New York City commuters will contend with flooding rains this evening as powerful thunderstorms pushing across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic compromise commuter lines and ground hundreds of flights. Severe thunderstorms, which can bring hail, damaging winds and raise the risk of tornadoes, are possible from upstate New York to Delaware, the National Weather Service said.
In New York City, repeated rounds of heavy rain were expected to drop as much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) through Thursday night. Low-lying areas, including highway underpasses and spots with poor drainage, were at risk of flash flooding, forecasters said.
Uptown N trains rerouted after water covered the rails in Brooklyn, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Trains on New Jersey Transit's Coast Line were recovering from delays Thursday evening due to earlier flooding near South Amboy, the commuter agency said on its website.
In addition to the flood threat to nearly 39 million people, there is a level 2 risk of severe thunderstorms bringing hail and damaging winds across a large part of the Mid-Atlantic from upstate New York to Northern Virginia, the US Storm Prediction Center said. There's also a 2% risk of tornadoes.
Wind gusts as high as 70 miles (113 kilometers) an hour are possible with these storms, the center said, with a potential for golf ball-sized hail in some areas into Thursday evening. Forecasters received reports of quarter-sized hail in Fairfield County, Connecticut.
The storms have prompted a cascade of flight cancellations in airports across the Northeast, including New York's La Guardia and John F. Kennedy airports. More than 830 inbound and outbound flights had been scrubbed from Boston to Washington as of 6 p.m. local time, according to FlightAware, an airline tracking service.
The New York Yankees and Mets are both scheduled to play home games tonight, with first pitches just after 7 p.m. local time.
"New Yorkers: Thunderstorms could bring heavy rain and damaging winds to our city," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a Bluesky post. "If conditions are dangerous, please wait to travel."
Heavy Rains to Unleash on the East Coast Through Friday
Photo Credit: (Photo: Bloomberg)
Last week, New York was shaken as a rare tornado touched down on Long Island's Atlantic Beach. The Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and parts of New England have all seen waves of thunderstorms this summer that have grounded thousands of flights, driven residents from their homes and caused massive power outages. Parts of northwest Indiana were without electricity for more than 10 days after a wave of storms swept through.
In July, residents in upstate New York had to flee their homes when heavy rains set records in Albany and brought almost a foot of precipitation to the surrounding area.
Thursday's rain may be hit or miss across the region, with some areas getting drenched and others avoiding the worst of it, said Brian Hurley, a senior branch forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Center.
"There is decent rain in the forecast for that area but not everyone is going to get hit," Hurley said. "We are more worried about repetitive rounds. For New York City and Philly, it is multiple rounds."
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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