Key Takeaways
- Record-breaking rainfall floods New York City, with Central Park seeing its highest rainfall in over a century
- At least two fatalities reported in flooded basements in Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan
- Major airport operations disrupted as storm breaks multiple historical records
New York City faced unprecedented flooding on Thursday, October 30, as torrential rains shattered century-old rainfall records and claimed at least two lives. Central Park recorded its highest rainfall in over 100 years, while LaGuardia and Newark airports also broke previous precipitation records.
The storm transformed streets into rivers, with gusty winds uprooting trees across the city. The extreme weather resulted in at least two fatalities in Brooklyn and Upper Manhattan, where victims were found in flooded basements.
Emergency responders recovered the body of a 39-year-old man from a three-storey townhouse basement in Brooklyn after firefighters received a distress call about someone trapped in the flooding. Three major airports experienced significant disruptions due to the downpour.
Preliminary data showed 45.7 mm of rainfall, breaking the previous record of 41.7mm set in 1917.
“We all know that climate change has brought us these crazy rainstorms that our infrastructure was never designed to deal with. The four most intense storms in New York City’s history have taken place in the last four years. Yesterday, what caused all the flooding is the fact that we had 1 inch of rain in 10 minutes,” explained DEP Commissioner Rohit Aggarwall as quoted in news outlet CBS.
