According to experts, the huge amount of water is one of the main signs of climate change, as the warmer atmosphere acts like a huge sponge, which can absorb much larger amounts of water vapor and then release it more intensely. These heavy rains could easily overwhelm antiquated flood protection systems — even in New York — according to a report CNN.
Our climate is changing faster than our infrastructure can respond
– explained Rohit Aggarwala, President of Climate Protection New York. He added that due to the flooding that occurred on Friday, road conditions were declared dangerous and New Yorkers were urged to stay home.
It’s been a busy day for firefighters
Firefighters in New York rescued six families from their basement home, which was completely destroyed by a flood. They also had to evacuate a school in Brooklyn after smoke from the institution’s boiler began flooding — in addition, 149 other schools were completely damaged by the massive amount of water.
The subway has become almost unusable
The floods also paralyzed metro and railway lines and caused “major disturbances.” Service was suspended on 10 Brooklyn lines and all three Metro-North lines, among others.
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Gallery: A record amount of rain flooded New YorkPhotograph: Ed Jones/AFP
By Friday evening, Metro-North had resumed limited passenger service. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had fully restored service on seven subway lines by Friday evening, according to Demetrius Crichlow, senior vice president of New York City’s subway transportation department.
taken together
According to data from the US National Weather Service, a month’s worth of rain fell on Brooklyn in just 3 hours on Friday morning, an amount of this magnitude that only occurs once every hundred years.
An incredible amount of rain fell on Central Park within an hour, and throughout the entire day on Friday – for the first time in 80 years –
Nearly 12cm of rain fell.
Queens wasn’t left out of the rain dance either, as Friday was considered the wettest day at JFK, with nearly 8 centimeters of rain falling here in just one day.
(Cover Photo: Ed Jones/AFP)
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