Record Rainfall Causes Serious Flooding In New York

The city of New York, in the United States, is beginning to recover and assess the damage of historic and record-breaking rainfall and flash flooding in the region over the weekend.

New York residents are not unused to extreme weather from time to time, with heavy rain and snow always potentially around the corner depending on the time of year.

However, the last couple of days in the Big Apple has seen unprecedented levels of rain in some areas of the city, and the process of assessing the damage caused, and the cost involved, has now begun.

How much rain fell in New York at the weekend?

Heavy rain was forecast for New York going into the weekend and that certainly proved to be accurate, with up to eight inches falling on Friday.

The morning rush hour on September 29th was hit particularly hard by the inclement weather, with areas such as Brooklyn in particular taking the brunt of conditions.

Local officials warned people not to venture outside and most took notice – though at least 28 rescues were conducted by New York emergency services, according to a report from the Independent.

Record rainfall levels were noted at locations from LaGuardia Airport to Central Park, with the latter location seeing a sea lion named Sally taking a look around a flooded plaza – far different to her usual habitat.

What did the heavy rain do in New York?

Videos showing streets and subways under water circulated online, and one hospital was forced to evacuate more than 150 patients after electrical damage meant it had to temporarily close.

“There was an energy outage and the hospital was running on emergency backups, and as soon as those started to run out the hospital had to close down and evacuate the patients who were in the hospital to go to sister hospitals,” City Councilman Chi Osse said.

Widespread power outages and delays were reported on the MTA, the agency that runs the city’s public transit system, before full service was restored the following day on Saturday.

The worst of the weather has now blown over, but the clean-up operation will continue a little while longer.