Heavy rainfall causes flash flooding in New York City, Northeast
The storms caused flash flooding in the metropolitan areas from New York City to Washington, D.C., prompting road closures and a state of emergency declaration in New Jersey. In northern New Jersey, between 3 and 6.5 inches of rain fell, with continued flood impacts expected on July 15, the National Weather Service in Mount Holly said.
Video posted to social media showed a New York City subway station inundated with fast-moving floodwaters as passengers watched from inside a train, lifting up their feet to avoid the water rushing into the subway car. In McLean, Virginia, just outside Washington, videos showed cars stuck in floodwaters.
On July 15, parts of the Mid-Atlantic, including much of the state of Virginia, were under flood watches as forecasters warned more thunderstorms and heavy downpours were in store. The rainfall and flash flood risks to the Mid-Atlantic and Appalachian region are expected to last through mid-week, the National Weather Service said.
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Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Millions Warned of Floods As Possible Tropical Storm Takes Shape
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Millions of people across Florida are under a flood watch on Tuesday afternoon as a storm system that could soon strengthen into Tropical Storm Dexter moves across the Sunshine State. AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva told Newsweek he doubts the storm will form while it is moving over land. However, it is still expected to bring torrential rainfall that could spark flash floods. Why It Matters The ongoing flood watches came amid an active hurricane season and recent severe flooding events across the United States, which have resulted in extensive property damage and loss of life. Flooding remains the second-deadliest weather hazard in the U.S., behind extreme heat, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The latest alerts aimed to reduce risk by keeping residents informed and urging immediate safety precautions. What to Know Flood watches remained in effect for millions across Florida on Tuesday afternoon as a disorganized tropical disturbance threatened to deliver several inches of rain across the central part of the state. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued multiple alerts, warning of potential flooding in urban neighborhoods, low-lying areas, and near creeks and streams. A stock photo of a flooded street in Florida. A stock photo of a flooded street in Florida. Bilanol/Getty Officials cautioned residents from Florida's Gulf Coast to its Atlantic Coast to be prepared for swiftly changing conditions and potential travel disruptions as the storm system moved across the state. Forecasts suggested widespread rainfall totals between 2 and 4 inches, with isolated areas seeing as much as 7 inches by Tuesday evening. Authorities emphasized the risk posed by flooding, including rapidly rising waters in streams and dangerous road conditions in both cities and rural areas. Flood watches issued by the NWS extended across significant portions of the state, including west central areas such as Sumter, Pinellas, Polk, Hardee, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Levy counties. Alerts also covered regions near Tallahassee and parts of northeast and central Florida, including Flagler, Putnam, Volusia, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, and Brevard counties. Major cities under watch included Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Lakeland, Ocala, and Daytona Beach, among others. The storm system has a 40 percent chance of strengthening into Tropical Storm Dexter within the next 48 hours. "Regardless of development, heavy rainfall could produce localized flash flooding over portions of Florida through Wednesday," the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a Tuesday forecast. "Heavy rainfall could also cause flash flooding for portions of the north-central Gulf Coast beginning Wednesday and continuing through Friday. For additional information, please refer to products issued by your local National Weather Service office." What People Are Saying An NHC forecast said: "This system is currently producing disorganized shower and thunderstorm activity, and little development is expected through tonight while the center is over land. Once the system reaches the northeastern Gulf on Wednesday, environmental conditions appear generally favorable for additional development, and a tropical depression could form while the system moves across the northeastern and north-central Gulf and approaches the coast of Louisiana on Thursday." NWS Tampa Bay in a flood warning: "Motorists should not attempt to drive around barricades or drive cars through flooded areas. Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles." What Happens Next Most flood watches were scheduled to expire by Tuesday evening. Weather forecasters continued to monitor the potential tropical system for any additional development, which could prolong hazardous conditions into Wednesday or longer in affected areas. Residents and travelers should consult the latest NWS updates and prepare for possible flash flood warnings if local conditions worsen.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Flooding in Upper Saucon Township, Pennsylvania, prompts multiple rescues, property damage
