The rain was so extreme that, for the first time, the city was under a flash-flood emergency Wednesday night, the flood alert reserved for the most dire rainfall situations. Shortly after midnight, the National Weather Service downgraded that alert to a flash-flood warning, which was to remain until 3 a.m., as the waters began to subside. Computer models suggested the rain would not relent in New York until about that time.
More than 9 million people reside in the flood emergency area.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) declared states of emergency late Wednesday, and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) urged people to “stay off the streets tonight and let our first responders and emergency services get their work done.” Early Thursday morning, the city announced a travel ban, prohibiting “all non-emergency vehicles” from roads until 5 a.m.
Janno Lieber, acting CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said in a statement that “torrential rains caused massive amounts of water to enter subways and flood roads, creating severe disruptions to service” on a “historic and challenging night.” He added that the agency was focused on helping evacuate people. An MTA spokesperson said people were taken off at least six subway trains that had been stuck between stations.
In New Jersey, Passaic Mayor Hector C. Lora told The Washington Post that a person had died after his vehicle sank underneath the floodwater.
Firefighters rescued other family members inside the vehicle, but they were unable to reach the person in time. Lora said he had talked to the family, which was “in complete shock.”
First responders in boats were trying to rescue people who were stranded in downtown Passaic.
At least two other people are believed to be dead, Lora said, though authorities were unable to confirm that before retrieving the bodies.
At Newark Liberty International Airport, flights were delayed, diverted and canceled, leading to exasperation from passengers.
“You can sense how annoyed people are, and I’m hearing a lot of sighs and frustrated conversation,” said Austin Rutland, whose 11 p.m. flight to Paris was delayed.
Rutland arrived at Newark at 2:30 p.m., hoping to leave the country in his original 5:55 p.m. flight.
“As of now we’re just waiting for the flight,” he said. “I was scared it was going to be canceled, and I was definitely nervous about being able to get back into the city, but it seems like the plane will get here eventually.”
The last update he heard from TAP Air Portugal came around midnight, he said. “They’re refueling the plane in Boston.”
The New York City Fire Department responded to two partial building collapses in Queens late Wednesday.
Twelve units responded to a single-story storefront in the Ridgewood neighborhood at about 10:15 p.m. after the FDNY received reports of a roof collapse. One person was transported to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, according to the fire department. That person’s condition was unknown.
At 11:15 p.m., 12 FDNY units responded to reports of a water leak and flooding in a home in the Jamaica neighborhood. One person was transported to Queens General Hospital, according to the fire department. That person’s condition also was unknown.
Several units remained at the scene in the early hours on Thursday, according to Gilbert Dofredo, who lives two houses down from the home that partially collapsed. Dofredo, 80, did not see the collapse but told The Washington Post the whole street is flooded and at least a dozen homes have water in their basements. He said the water is knee-high in his home.
“Firemen are here and they are pumping out the water from the basements right now,” he said. “I’m still waiting for them to pump my water from my basement.”
Dofredo, who has lived on his street for nearly 43 years, said the road has flooded several times in the past.
“It’s because the block is a basin,” he said, noting that over the past year, the city has been rehabilitating the storm sewers. “I think it’s even worse than before,” he said.
Power was down through much of the region, though New York City was relatively unscathed in that regard. As of 12:20 a.m. Thursday, a site that tracks electricity outages said 109,600 people were without power in Pennsylvania, and 91,600 in New Jersey and 31,700 in New York state.
Newark had received at least 7.2 inches on Wednesday, its wettest day in 90 years of record-keeping, according to Greg Diamond, a meteorologist for FOX Weather.
As the torrents poured down, social media photos and videos dramatic scenes of floodwaters swamping the infrastructure of the city and surrounding areas. Floodwaters entered Newark Airport.
“I have a foot+ water in the lower floors of my house and I know I’m not alone. Unreal,” tweeted Rob Marciano, a meteorologist for ABC’s Good Morning America.
The rain came as the remnants of Hurricane Ida interacted with a frontal system over the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Ahead of the deluge, the Weather Service had declared a rare “high risk” of excessive rainfall from southern and eastern Pennsylvania through New York City into Connecticut.
Ida made landfall midday Sunday near Port Fourchon, La., as a Category 4 hurricane, slamming into New Orleans, knocking out electricity for more than 1 million people in the area, dropping tornadoes along its path and killing at least seven people in three states. The storm weakened as it made its way north, but it packed enough strength to inundate Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.
The extreme precipitation hit New York City just after it recorded more than 10 inches of rainfall in August, about a half-foot above normal.
Rising temperatures because of human-induced climate change increase the frequency and intensity of heavy downpours, scientists say. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently projected that heavy precipitation will increase by 7 percent for every 1.8 (1 Celsius) degree of warming.
In the past two weeks, New York City has had three of its top 20 heaviest one-hour downpours on record; four of the top 20 have come this year. On Aug. 21, it received 1.69 and 1.84 inches in back-to-back hours. Another top-20 one-hour rainfall occurred on July 8, when 1.54 inches fell in a single hour.
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