In pictures: The ‘crazy’ floods that caused chaos in New York

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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 driving along a street that is partially flooded.

Cars struggle in a flooded street in Brooklyn, New York. Source: Getty, Anadolu / Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A flooded street.

Almost 20cm of rain fell in some parts of New York City. Source: Getty, Anadolu / Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Flash flood hit New York

A state of emergency will remain in effect for the coming days. Source: Anadolu / Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

A state of emergency, which allows faster allocation of resources to deal with a crisis, will remain in effect for the next six days, Hochul said. No fatalities were reported as a result of the storm.

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.

People walking on the platform at a subway station.

Friday’s flash flooding disrupted New York’s subway system. Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

A man pushing a car along a flooded street.

A car is pushed through flooded streets in New York’s Red Hook neighborhood on Friday. Source: Getty / Spencer Platt

People watch as workers attempt to clear a drain in flood waters.

Residents watch as workers attempt to clear a drain in flood waters. Source: AAP, AP / Jake Offenhartz

In Mamaroneck, a Westchester County suburb north of the city, emergency officials used inflatable rafts to rescue people trapped in buildings by floods.

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.

New York floods

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

A woman placing sandbags out the front of a building.

The rain capped one of New York’s wettest Septembers on record. Source: Getty / Michael M. Santiago

Pedestrian with a baby stroller walks through flooded Long Island street

Heavy rain in New York this week had set up conditions conducive to flash flooding. Source: Getty / Newsday LLC

The rain capped one of New York’s wettest Septembers on record, with 34.9 cm of rain falling during the month as of 11am on Friday, and more on the way, said Dominic Ramunni, a National Weather Service forecaster. The all-time high was set in 1882 when 42.72 cm fell in September.

“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.

A person holding an umbrella crosses a street.

No fatalities were reported as a result of the storm. Credit: Andres Kudacki/AP

A man standing on a flooded street attempting to unblock a drain as a police car drives past.

A man works to clear a drain in flood waters. Source: AAP, AP / Jake Offenhartz

Despite the warnings, the city’s public schools were open for the day. Some buildings experienced flooding but no operations were affected, a district spokesperson said.

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?”

People holding umbrellas on a flooded footpath.

Pedestrians walk along a flooded footpath in Brooklyn, New York. Source: AAP, AP / Jake Offenhartz

A woman wearing a poncho sweeping water from her shop.

A shopkeeper clears floodwater from her store in Brooklyn, NEW yORK Source: Getty, AFP / Ed Jones

Friday’s deluge followed a bout of heavy downpours and strong winds last weekend from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia. That storm soaked New York City and caused widespread power outages in North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

In New York, intermittent rain this week further saturated the ground, setting up conditions conducive to flash flooding.

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