Parts of the Lehigh Valley saw torrential downpours Monday night, which led to flooding. Upper Saucon Township, Pennsylvania, was hit particularly hard. Mary Klingman has lived in Center Valley, a community within the township, for 25 years, and said she has never seen flooding to this degree. The National Weather Service says 6 inches of rain fell in Center Valley on Monday. As the storm moved through, water filled her front yard and then her backyard, which ultimately overwhelmed her koi pond. Tuesday morning, she went out with a fishing net and a bucket. "I caught the big koi and five more, but in my adventure last night, there was one laying in the driveway, one laying on the sidewalk and three in the grass that I found that weren't in water, but they all survived," Klingman said. Klingman said she has water damage in her basement and garage. Upper Saucon Township's emergency management coordinator said Route 309 took the brunt of the flooding. He said five cars were disabled there, and first responders made three water rescues. There was minor property damage reported in the township, he added, but no injuries or deaths. He thanked the local and state mutual aid partners for their help.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Investigating if Trump's National Weather Service staffing cuts hurt Texas flood response
After the catastrophic flash flooding in central Texas on July 4, 2025, users online claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration was ultimately to blame for the flood's 100 deaths due to staffing cuts at the National Weather Service. The weather service issued a series of timely alerts: a flood watch early in the afternoon on July 3, a flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m. July 4, and a flash flood emergency at 4:03 a.m. July 4, before any in-person reports of flooding had been received. Communicating the warnings to the public was made more difficult because the flooding happened in the middle of the night in an area without a robust emergency communication system. Also, it was the Fourth of July weekend, when many people who weren't local residents — meaning they may have had less knowledge of the flash flooding risks — were present. Although Trump's cuts did affect staffing at the two weather service offices in charge of the affected area, an agency spokesperson told Snopes via email that both offices were fully staffed at the time of the floods. The rain rolled into the area of central Texas known as Hill Country on July 2, 2025, according to data from the National Weather Service. During the late evening of July 3 and early morning of July 4, the skies opened up and did not relent. At 5:15 a.m. July 4, the gauge recording the water level on the Guadalupe River just upstream of Kerrville measured its height at 1.82 feet above the standard reference value. An hour and a half later, at 6:45 a.m., the gauge recorded the river's height at 34.29 feet. The flash flooding that resulted from the deluge killed at least 84 people in Kerr County as of July 8, and at least 19 more in nearby counties, according to The Texas Tribune. In the wake of the catastrophic floods, Texas officials and people online began theorizing on why the storm and its floods were so deadly in this case. One theory shared on social media sites such as TikTok and X blamed U.S. President Donald Trump's administration for the deaths. According to these posts, the Department of Government Efficiency initiative championed by former Trump ally and tech billionaire Elon Musk implemented massive spending cuts at the National Weather Service, allegedly leaving already underfunded and understaffed forecasters struggling to keep up. Snopes found that the case was similar to that of a tornado in Somerset, Kentucky, that killed 19 people in May 2025. That is, the local weather service offices issued timely watches and warnings in advance of the disaster, but the Trump administration's cuts have left the weather service as a whole, including both Texas offices in charge of forecasting the affected area, understaffed. The weather service maintains 122 offices around the country dedicated solely to weather prediction, and it has 13 different River Forecast Centers, which provide local offices "river and flood forecasts and warnings as well as basic hydrologic information." The area affected by the Texas flooding is covered by the San Angelo and Austin/San Antonio weather service offices and the West Gulf RFC in Fort Worth. National Weather Service spokesperson Erica Grow Cei told Snopes via email that those