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It’s a travel nightmare in New York City.
A Friday storm that has dumped as much as 6 inches of rain in parts of the metropolis — perhaps the biggest daily totals since September 2021 when the remains of Hurricane Ida hit the city — is causing stoppages and delays in transit service and cancellations of flights. It’s also turning roadways into rivers.
And New York City Mayor Eric Adams warned at a midday news briefing that the city was far from being in the clear.
“It is not over, and I don’t want these gaps in heavy rain to give the appearance that it is over,” he said.
Both Adams and New York state Gov. Kathy Hochul have declared states of emergency. A flash flood warning from the National Weather Service has also been in effect.
The toll the storm was taking was obvious for anyone trying to get anywhere in the nation’s financial capital. Service on more than 15 of the city’s subway lines has been suspended or partially suspended, as of 2:30 p.m. ET.
Commuter lines have also been severely affected. Metro-North Railroad, which connects the city to its northern suburbs, stopped service on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines in both directions between Manhattan and the Bronx.
“Please stay home if you don’t need to travel,” said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the area’s transit network, in a statement on its website.
More than 400 flights at the area’s three major airports have been canceled through the early afternoon, according to FlightAware, a company that tracks airport data. At LaGuardia Airport, there have been 280 cancellations alone.
A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees the airports, told MarketWatch: “Flights continue to arrive and depart at our airports, although intermittent ground stops and ground delays are likely as heavy rain continues. The Port Authority is preparing for heavy rain throughout the afternoon and evening, and is closely monitoring tidal conditions at the airports this evening.”
Flooding on streets and roadways has also reached a critical stage. Images on social media show multiple submerged cars — and drivers trying to make their way through difficult conditions.
Mayor Adams is already facing criticism for not cancelling New York City schools on Friday, with questions remaining as to how children will be able to get home safely. Flooding has also affected about 150 schools, according to news reports.
At the news briefing, Adams said, “Our children are safe.” The city’s school system also said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that “Our schools are preparing for safe and orderly dismissal.”
Brooklyn borough President Antonio Reynoso said the city and state need to put better processes in place for notifying New Yorkers about weather emergencies, especially given how severe storms are becoming more common due to climate change.
Dominic Ramunni, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in New York, said that Friday’s rains were due to a coastal storm, with low pressure off the East Coast helping to bring in some deep moisture from the Atlantic Ocean.
“This will be one of the wettest days in quite some time,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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