Story at a glance
- Multiple thunderstorms struck the New York City area Monday afternoon dropping roughly 4 inches of water over a 24-hour period.
- The downpour was so intense that some New York City streets quickly flooded, causing water to burst on the subway stations below.
- In the Bronx, the weather caused a 58-foot-long sinkhole to open up and swallow up a van.
A downpour Monday afternoon drenched the Big Apple in over four inches of rain forcing traffic above and below ground to temporarily stop.
The series of thunderstorms dropped heavy rain on the tri-state area causing some roads north of the city to close.
Heavy rainfall caused extensive delays on at least a handful of subway lines Monday as Metropolitan Transportation Authority crews worked to remove water from subway stations and tracks.
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Cellphone footage shows water bursting through the roof of the Dyckman Street subway station and falling on the tracks and seeping on the ticket area floor.
Photos of the street above the station show severe flooding with water nearly covering the windows of parked cars.
“One clogged drain can back up an entire street. When the streets above look like this, storm water inevitably makes its way to our tracks,” NYCTSubway tweeted. “That’s why coordination between the MTA and partner agencies is vital to keep trains moving.”
But the most striking image from Monday’s flash floods is that of a sinkhole that appeared in the Bronx, which consumed an entire van.
The sinkhole measured roughly 58 feet long, 15 feet wide and 20 feet deep and cut service to 70 homes in Morris Park after it damaged a water main, according to The New York Times.
“The investigation into the root cause of the roadway collapse is ongoing,” said Edward Timbers, a spokesman with the city’s environmental protection department, to The New York Times. “The weather certainly could have played a part of it.”
Monday’s flash flooding and the ensuing damage is the most recent example of how New York City’s infrastructure is not prepared to withstand the effects of climate change, experts say.
The vulnerability of the city’s infrastructure came to light on a national level when the remnants of Hurricane Ida knocked out power to more than 150,000 homes in the tristate area and resulted in the deaths of at least 43 people, most of whom died after their basement homes were flooded.
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