Severe storms cause flash flooding across New York, New Jersey
Mother Nature decided to throw everything but the kitchen sink at New York and New Jersey on Saturday.
From flooding rains to damaging winds, hail and prolific lightning displays, we really had a healthy sampling of what thunderstorms can do.
Flooding, waterspouts in New Jersey
In North Bergen, cars crept through murky floodwaters, slowly trying to get through Saturday afternoon.
Larger SUVs were able to make it, but sedans were taking on water with floodwaters reaching the bottom of their doors as drivers tried to navigate the street.
In Newark, several vehicles were left stranded after streets quickly disappeared beneath floodwater. What's normally a neighborhood road looked more like a river as water surged.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill offered an update on social media as the state prepared for the possibility of power outages.
"We already have surged in a lot of utility providers to take care of the aftermath of any wind events or weather event," she said, "but they won't be able to operate if there are 40 mile or above winds or lightning, so we'll clean up as quickly as possible, but stay safe through the storm."
Most of New Jersey was under a tornado watch for several hours. Although no actual tornadoes were reported, two waterspouts along the Jersey Shore were.
Flash flooding in parts of NYC
A tornado warning was issued for central Sullivan County in New York from 6:47 p.m. until 7:15 p.m. There have not been any confirmed reports of a tornado touching down in the area at this time.
Flash flooding swallowed the Clearview Expressway in Bayside, Queens, around 1 p.m., leaving vehicles stranded in rising water. Rescuers waded through the flood to help drivers and passengers escape their stalled cars one by one.
The flooding brought traffic to a complete standstill as drivers abandoned their vehicles and waited for the water to fall enough to move again. All lanes of the Clearview Expressway were blocked.
There were also reports of flash flooding on the Long Island and Brooklyn Queens expressways.
In SoHo, people used trash bags as pants to cross flooded streets, trying to keep their feet dry. Emily Downs was with her boyfriend in a nearby restaurant when the rain started coming down.
"We had kind of been flooded in," she said.
Video shows them crossing the street, water up to their thighs.
"The restaurant was really gracious, and they gave a lot of people those big kind of industrial trash bags," Downs said. "And some people had one on each leg, and we just hopped in one and just shuffled out to the middle of the intersection to get on with our day."
Event cancellations in NYC due to weather
Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan's concert at Citi Field was canceled Saturday night due to inclement weather.
"This was a very difficult decision to make, but the first priority is always to keep everyone safe," an official statement said, in part.
Ticketholders will be refunded. Kahan has another concert at Citi Field scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sunday. According to Citi Field's website, both concerts were sold out.
The severe weather forced the Yankees to reschedule their Saturday evening game against the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader Sunday.
Beaches and pools in New York City and Nassau County on Long Island were closed due to weather, and an FDNY community block party in Queens was also canceled.
How much rain fell in New York and New Jersey?
By far, the most notable hazard from Saturday's storms were the torrential downpours that led to many instances of flash flooding across the Tri-State Area.
Particularly hard hit were portions of Queens, along with central and northern New Jersey. These locations saw rainfall rates of 2-3 inches per hour at the height of the storm activity.
The final numbers aren't in yet, but on average, 2-3.5 inches of rain have been officially recorded so far.
Meanwhile, radar-estimated rainfall numbers indicate that 4-6 inches of rain fell in the hardest-hit spots.
