Torrential downpours that caused flash flooding in New York City on Friday reflect a "new normal" due to the effects of climate change, New York Governor Kathy Hochul warned on Saturday, as the city began drying out after one of its wettest days ever.
Almost 20cm of rain fell in some parts of the most populous United States city, enough to enable a sea lion at the Central Park Zoo to swim briefly out of the confines of her pool enclosure.
While the risk of flooding in the city had receded by midday Saturday, a municipal hospital in the borough of Brooklyn said it would evacuate all patients and staff following a power failure on Friday.
"This is unfortunately what we have to expect as the new normal," Hochul said.
Cars struggle in a flooded street in Brooklyn, New York. Source: Getty, Anadolu / Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Almost 20cm of rain fell in some parts of New York City. Source: Getty, Anadolu / Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
A state of emergency will remain in effect for the coming days. Source: Anadolu / Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Friday's flash flooding disrupted the subway system, inundated ground-level apartments, and turned some streets into small lakes.
Some bus routes slowed to a crawl, trapping riders for hours.
Flights were delayed or canceled, and one terminal at LaGuardia Airport was evacuated.
Friday's flash flooding disrupted New York's subway system. Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
A car is pushed through flooded streets in New York's Red Hook neighborhood on Friday. Source: Getty / Spencer Platt
Residents watch as workers attempt to clear a drain in flood waters. Source: AAP, AP / Jake Offenhartz
Systems producing intense rainfalls such as Friday's have become more common in many parts of the US, including the New York City area.
Global warming has produced more extreme weather patterns in much of the world, according to climate scientists.
Systems producing intense rainfalls such as Friday's have become more common in many parts of the US, including the New York City area. Source: Getty, Tribune News Service / New York Daily News
The rain capped one of New York's wettest Septembers on record. Source: Getty / Michael M. Santiago
Heavy rain in New York this week had set up conditions conducive to flash flooding. Source: Getty / Newsday LLC
"I don't know if we'll beat the record, but we'll come close," Ramunni said.
It was the rainiest day at the city's John F. Kennedy International Airport since records began in 1948, the New York office of the National Weather Service said, citing preliminary data.
No fatalities were reported as a result of the storm. Credit: Andres Kudacki/AP
A man works to clear a drain in flood waters. Source: AAP, AP / Jake Offenhartz
Patti Zhang, 43, a social worker from New Hyde Park, near the border of New York City and Long Island's Nassau County, lives around the corner from the elementary school attended by her three children. The family braved the weather and walked to school on Friday morning.
In some spots the water pooling on the street was 13 cm deep, she said, spilling over the tops of her children's rain boots. Zhang said she had to make a second trip to school to deliver dry shoes and socks for them.
"This is crazy," she said. "When will this stop?"
Pedestrians walk along a flooded footpath in Brooklyn, New York. Source: AAP, AP / Jake Offenhartz
A shopkeeper clears floodwater from her store in Brooklyn, NEW yORK Source: Getty, AFP / Ed Jones
In New York, intermittent rain this week further saturated the ground, setting up conditions conducive to flash flooding.
