NYC under flash flood warning, NJ declares emergency amid heavy rains
The big picture: Heavy rains and flash floods Tri-State Area prompted water rescues and train delays in NYC and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to declare an emergency due to flooding rains. Flash flood warnings were in effect for all five NYC boroughs and parts of N.J.
Driving the news: " A moisture-rich Summer-time airmass remains in place ahead of a quasi-stationary frontal boundary draped from the Northeast southwest through the Ohio/Middle Mississippi Valleys and into the southern Plains/Texas," per a National Weather Service forecast discussion.
The storm system that's impacting central Texas, where rescuers paused their search for victims of the catastrophic Fourth of July flooding, was "continuing to promote widespread daily thunderstorm development with heavy rainfall," according to the NWS.
Situation report: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on X she's closely monitoring flooding in the Hudson Valley and that road conditions were "serious" in Rockland and Westchester, where several rescues had taken place after at least 5-7" was reported to have fallen in a short time.
She urged New Yorkers to "stay alert" and watch for debris.
Meanwhile, the FAA declared ground stops at NYC's John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports, Newark Liberty International Airport in N.J. and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in D.C. due to the inclement weather.
Zoom out: In New Mexico, the Village of Ruidoso reported on Facebook that rapidly rising floodwaters in the Brady Canyon area. A state of emergency was declared for the region last week over deadly flooding.
There was greater risk of flooding in central and south-central Texas on Monday following a series of thunderstorm, according to the weather agency.
Heavy rainfall and a flash flooding threat was expected in Florida through Tuesday.
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Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas Hill Country under flood watch as search continues for missing people
Texas Hill Country was back under a flood watch on Saturday, with the National Weather Service warning of 'locally heavy rainfall' of 1-3in with isolated amounts close to 6in possible. The flood watch, which continues through Sunday evening, comes as the death toll from the 4 July flood continues to rise – now at nearly 130 people - and authorities continue their search for the 160 more who are missing. The latest warnings anticipate considerably less rain than what came down last week, which caused the Guadalupe River to rise 29ft in 45 minutes. The Texas division of emergency management had mobilized before the storm, but its assets were not focused exclusively on Texas Hill Country. The storm alerts that were issued before and during the storm, in an area of patchy cellphone service, are now the subject of scrutiny. On Saturday, the Associated Press reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic's buildings from its 100-year flood map, loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous floodplain in the years before rushing waters swept away children and counselors. Fema had included the prestigious girls' summer camp in a 'special flood hazard area' on its national flood insurance map for Kerr county in 2011, which meant it was required to have flood insurance and faced tighter regulation on any future construction projects. That designation means an area is likely to be inundated during a 100-year flood – one severe enough that it only has a 1% chance of happening in any given year. The 4 July flood was far more severe than the 100-year event envisioned by Fema, experts said, and moved so quickly in the middle of the night that it caught many off-guard in a county that lacked a warning system. Syracuse University associate professor Sarah Pralle, who has extensively studied Fema's flood map determinations, said it was 'particularly disturbing' that a camp in charge of the safety of so many young people would receive exemptions from basic flood regulation. 'It's a mystery to me why they weren't taking proactive steps to move structures away from the risk, let alone challenging what seems like a very reasonable map that shows these structures were in the 100-year flood zone,' she said. Pralle told the AP that some of the exempted properties were within 2ft (0.6 meters) of Fema's floodplain by the camp's revised calculations, which she said left almost no margin for error. She said her research shows that Fema approves about 90% of map amendment requests, and the process may favor the wealthy and well-connected. Experts say Camp Mystic's requests to amend the Fema map could have been an attempt to avoid the requirement to carry flood insurance, lower the camp's insurance premiums or pave the way for renovating or adding new structures under less costly regulations. Related: Trump cuts questioned as role of Fema in Texas highlights agency's importance in natural disaster response In a statement, Fema downplayed the significance of the flood map amendments to the AP: 'Flood maps are snapshots in time designed to show minimum standards for floodplain management and the highest risk areas for flood insurance. They are not predictions of where it will flood, and they don't show where it has flooded before.' While Texas officials and Donald Trump have been resistant to questions about any failures to forewarn of the impending flood – queries that have largely been put to one side as local and state recovery teams, along with thousands of volunteers, work in and alongside the river to find the missing – the Washington Post reported that Kerr county had the technology to turn every cellphone in the river valley into a loud alarm. But the mass notification system, known as the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, or Ipaws, was not activated and emergency managers in the county relied on a series of text messages for alerts. Trump visited the area on Friday, telling first responders that he and Melania Trump, the first lady, were there to 'express the love and support and anguish of our entire nation'. 'So all across the country, Americans' hearts are shattered,' he said. 'We're filled with grief and devastation. It's the loss of life and, unfortunately, they're still looking.' Trump said two things had struck him: the 'unity' of Texans and the 'competence' of those responding to the disaster. 'Everyone has just pulled together, it's rare that you see this,' he said.
