Storms drench millions from DC to New York as flash floods inundate roads and snarl air travel

Yahoo

5 days ago

Torrential rainfall and flash flooding slammed the mid-Atlantic and Northeast Thursday, wreaking havoc along the Interstate 95 corridor and leaving a young boy in Maryland dead. This was another serious flood event in a summer that's been full of them.
Heavy storms developed in the afternoon and lasted through the evening. Flash flood warnings were active in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia by mid-afternoon with more drenching storms to come. In Maryland and Pennsylvania, flooded roads and stranded vehicles were reported by the National Weather Service and local officials.
In New York City, heavy rains halted traffic along a major east-west thoroughfare in Queens, east of Manhattan. Video from the area shows cars and a semi-truck stranded in the water, with one man seen sitting on the roof of his car while he waits to be rescued.
At least two cars that had been submerged on the expressway were pulled from the floodwaters, a law enforcement official told CNN. Emergency crews rescued two people from one of the cars, the official said. The other vehicle was unoccupied, the official added, noting that no injuries were reported.
In Manhattan, videos from inside Grand Central Terminal showed a Metro-North train drenched in rain earlier Thursday. One passenger told CNN being inside the train car felt like being in a car wash.
A separate video earlier showed water pooling on the floor of a city bus in Brooklyn.
CNN has reached out to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for further information regarding reports of flooding on the New York City subway.
Intense rains led to several leaks at SEPTA stations in Philadelphia, according to Andrew Busch, a spokesperson for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. 'The water has subsided, and crews continue work to dry station surfaces,' Busch said.
New Jersey declared a state of emergency early Thursday due to the potential for intense rainfall and flash flooding, according to a news release from acting Gov. Tahesha Way.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also declared a state of emergency for New York City and its surrounding counties due to the potential flooding. Mayor Eric Adams declared a local state of emergency for the city, which will be in effect until 8 a.m. Friday.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also urged residents in his state to prepare for potential flash flooding. Harford County, about an hour north of Baltimore, saw several water rescues between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Thursday, according to a county spokesperson.
A young boy in Maryland died after flash flooding swept him into a drainage pipe, according to Doug Alexander, a spokesperson for the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company.' The boy was playing in the yard when a gully that is normally just a trickle of water quickly swelled, reaching waist deep for rescuers, according to Alexander.
The boy was 13 years old, the Mount Airy Volunteer Fire Company confirmed to CNN affiliate WBFF.
'The rushing water had pushed him into this pipe, and the rescuers were fighting the current and everything else trying to get him out,' Alexander told CNN. 'We had to call in quite a bit of additional help, and we were finally able to recover (him), but he'd succumbed to drowning.'
Air travel was disrupted late Thursday afternoon, with ground stops in effect at several major airports including major NYC and DC-area airports, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport was experiencing average delays of around three hours. Thousands of flights within, into and out of the US were cancelled or delayed, according to FlightAware.com.
The rain was courtesy of a cold front that broke a long-lasting, punishing heat dome that has been keeping the East sweltering during the day and simmering at night.
After a summer of frequent rain and flooding, the water simply had no place to go. Flash floods are most common in summer, as warmer air can hold more moisture and intense daytime heat helps fuel potent storms. But overwhelming rainfall is becoming more prevalent due to climate change, as rising global temperatures drive weather toward extremes. Hourly rainfall rates have grown heavier in nearly 90% of large US cities since 1970, according to a study from the nonprofit research group Climate Central.
Rainfall across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast has already been above normal this summer — especially in parts of eastern Pennsylvania, central New Jersey, northern Maryland, and the DC suburbs — leaving soils saturated and primed for rapid runoff and flooding even without extreme amounts of rain.
New Jersey has been slammed by flooding this summer, including when at least two people were killed two weeks ago. Parts of Virginia have flooded multiple times this season.
On July 19, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency — the highest level of flood alert — for the Washington, DC, area with rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches in 30 minutes raising rivers and sending water over roadways. Dozens of people had to be rescued from floodwaters after heavy rain struck parts of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, DC.
Heavy storms have come to an end Thursday night for much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The flood risk shifts south into the Carolinas on Friday, more states all too familiar with serious flooding this summer. Tropical Storm Chantal's flooding rainfall killed at least one person in North Carolina in early July.
CNN Meteorologist Taylor Galgano and Mary Gilbert contributed to this report.
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