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Between 5 and 10 cm of water fell in a series of thunderstorms over New York and surrounding areas on Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service (NWS) said, “causing extensive flash flooding in certain places “.
Subway riders posted video footage of some particularly impressive flooded stations at the 157th Street station north of Manhattan on Twitter.
We see people with waist-deep water, somehow crossing a blackish pool to reach the docks.
“Lines 1 and A have really taken a hit, with a lot of flooding in the stations,” admitted Sarah Feinberg, boss of the MTA, New York public transport authority, on Thursday evening, during a press briefing.
Some major roads, especially in the Bronx, have been temporarily closed, disrupting traffic when leaving the office. New York police tweeted footage of her rescuing motorists stranded by the waters.
The NWS warned of possible new flooding by Friday morning, with the expected arrival in the northeast of heavy rains brought by storm Elsa, which came from Florida.
Despite work undertaken to fortify the city against the floods since Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 – which killed 44 people and paralyzed the American economic capital for days – New York, a city surrounded by water, remains very vulnerable to flooding, whose frequency is expected to increase with climate change.
Several officials, including Eric Adams, president of Brooklyn and big favorite for the November municipal election since winning the Democratic primary this week, called Thursday night for urgent investments to fortify infrastructure.
“Extreme weather episodes like this are not going to go away,” warned one of her primary opponents, Kathryn Garcia, who oversaw the water pumping after Sandy. “We must invest in strategies to protect the city”.
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