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Texas camp leader waited over an hour after flood warning to evacuate
The adult leader of Camp Mystic, the Texas summer camp where 27 children and counselors died in the Hill Country floods, waited more than an hour after receiving a severe flood warning before initiating an evacuation, it was disclosed on Monday. Richard 'Dick' Eastland, who had run the popular all-girls, Christian-values sleepaway camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River with his family since the 1980s, was among the fatalities after a wall of water rushed through the camp early on 4 July. A spokesperson for the Eastland family told the Washington Post that a National Weather Service (NWS) alert was sent to his phone at 1.14am warning of 'life threatening flash flooding', and only at 2.30am, with heavy rain still falling and the river level rising fast, he made the decision to begin evacuations. The account sheds new light on a chaotic few hours at the campsite, where almost 700 girls were sleeping in dormitories. Campers were not allowed to bring mobile phones, and counselors were made to surrender theirs, leaving them unable to see the emergency alerts themselves, two teenage Mexican counselors previously revealed. Related: Texas's Camp Mystic was 'a place of joy'. Floods turned it into a site of great loss The family spokesperson, Jeff Carr, said Eastland spent time after receiving the alert conferring with family members, some of whom lived and worked at the 725-acre camp as staff. The Post said the NWS alert did not contain an order or recommendation for evacuation, a power it said rests with local government officials. Separately, the actions of authorities in Kerr county, which bore the brunt of the flooding that killed 132 and left 160 missing, continue to come under scrutiny. Carr said staff communicated with each other by walkie-talkie about how to respond – and that Eastland eventually ordered an evacuation after realizing that the situation had become critical, particularly at dormitories closest to the river containing some of the youngest campers. Eastland, 70, died after his truck was swept away as he tried to move a group of small girls to safety, Carr said. Many of the fatalities occurred in the Bubble Inn and Twins cabins, which the Post analysis said were caught between swirling eddies rising to 4ft. Ultimately the Guadalupe River crested at 37.5ft, the US Geological Survey said. Many of the teenage counselors in charge of the dormitories were left to make instant life-or-death decisions on their own, having lost contact with adult supervisors, the Post said. Carr added that the Eastland family wanted to put out the information about the timeline to try to avoid speculation. 'It will be important to go through this process and avoid sharing information on a piecemeal basis,' he said following a family meeting on Sunday, which he said was the first real opportunity they had to meet and grieve together. While the statement explains some of the decisions by camp staff, others will continue to be questioned. The chief of the Hunt volunteer fire department, closest to Camp Mystic, told the newspaper it did not receive any calls for help from the camp. Meanwhile, families of some of the campers have said they did not receive any notification from the camp about the situation until an email shortly before 11.30am. The search for those still missing was halted in some places on Sunday and Monday after further heavy rain created dangerous conditions and fears of further flooding. Related: A deadly 1987 flood foreshadowed the Texas disaster. Survivors ask, 'why didn't we learn?' At a meeting of the Kerr county commission on Monday morning, the first since the disaster, officials revealed grim new details of the aftermath of the emergency. 'We've heard accounts of trailer after trailer after trailer being swept into the river with families in them. [We] can't find the trailers, we don't know how many of them there are,' the county judge, Rob Kelly, said. One trailer was found 'completely covered in gravel' 27ft below the surface of the river, he said, adding that sonar crews were searching the river and local lakes. Two reservoir lakes attached to the river would be drained to aid the search, officials said. The Kerr county sheriff, Larry Leitha, told the meeting that his office's search and recovery operation could last up to six months, CNN reported. The sheriff's office said 2,200 people from multiple local, state and federal agencies had been deployed to assist in the recovery effort. Associated Press contributed reporting
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Heavy rain in Texas halts rescue efforts as officials warn of further flooding
