29 million in Northeast, including NYC, under tornado watch as severe thunderstorm threat looms
By Mary Gilbert, CNN
(CNN) — Severe thunderstorms are marching across the Ohio Valley and into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, threatening major metropolitan areas along the Interstate 95 corridor. Some locations have seen multiple rounds of storms packing heavy rain and strong winds.
More than 29 million people in parts of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Connecticut are under a tornado watch until 9 p.m. ET, according to the Storm Prediction Center. New York; Philadelphia; Newark, New Jersey; and Bridgeport, Connecticut, are in the watch area.
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Damaging wind gusts greater than 60 mph are the most concerning threat and could occur almost anywhere across the overall risk areas. Stronger gusts are possible if storms cluster together to form bowing lines, which are storms that start to look more like a closed parenthesis on radar as they track east.
As of Tuesday evening, about 130,000 people in the storm-affected areas were without power, according to Poweroutage.us.
Hail and a few tornadoes cannot be ruled out, especially in parts of the Appalachians. Flash flooding is also possible, especially in areas that see multiple heavy storms in quick succession.
Denise Davis, who lives in Clermont County, Ohio, told CNN affiliate WKRC that she brought her grandchildren to the basement as soon as she heard the tornado warning.
“The winds picked up, the lights were flickering and then I heard a real loud bang, which of course was the tree falling onto the house,” she said.
Davis added that everyone was in a safe position under the basement stairs when the tree fell.
“I cried and then the grandbabies were crying,” Davis said, recounting the moment she first saw the tree on her house. “I just don’t know what to do from here.”
Major cities along the I-95 corridor from Washington, DC, to New York could see severe thunderstorms through the evening commute, mainly in the 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET window.
Two confirmed tornadoes have been observed in northern New Jersey and flash flood warnings are in place throughout New York City.
The Big Apple’s sewer infrastructure is old and limited.
Built over a century ago, the system is built to handle only about 1.75 inches of rainfall per hour. In recent years, as more extreme weather events become common occurrences, the system has showed its limits. When the system backs up under pressure of large amounts of rainfall in short periods of time, it results in flooded streets in low lying areas, homes and subway stations.
New York City treats approximately 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater every day using a system made up of more than 6,000 miles of sewer pipes and 135,000 catch basins.
About 60% of New York City uses a combined sewer system, where wastewater and stormwater share the same pipes. During heavy rain, excess stormwater can overwhelm the system.
Areas in severe t-storm risk
Flood risk
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Dakota Smith, Gloria Pazmino, Julianna Bragg and Danya Gainor contributed to this report.
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