2 Dead After One Of America's Most Legendary Cities Gets Pummeled With Extreme Flooding

dailycaller.com

A potent low pressure system caused a line of heavy rainfall to drench the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with New York City in particular getting blasted with torrential rains Thursday afternoon, triggering flash flooding that was widespread.

Footage from around the city shows streets flooded with water covering vehicles’ tires at their halfway point as they passed through, while people walking the sidewalks were forced to go through the flooding, hammered with the heavy rain or both. (RELATED: At Least 54 Dead After Hurricane Melissa Slams Caribbean)

Flooding was reported throughout the city by storm spotters, causing several transportation issues including the JFK Expressway and George Washington Bridge closing down, according to FOX Weather.

In only seven minutes, rain gauges at LaGuardia Airport recorded 0.25 inches of rain, tallying 1.04 inches in only 50 minutes. Around the New York City area, rain gauges tallied 1-1.5 inches of rainfall in 60 minutes. In total, the storm poured 2-2.5 inches, according to the FOX Forecast Center.

New York City was issued a Flash Flood Warning earlier Thursday until 5:30 p.m. ET, per the National Weather Service (NWS).

All three major airports in New York City were also dealt warnings because of the heavy rain, with flight delays averaging around 3-4 hours at JFK International, LaGuardia and Newark-Liberty, according to FOX Weather.

In total, nearly 5,000 flights were either delayed or cancelled, per ABC News.

The heavy rainfall and flooding was a part of a huge low pressure system that rolled through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, also unleashing 50 mph wind gusts, according to ABC News.

UPDATE:

According to the New York Police Department (NYPD) and Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) per ABC7 New York, at least two people were killed after getting trapped in basements that became flooded.

A rescue diver from FDNY went into a flooded basement in Brooklyn prior to taking out one person. That individual was sent to Kings County Hospital by Emergency Services, with hospital staff pronouncing them dead, per the outlet.

The other death took place in Washington Heights, with that person being discovered in a boiler room that had flooded. They were pronounced dead at the scene, according to ABC7 New York.