More heavy rains in Texas on Sunday paused a weeklong search for victims of catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River and led to high-water rescues elsewhere as officials warned that the downpours could again cause waterways to surge. It was the first time a new round of severe weather had paused the search since the 4 July floods, which killed at least 129 people. Authorities believe more than 160 people may still be missing in Kerr county. In Kerrville, where local officials have come under scrutiny about the warnings given to residents, authorities went door to door to some homes after midnight early on Sunday to alert people that flooding was again possible. Authorities also pushed alerts to the phones of those in the area. A statement put out by Kerrville city officials urged residents to not attempt to travel unless they were fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order. Related: Texas Hill Country under flood watch as search continues for missing people 'Please keep watch on low-water crossings and seek higher ground if flooding begins. Turn around, don't drown!' the city officials added. According to new alerts put out by the National Weather Service, the flash flood risk continues this morning across portions of the Texas Hill Country. 'The extent and magnitude of the event has lowered from what occurred last night into the early morning hours, however some additional flash flood impacts are likely ... and localized significant impacts remain possible,' the NWS said. It also warned earlier this morning that a flash flood warning was in effect for western Llano and north-western Gillespie, with significant rain having fallen and flooding expected particularly over Llano county. Similarly, a flash flood warning remains in effect for Buchanan Dam, Buchanan Lake and Valley Spring until 3.45pm CT, as well as for Watson and Briggs until 4pm CT. As part of its warnings, the NWS has urged residents to move immediately to higher ground, as well as avoid walking or driving through flood waters. Ingram fire department officials ordered search crews to immediately evacuate the Guadalupe River corridor in Kerr county until further notice, warning the potential for a flash flood is high. Search-and-rescue efforts were expected to resume on Monday, depending on river flow, a fire department spokesperson, Brian Lochte, said. 'We're working with a few crews and airboats and SAR [search-and-rescue] boats just in case,' Lochte said. As heavy rain fell on Sunday, National Weather Service forecasters warned that the Guadalupe River could rise to nearly 15ft (4.6 meters) by Sunday afternoon, about 5ft above flood stage and enough to put the Highway 39 bridge underwater in Hunt, the small town where Camp Mystic is located along the river. 'Numerous secondary roads and bridges are flooded and very dangerous,' a weather service warning said. Related: Texas floods: death toll reaches at least 120 people as recovery efforts continue The rains were also causing other waterways to swell farther north in Texas, where emergency crews rescued one motorist who was left stranded in waist-high rapids on a submerged bridge over the Bosque River. The man leaned on to the vehicle for support as crews tried to reach him with life jackets. 'He drove into it and didn't realize how deep it was,' said Jeff Douglas, the president of the McGregor volunteer fire department. 'Luckily he was able to stand next to the vehicle.' Under heavy rain, Matthew Stone was clearing branches and a log from a storm sewer in front of his home on Guadalupe Street in Kerrville on Sunday as several inches of water pooled up on the road. Multiple houses on the street overlooking the Guadalupe River were severely affected by the 4 July floods, and Stone had to pull his older neighbors from their home before water overtook it. He said he felt safe for now. 'My wife was freaking out, that's for sure, but as long as that river is not coming down, we'll be all right,' he said. 'The cops have been coming back and forth, we're getting lots of alerts, we're getting a lot of support.' Just before daybreak on the Fourth of July, the destructive, fast-moving waters rose 26ft on the Guadalupe River, washing away homes and vehicles. Ever since, searchers have used helicopters, boats and drones to look for victims and to rescue people stranded in trees and from camps isolated by washed-out roads. The floods laid waste to the Hill Country region of Texas. The riverbanks and hills of Kerr County are filled with vacation cabins, youth camps and campgrounds, including Camp Mystic, the century-old, all-girls Christian summer camp. Located in a low-lying area along the Guadalupe River in a region known as flash flood alley, Camp Mystic lost at least 27 campers and counselors. The flood was far more severe than the 100-year event envisioned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), experts said, and moved so quickly in the middle of the night that it caught many off guard in a county that lacked a warning system. Related: Trump wants to 'remake' Fema, not eliminate it, Kristi Noem says The sheer amount of rain was overwhelming. Former Noaa chief scientist Ryan Maue, a private meteorologist, calculated on 5 July that the storm had dropped 120bn gallons of water on Kerr county, which received the brunt of the storm. On Sunday, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said that Donald Trump wants to have Fema 'remade' instead of eradicated entirely. Speaking to NBC, Noem defended the Trump administration's response to the deadly Texas floods that have killed at least 120 people, saying: 'I think the president recognizes that Fema should not exist the way that it always has been. It needs to be redeployed in a new way, and that's what we did during this response.' Her comments follow widespread criticism of the Trump administration's handling of the Texas floods as reports emerged of thousands of calls from flood survivors being left unanswered by Fema's call centers due to unextended contracts.
