Extremely heavy rains flooded much of New York City on Friday, freezing traffic and shutting down much of the city’s public transportation.
The city experienced around 6 inches of rain on Friday, with more expected to fall Saturday. A nearly 8-inch daily rain figure at John F. Kennedy Airport is the most since at least 1948, the National Weather Service said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul both declared states of emergency over the flooding, freeing emergency relief funds for response and recovery efforts.
Nearly every line in the New York Subway system was partially or completely suspended, as excessive rain flow made it unsafe to use some stations and tunnels. The worst of the impact was in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.
“Service across the MTA network has been severely disrupted today due to heavy rainfall and flooding throughout the New York region,” the authority said in a statement late Friday.
“If you don’t have to travel, please stay home. If you must travel, head out as early as possible, use caution, and expect delays or cancellations throughout the evening.”
The quickly falling rain caught some New Yorkers off-guard, with many finding themselves with no way to get home due to transit outages. In addition to subway suspensions, over 40 city buses were stranded due to flooded streets, the authority said.
The weather also impacted overground trains, including halting all trains from Grand Central Station on Friday afternoon. All Metro-North lines, commuter services to suburbs in New York and Connecticut, were temporarily halted.
Amtrak service in and out of New York City was also impacted, with trains experiencing delays of up to an hour, the service said.
LaGuardia Airport was forced to close an entire terminal due to the weather, sparking a cascade of flight delays and cancellations. Over 150 flights at LaGuardia and 100 flights at JFK were canceled Friday, according to tracker FlightAware.
The New York City Emergency Management Department issued a travel advisory beginning Friday that goes through Saturday morning.
“New York City will be under a flood watch starting tomorrow and we urge New Yorkers to prepare for heavy rain and potential flooding throughout Friday and Saturday morning,” emergency commissioner Zach Iscol said in a statement.