Flash flooding in New Jersey, New York leaves at least 2 dead, subway stations filled with water as more rain expected
New York City recorded 2.64 inches of rainfall in Central Park on Monday, setting a new record for July 14.
At least two people have died due to flash flooding in New Jersey after parts of the northeastern U.S. and mid-Atlantic were inundated with heavy rain Monday night. The storm caused flash flooding in areas of New York, central Virginia and New Jersey that gushed through subway stations, stranded vehicles and prompted a state of emergency.
Flood watches and warnings are still in effect through Tuesday evening for most of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., according to the National Weather Service.
Through Thursday, portions of the eastern and central U.S. are facing “scattered to widespread thunderstorms capable of heavy downpours and flash flooding,” the weather service said in its n most recent update on Tuesday.
New Jersey
Two people died in Plainfield, N.J., due to the flash flooding, WABC-TV reported. The car they were riding in was swept into Cedar Brook during the peak of the heavy rainfall. The names of the victims are not being released until their families are notified. While emergency crews responded in a timely manner, both people were pronounced dead at the scene.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency Monday night due to “flash flooding and high levels of rainfall in parts of the state.”
Route 22 and Route 28 are closed in both directions in Somerset and Middlesex counties to make emergency road repairs and clear debris from the storm, according to a New Jersey Department of Transportation traffic advisory.
On Tuesday morning, several bus lines and at least one train line on New Jersey Transit were taking detours or were delayed, according to officials. The PATH trains that run between Manhattan and New Jersey appeared to be operating with minimal delays.
New York City and surrounding areas
Subway service was operating with some delays on Tuesday morning’s commute, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, after some lines were temporarily suspended and others were operating with severe delays due to flooding. A video circulating on social media appeared to show flooding from a station platform onto a subway car.
"Our sewer system is not built to manage this much water in a short period of time," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during a Tuesday press briefing. "In order to change and build out our sewer system, what we're going to do is going to take time and money. That's something that we've allocated to doing so."
The Metro-North Railroad, a commuter rail system that connects New York City with suburban areas outside the city, including Connecticut, said in a social media post Tuesday morning, “Service is restored into and out of Grand Central after severe flooding throughout the region disrupted the evening rush hour. Expect residual delays as we work to get train service back on schedule.”
Early Tuesday morning, runoff from Monday’s rain caused the Bronx River to rise to a moderate flood stage of about 3.7 feet, according to the NWS’s New York office. By Tuesday afternoon, it’s expected to drop below flood stage.
Pennsylvania
There were 16 water rescues reported in Lancaster County, Pa., according to a Monday social media post from the Mount Joy Township fire department.
“Starting around 2:00 p.m., intense rainfall dropped over 7 inches of rain in less than five hours, overwhelming stormwater infrastructure and inundating portions of the borough,” the post read. “The west end of town was hardest hit, with reports of over 5 feet of water in some homes. As of 7:21 p.m., rainfall subsided, and water levels began to recede.”
Record rainfall levels
The highest rainfall totals recorded on Monday reached 6.67 inches in Clark, N.J., according to New York's NWS office. It's located less than 7 miles from Plainfield, where two people had died in the flash flooding.
New York City recorded 2.64 inches of rain that fell Monday in Central Park, setting a new record for July 14, which was previously set in 1908 with 1.47 inches, according to the NWS.
"Central Park had the second highest one-hour rainfall total ever documented at that location, only being surpassed by what we saw four years ago during Hurricane Ida," Mayor Adams said Tuesday.
Newark Airport in New Jersey and LaGuardia Airport in New York City both set new rain total records for July 14, at 2.13 and 1.66 inches, respectively.
What’s next in the forecast?
Scattered to widespread thunderstorms over much of the eastern and central U.S. with heavy downpours could lead to flash flooding over the next few days, according to a Tuesday update from the NWS.
Portions of the mid-Atlantic and Appalachians are at risk of flash flooding caused by heavy rainfall into mid-week.
“The greatest concentration of storms will be across the southern Mid-Atlantic/Appalachians on Tuesday and shift northward with the boundary into the central Mid-Atlantic/Appalachians on Wednesday,” the weather service says.