Two days of heavy rain across the Northeast set records and forced water rescues
By Meteorologists Briana Waxman, Chris Dolce, with Kate S. Petersen reporting
(CNN) — Dangerous flooding unfolded in eastern New York Wednesday as slow-moving downpours soaked parts of the state and much of New England after drenching New Jersey and Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
The rain is not over, but its intensity is beginning to wind down. Flash flood warnings are still in effect for parts of southern New York and northern Pennsylvania, and flooding prompted water rescues and road closures in Eastern New York, where rainfall totals have topped 7 inches in several areas.
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• Flooding rescues: Multiple counties in eastern New York have declared states of emergency due to flooding. State swiftwater rescue teams have been deployed and rescues were conducted by boat, state officials said.
• Record-setting rain: The storm has dropped around 6.7 inches of rain at Albany International Airport since Tuesday, marking the city’s biggest two-day rainfall event on record. Schodack, New York, has seen the highest total so far from this storm with nearly 12 inches – more than twice the amount of rain the area sees on average in the entire month of July.
• Travel impact: More than 200 flights have been canceled at the New York City area’s LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports Wednesday, according to FlightAware. Boston Logan International Airport had more than 70 cancellations as of Wednesday evening and hundreds of delays. Meanwhile, Amtrak canceled service between New York City and Albany due to “high water and debris on tracks from recent storms.”
• Second day of flooding: This storm soaked parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania Tuesday. Several locations in northern New Jersey logged an entire July’s worth of rain, and 20 people were rescued from floodwater in Paterson.
Flooding strands cars, forces rescues
Video from CNN affiliate WRGB showed cars stranded in floodwater in Guilderland, New York, where multiple roads were closed due to flooding. A man in the video appeared to carry a child from one of the vehicles and helped another person walk through the waist-deep water.
In Chatham, New York, firefighters rescued a US Postal Service mail carrier after the delivery vehicle got stuck in floodwater.
Nearly two dozen roads were closed in Columbia County, Matt Murell, Chairman of the County Board of Supervisors told CNN, and local fire departments were working to pump water out of flooded homes.
State rescue teams were deployed Wednesday to flooded homes in Coeymans, located north of Hudson, Colin Brennan with the New York Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services told CNN. Responders helped two adults and two children evacuate from their homes there, he said.
Responders drove a front-end loader through floodwaters to help a family evacuate their home in Putnam County. Photos posted by the local fire department show the home nearly surrounded by floodwater that had risen to the bumpers of the cars parked outside.
A day earlier in west-central Pennsylvania, crews rescued three people and two dogs from a residence in Coalport, the Rescue Hose & Ladder Co. fire department said.
The storm has started to weaken late Wednesday evening and its rainfall will become more scattered and less intense overnight, significantly reducing flood risks. Some bands of soaking rain may pass through eastern New York and coastal New England into the overnight hours, but storms should move fast enough to prevent serious flooding impacts.
A Level 1 of 4 risk of isolated flooding rain is in place from Boston to coastal Maine on Thursday for lingering pockets of heavier rain.
The-CNN-Wire
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CNN meteorologists Dakota Smith and Mary Gilbert, and CNN’s Amanda Jackson, Alea Motwane and Maria Aguilar Prieto contributed to this report.
