Wednesday, 16 July 2025
Wednesday, 16 July 2025
In scenes that drew comparisons to the monsoon mayhem often seen in Indian cities like Gurgaon, torrential rain pummeled New York City and parts of New Jersey on Monday evening, bringing life to a standstill.
Flash floods turned roads into rivers, submerged subway stations, and claimed at least two lives in New Jersey, leaving thousands stranded and transit systems overwhelmed.
The two fatalities were reported in Plainfield, New Jersey, where a car carrying the victims was swept into Cedar Brook amid rising floodwaters. Local officials confirmed the deaths in a statement posted on Facebook, marking a grim reminder of the intensity of the deluge.
The relentless downpour, which began Monday evening, overwhelmed drainage systems across the Tri-State Area — encompassing New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut — turning roadways into rivers and train stations into flood zones.
Commuters faced a harrowing evening as floodwaters gushed onto subway platforms and brought several lines to a standstill.
In Chelsea’s 28th Street station, video footage showed water pouring from a drain, submerging the entire platform. At 34th Street–Penn Station, one of the city's busiest transit hubs, riders were seen wading around pooled water, trying to navigate their way home through the chaos.
"When it rains here in New York, it sucks," one frustrated commuter was quoted as saying. "I don't know what is going on, the drainage, I mean, look at this. God forbid if someone slips and falls in this."
Another rider said: “It’s super frustrating. People just want to go home. These are not the conditions that New Yorkers deserve to be traveling in,” CBS News reported.
Subway disruptions were widespread, with passengers stranded inside carriages and platforms rendered unusable by the onslaught of floodwaters.
On Tuesday morning, the aftershocks of Monday’s downpour were still being felt, with several bus lines and at least one train line on New Jersey Transit facing delays or diversions.
A video posted to social media by CBS showed floodwaters completely halting traffic on a major roadway in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, with buses stranded mid-route.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency, as flash floods submerged cars and closed roads across the state.
The Metro-North Railroad, which connects New York City with its surrounding suburbs and parts of Connecticut, said on Tuesday that while service had been restored to and from Grand Central Terminal, delays were expected as the system recovered from the prior evening’s disruptions.
The National Weather Service, in its latest bulletin issued Tuesday, warned that much of the eastern and central US — including Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. — remain under flood watches and warnings through Tuesday evening.
The forecast suggests that the region will continue to see “scattered to widespread thunderstorms capable of heavy downpours and flash flooding” through Thursday.