offices "had extra personnel on duty during the catastrophic flooding event in Texas's Hill Country during the July 4 holiday weekend." The name "flash flood" gives away the danger at hand — "flash" can refer to both the incredible speed at which the water rises and the flood's sudden onset after excessive rainfall. In order to predict a flash flood, meteorologists must first accurately predict where heavy rain will fall and compare it with the "flash flood guidance," an "estimate of the amount of rainfall required over a given area during a given duration to cause small streams to flood," issued by the appropriate River Forecast Center. In this case, the West Gulf RFC maintains the following guidelines for the area most heavily affected by the floods: Between 1.5-2 or 2-2.5 inches in one hour, depending on the exact location Between 2-2.5 or 2.5-3 inches in three hours, depending on the exact location Between 3-4 inches in six hours The archived excessive rainfall outlook forecasts issued at least twice a day by the weather service in the days leading up to the flooding labeled the area first at a "marginal" risk (at least a 5% chance), then at a "slight" risk (at least a 15% chance) for flash flooding. The precision required to predict where in a storm it will rain the heaviest makes predicting flash floods very difficult. Greg Waller, a service coordination hydrologist at the West Gulf RFC, told The Texas Tribune the area's terrain "makes it so precipitation forecasts off by just 20 miles could affect entirely different river basins." Accordingly, the San Angelo office's afternoon forecast on July 3 said predicting the day's weather was "complicated." It noted the potential for a band of "torrential" rainfall that could lead to flash flooding, but, according to the forecast, the weather "features are so weak and the interaction so complicated, if and where this band develops remains uncertain." The Austin/San Antonio weather office's afternoon forecast on July 3 also predicted heavier rain. The 1:38 p.m. bulletin noted "an environment presently conducive to heavy rain, supporting 1 to 2 inch per hour rain rates," approaching the flash flood guidelines. It continued: Models remain in disagreement over the placement of the heaviest rain totals, though the greatest rainfall potential this afternoon into tonight is over the Highway 90 corridor, southern Edwards Plateau and Hill Country. Rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches appear likely, but locally higher amounts upwards of 5 to 7 inches could materialize if slow-moving storms begin to cluster. Given the heavy rainfall potential, some flooding is possible. A Flood Watch is now in effect through 7 AM Friday morning for the southern Edwards Plateau and western Hill Country, where the intersection of higher forecast rainfall amounts and rainfall from the past few days is most evident. While the greatest concentration of modeled precipitation is in the aforementioned areas, the highest rain amounts could shift depending on where storms aggregate, and expansion towards the I-35 corridor is possible later this evening into the overnight as the trough moves gradually east. The weather service has three stages of alerts for most environmental dangers. The afternoon forecasts from both San Angelo and Austin/San Antonio, 12 hours in advance, issued a flood watch for the area. That's the designation of lowest concern "issued when conditions are favorable for flooding. It does not mean flooding will occur, but it is possible," according to the weather service. The next level, a warning, is issued when "a flash flood is imminent or occurring." Warnings trigger emergency alerts on TVs, radios and cellphones. The first flash flood warning came in for the Kerrville area at 1:14 a.m. At 4:03 a.m, the warning was upgraded to the most serious alert, an emergency — a life-threatening situation issued when, as Austin/San Antonio weather service meteorologist Bob Fogarty told The Texas Tribune, "someone has told us we need to get people out of here immediately or people are going to die." Cei told Snopes that for flash floods, the National Weather Service is generally able to give residents "3 hours or more of what we call 'lead time', which is the time in between the warning being issued and the event occurring." In this case, that lead time on the initial warning was about accurate. The warning was issued at 1:14, and Cei said the first reports of flooding happened at 4:35 a.m., after the upgrade to an emergency. In other words, the forecasting wasn't the problem. The problem, as with many other deadly natural disasters, was communicating the danger to residents. That problem was likely exacerbated by the 4th of July holiday drawing in out-of-towners unfamiliar with flash flooding risks and absolutely exacerbated by the fact that the warning and subsequent flood occurred in the middle of the night in an area that, according to The Texas Tribune, does not have a robust emergency communication system. The nonprofit newsroom reported that state lawmakers rejected a bill to spend $500 million on improving such systems across the state in 2024 over concerns it would cost too much. