Widespread storms moving through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast on July 31 brought periods of intense rain and flash flooding that swamped streets and subways in New York and snarled air travel across the East Coast. By early evening, much of the region appeared to have been spared more serious flooding.
In New York City, traffic cameras operated by the Department of Transportation showed extensive afternoon flooding on the Clearview Expressway in Queens. At the northern edge of the flooded area, near 35th Street, a car was submerged nearly to its roof. A state of emergency was declared in New York City and in New Jersey.
Parts of the FDR Drive were closed for hours but had reopened by 7:00pm. The highest flooding recorded citywide was at the corner of Catherine Court and Jewett Avenue on Staten Island, where the water reached a depth of 21.3 inches at 3:00pm.
The weather conditions that led to the bouts of heavy rain involved a cold front moving across the region. Richard Bann, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center, an arm of the National Weather Service, said the front was interacting with air that was unusually warm, humid and unstable this time of year.
During the flooding, some Uber customers complained the company was engaging in price-gouging and “abusing the system,” with fares reportedly tripling in some instances. They also questioned whether the drivers actually benefit from the increased fares, or if it’s strictly the company that profits.
Source: The New York Times, The Travel
