(New York) New York City began to catch its breath on Saturday after being washed by one of its rainiest days in decades. City dwellers were drying out basements as traffic resumed on highways, railways and at airports, which were temporarily closed due to heavy rains on Friday.
Although the severe storm moved away, some of its damage persisted into the weekend.
A storm-induced power outage in a Brooklyn neighborhood prompted city officials to evacuate staff and about 120 patients at a hospital Saturday after the area’s power company, Con Edison, said that the facility’s emergency power had to be shut off so the utility could make repairs.
City officials said repairs could take several days before the hospital in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood can fully resume operations.
Parts of Brooklyn received more than 7 inches of rain, with at least one place recording 2 inches in a single hour, turning some streets into canals where walkers were knee-deep in water, and stranding drivers on the highways.
PHOTO GREGG VIGLIOTTI, NEW YORK TIMES
A man pumps water that has accumulated in the basement of a building in the town of Mamaroneck, north of New York.
Record rainfall — 21.97 centimeters — fell at John F. Kennedy International Airport, surpassing the record for any day in September set during the hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.
More rain was expected this weekend, but the worst was over, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul said Saturday morning during a meeting at a transportation control center in Manhattan.
PHOTO HANS PENNINK, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul
What could have been a potentially deadly event was avoided, she said, because many people heeded early calls to stay put or move to higher ground before it got too late.
Thus, “no life was lost,” said Mme Hochul.
The governor, however, said 28 people had to be rescued from “raging waters” by first responders in the Hudson Valley and Long Island.
PHOTO GREGG VIGLIOTTI, NEW YORK TIMES
A flooded garage in Mamaroneck, New York
“We saw a lot of precipitation in a very short time,” said M.me Hochul. But, the good news is that the storm will pass and we should see some clearing of the waterways today (Saturday) and tonight. »
The deluge came two years after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped record rains on the U.S. Northeast and killed at least 13 people in New York, most of them in flooded basement apartments. Although no deaths or serious injuries were reported, Friday’s storm brought back frightening memories.
City authorities received reports Friday of six flooded basement apartments, but all occupants escaped unharmed.
Mme Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency and urged people to stay put if possible.
The deluge also came less than three months after a storm caused deadly flooding in New York’s Hudson Valley and inundated Vermont’s capital, Montpelier.
Mme Hochul blamed the frequency and intensity of storms on climate change.
“This is the amount of water that fell from the sky during this torrential rain event that was actually the same as Hurricane Ida. The blessing is that we didn’t have the wind that accompanied Hurricane Ida. But, I remember this event as if it were yesterday,” the governor said on Saturday.
The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was ready if necessary. The institution indicated that the president was informed of the floods on Friday and Saturday.
Some service interruptions continued Saturday in New York’s subway system, which was in total chaos the day before due to flooded tracks.