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly (in Texas, county judges are responsible for emergency management) said in the story that county residents rejected installing a flood siren system, like those used for tornadoes, for similar reasons. It's possible that cuts to the weather service workforce may have exacerbated the communication problems, but it's unclear to what extent. Cei told Snopes the offices were appropriately staffed during the disaster. The New York Times reported that the Austin/San Antonio office has been without a warning coordination meteorologist since April 30, although NBC News reported that Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the union that represents NWS employees, said the office has an employee acting in that role. That position, which Cei said exists at all 122 weather offices around the nation, works with local officials to plan for emergencies, including how to warn affected residents and help them evacuate if needed. The individual reportedly accepted the Trump administration's early retirement plan, offered as part of DOGE's initiative to gut the federal workforce. The Austin/San Antonio weather office's official page lists six vacancies and 21 active staff members. The San Angelo page does not list vacancies, but The Texas Tribune reported it has four vacancies out of 23 total positions. Cei said the weather service continues to move staffers around on temporary and permanent assignments to fill the roles at its offices "with the greatest operational need." "Additionally, a targeted number of permanent, mission-critical field positions will soon be advertised under an exception to the Department-wide hiring freeze to further stabilize frontline operations," she added. According to The New York Times, more than 600 workers at the weather service had left due to the Trump administration's policies as of June 2. Fahy told the paper the agency had been approved to add 126 new hires to address the understaffing. "Catastrophic Floods Cause Deaths In Central Texas - Videos from The Weather Channel." The Weather Channel, Accessed 8 Jul. 2025. Cobler, Paul. "In Texas Region Prone to Catastrophic Floods, Questions Grow about Lack of Warning." The Texas Tribune, 5 Jul. 2025, D'Antonio, Kathleen Magramo, Karina Tsui, Diego Mendoza, Alaa Elassar, Rebekah Riess, Hanna Park, Lauren Mascarenhas, Chris Boyette, Maureen Chowdhury, Danya Gainor, Amanda Musa, Michael Williams, Isabelle. "July 6, 2025 - News on Deadly Texas Floods." CNN, 6 Jul. 2025, Deliver, Texas Counties. "County Judge & County Commissioners." Texas Counties Deliver, Accessed 8 Jul. 2025. Flavelle, Christopher. "As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas." The New York Times, 5 Jul. 2025, Guadalupe Rv at Kerrville, TX. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025. Izzo, Jack. "Trump Admin Cut Weather Service Staff in Kentucky, Where Tornadoes Killed 19. But There's More to the Story." Snopes, 20 May 2025, Jiménez, Jesus, Margarita Birnbaum, et al. "Officials Feared Flood Risk to Youth Camps but Rejected Warning System." The New York Times, 6 Jul. 2025, Jiménez, Jesus, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, et al. "Texas Flood Death Toll Tops 100 With More Rain to Fall." The New York Times, 7 Jul. 2025. Jones, Judson. "After Staff Cuts, the National Weather Service Is Hiring Again." The New York Times, 2 Jun. 2025, Langford, By Sneha Dey, Alejandro Serrano, Jayme Lozano Carver, Eleanor Klibanoff and Terri. "Texas Floods' Death Toll Climbs as Authorities Focus on Recovering Victims' Bodies." The Texas Tribune, 7 Jul. 2025, Lanza, Matt. "Making Sense of the Weather That Led to a Horrible Texas Flooding Tragedy, plus Tropical Storm Chantal." The Eyewall, 5 Jul. 2025, Martinez, By Alejandra. "Staff Vacancies Hit Texas Weather Offices as They Brace for a Busy Hurricane Season." The Texas Tribune, 9 Jun. 2025, "National Weather Service Defends Its Flood Warnings amid Fresh Scrutiny of Trump Staff Cuts." NBC News, 8 Jul. 2025, "Officials Push Away Questions about Lack of Widespread Warnings before Deadly Texas Floods." AP News, 8 Jul. 2025, Ramos, By Terri Langford and Carlos Nogueras. "Texas Lawmakers Failed to Pass a Bill to Improve Local Disaster Warning Systems This Year." The Texas Tribune, 6 Jul. 2025, River Forecast Centers | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025. Serrano, Alejandro. "White House Defends National Forecasting Agency amid Questions about Warnings, Response to Texas Floods." The Texas Tribune, 7 Jul. 2025, Service, NOAA's National Weather. WPC Excessive Rainfall Forecast Archive. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025. US Department of Commerce, NOAA. About Us. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025. ---. 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