Storms and torrential rain soaked the tristate area on Thursday, triggering dangerous flash flooding that inundated basements, roads and New York City’s lifeline: the subway.
The regular commute home from work on Thursday turned into a nightmare with underground train stations flooded during the hectic evening commute.
Photos and video on social media showed passengers clinging onto gates at the the 7th Avenue subway stop in Brooklyn on Thursday evening to skillfully maneuver around murky water that filled the station entrance.
One clever man decided to protect his shoes at all costs — by walking into flood waters at a train station wearing a plastic bag on his feet. Another clip showed passengers slogging through water that rushed into a train station in Brooklyn, with water appearing to sprinkle in through the tiles on the walls.
Another video, clipped to the tune of Taylor Swift’s “Welcome to New York,” showed passengers delicately braving the flood waters, soaking their feet, as disembarking passengers avoided the water by climbing across station gates.
At Grand Central Terminal, it appeared to be raining indoors, with water pouring down from the ceiling onto a Metro North Train yesterday.
In Queens, the tracks at the the Bayside Long Island Railroad station looked like a river with floodwaters nearly reaching the station platform. A train packed with passengers was stopped and evacuated due to the water, and commuters were forced to find another way to their destinations.
The Port Washington Branch line of the Long Island Railroad was suspended in both directions in the area of Flushing Main Street in Queens due to flooding.
“I just did like an Uber, just to see what the price was going to be. It was like $300 to get home from Penn (Station) during rush hour,” Bayside resident John D’Olimpio told NBC New York.
The Clearview Expressway near 207th Street in Bayside also partially submerged in yesterday’s storms. Video from the scene showed multiple vehicles stranded in the floods, including a tractor trailer, with water reaching halfway up the cab.
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for New York City and surrounding counties due to the rains, and locals were urged to move out of basement apartments and brace for commute delays.
Overnight city workers raced to pump water out of station in time for the Friday morning commute.
This morning there is limited service on the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Railroad “as crews continue to repair damage caused by yesterday’s storm.”
Overall, 1 to 3 inches of rain fell across the region, with over 3 inches in Queens and Nassau County and over 5 inches in south-central Suffolk County, according to the National Weather Service Office of New York.
