Flash flood warning for New York? Subway stations, highways submerge after torrential rain; more showers expected

Multiple videos on social media show New York trains and subways being swamped with water as storms brought flash floods to parts of the Northeast on Monday. Subway passengers in New York City were left stranded inside carriages after heavy rainfall caused flood waters to gush onto platforms.

Footage taken by an eyewitness onboard a carriage on Monday shows torrents of water rushing into the platform at 28th Street Station as horrified onlookers watched on. A later clip shows the water entering a subway carriage, as passengers pull their legs up off the floor.

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Video footage from the platform of 28th Street Station showed passengers watching from inside the train as water poured into the station. Other videos showed passengers kneeling on their seats to avoid the water seeping into the train.

A flash flood warning was issued for all five boroughs of New York City, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency due to flash flooding and “high levels of rainfall” in parts of the state. According to Fox News, two inches of rain that soaked New York City between 7 and 8 p.m. on Monday marked the second-wettest hour ever recorded in the city, surpassed only by the 3.47 inches that fell during the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in 2021.

Major subways flooded in New York

Some subway services were suspended, including services 1, 2, and 3 in Manhattan, while other lines were running with severe delays, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Major roads, including northbound lanes of the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Cross Bronx Expressway, were temporarily closed because of the flooding, according to The Associated Press.

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In neighboring New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency because of the flash flooding and "high levels of rainfall in parts of the state."

"Please stay indoors and avoid unnecessary travel," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday. "Stay safe, New Jersey."

Democratic New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said on X: "Earlier tonight, NYC was drenched by more than 2" of rain in a single hour, flooding streets, basements and subways. I'm grateful to the city workers and emergency responders we rely on in these events. But we must upgrade our infrastructure for this new climate reality."

The National Weather Service forecast office, New York, said on X, Monday: "The heaviest rainfall has shifted east and weakened. This rain is expected to continue to move east and lessen in intensity through the night. Please make sure to heed any road closures as there remains residual flooding for portions of NE NJ, the LHV, and NYC."

New York to get more rainfall?

As flash floods swept through New York and New Jersey late Monday night into Tuesday, swamping subway stations, grounding planes and downing trees, the National Weather Service has forecast more rain on Tuesday. The weather department expects thnderstorms to be present throughout much of the day.

At least one person was hospitalized from storm-related injuries after a tree fell on them in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, officials confirmed to NewsNation affiliate WPIX.

Subway tunnels flooded on at least three New York City transit lines Monday as water poured into train cars and forced service to be temporarily shut down. Commuter lines in and out of Grand Central Terminal also reported delays. The North Jersey Coast Line rail service was also suspended in both directions Tuesday due to a fallen tree, according to NJ Transit.

As of early Tuesday morning, nearly 250 flights had been canceled out of the area’s three major airports, and 166 have been delayed, according to FlightAware.

The storms caused more than 2,000 delayed or canceled flights in and out of John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport on Monday.