(NEW YORK) — Twenty-eight people were rescued in a “historic” storm which brought major flooding in New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Saturday. A state of emergency will remain in effect for the next six days, she said.
No deaths were reported from the storm, she said at a press conference.
Heavy rainfall caused flooding in New York City with 5.86 inches of rain falling in Central Park, 8.67 inches falling at JFK International Airport and 4.87 falling at LaGuardia.
This brings the month’s rainfall for New York City to 14.21 inches.
Gov. Hochul commended New Yorkers for staying home through the severe weather and MTA workers for maintaining service for commuters through the day.
“You are our heroes, you are extraordinary, you got the job done,” Hochul said.
Hochul continued to pin the cause of the severe weather on climate change. Hochul said everyone should stay vigilant and be prepared for future storms such as the one that hit Friday.
“This is unfortunately what we have to expect is the new normal,” Hochul said.
Overall, for a calendar day in any month, Friday was the second wettest day in New York City in the last decade, behind 2021 which saw 7.1 inches in a single day (from Ida’s remnants). The Friday storm was the 7th wettest day ever on record for the city, since 1869.
There have been roughly 56,000 days recorded in Central Park, and this is in the top ten wettest out of all of them.
On Saturday, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts saw rain showers, as well as parts of Long Island. Up to 2 inches of rain is possible today in these areas — with the heaviest rain hitting Long Island, where locally 3 or more inches are possible.
The rain will mostly stay in that area through the morning, but around noon there is a slight chance for few light showers moving through New York City. Any rain or sprinkles in NYC should end mid-afternoon and the system overall will die and move out overnight, leaving sunny skies for Sunday.
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