned their vehicles.
Priscilla Fontallio said she had been stranded in her car, which was on a section of the highway that was not flooded but was not moving, for three hours.
“Never seen anything like this in my life,” she said.
Photos and video posted on social media showed water pouring into subway stations and basements.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs subway and commuter rail lines, urged residents of the nation’s most populous city to stay at home if they could.
Virtually every subway line was at least partly suspended, rerouted or running with delays, and two of the Metro-North Railroad’s three lines were suspended.
Flights into LaGuardia were briefly halted, and then delayed, this morning because of water in the airport’s refuelling area.
Flooding also forced the closure of one of the airport’s three terminals.
Towns and cities around New York City also experienced flooding, including Hoboken, New Jersey.
The deluge came less than three months after a storm caused deadly floods in New York’s Hudson Valley and left Vermont’s capital, Montpelier, submerged.
A little over two years ago, the remnants of Hurricane Ida dropped record-breaking rain on the north east and killed at least 13 people in New York City, most of whom were in flooded basement apartments. Overall, 50 people died from Virginia to Connecticut.
Hochul warned New Yorkers last night about the heavy rain that was on its way.
“We anticipate, we warn, we prepare. But then when it hits and you have 5in in the last 12 hours — 3in in the last hour this morning — that’s a scale that we’re not accustomed to dealing with,” the Democrat told NY1 today.
But she added that New Yorkers “have to get used to this” because of climate change.
As the planet warms, storms are forming in a hotter atmosphere, making extreme rainfall more frequent, according to atmospheric scientists.
On a street in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, workers were up to their knees in water as they tried to unclog a drain while cardboard and other debris floated by.
As the rain briefly slowed, Brooklyn residents emerged from their homes to survey the damage and begin draining the water that reached the top of many basements doors.
Some people arranged milk crates and wooden boards to cross the flooded pavements, with water close to waist-deep in the middle of some streets.
High school student Malachi Clark stared at a flooded intersection, unsure how to proceed as he tried to get home to Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood.
He had tried to take a bus, then a train.
“When it stops the buses, you know it’s bad,” he said.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Great article.
Thoughtful and thought provoking.
Great article.. we could all learn from it I suppose.
I see ur point but neither do I need to see a migrants baby washed up on the beach.
@Kath Noonan: I think the difference the author was trying to highlight is that photos of an accident site are for gratuitous ‘likes’ whereas the picture of the child was highlighting a crisis that was costing lives that European society was ignoring. That said, when the latter image was published it was typically pixelated be the media but I actually found the description in the accompanying text more impactful
@Kath Noonan: think you missed the point. Author was asking for consideration in context and using good judgement, but shoehorn in a topic anyway.
@Kath Noonan: This is actually a really good article and highlights a subject that needs to be urgently addressed. Hard to see how anyone can manipulate it to suit their own agenda and yet you managed it. It’s such a shame that you either completely missed the point, are an attention seeker or are just a not very nice person.
As a Norwegian native, I was appalled by this “name and shame” thing, when I came to Ireland 15 years ago. The only times we normally name criminals back there, are when they’re wanted fugitives, and even then, only when they’re a danger to the public.
Of course, the media has deemed a few to be exceptional cases, of importance to the public, including the Breivik case, as well as the NOKAS robberies in 2004. In both cases, the public were hungry for information, until the perps were caught.
To keep the public interested, all the media had to do, was to cease naming them after the cops confirmed the right people had been arrested.
@Finn H. Schoyen: It isn’t a good idea when it’s thoughtless. But I think it goes back to the ancient times when a poet was capable of destroying a person’s reputation. I suppose it served a purpose then, because no one was considered immune from satire. Maybe it was a way to oblige kings to treat other people fairly. Norway is no slouch at satirising public figures either.
Also ppl get off in court when this happens because they didn’t get a fair hearing, guilty by social media
have your say