New York paralyzed by torrential rains from Tropical Storm Ophelia

Flooded roads, canceled commuter trains, chaos in the subway: torrential rains caused by tropical storm Ophelia in the northeast of the United States suddenly paralyzed the megacity of New York on Friday, September 29, putting a strain on its capacity to cope. resistance to extreme weather.

With 20 centimeters of rain falling since Friday midnight, the New York weather services have already measured “the wettest day” ever recorded at JFK International Airport since 1948, they announced on X (ex -Twitter). “If you are at home, stay at home, if you are at work, or at school, stay sheltered for now. Part of the metro is flooded and it is extremely difficult to get around the city” , warned Democratic Mayor Eric Adams.

Images reported by AFP journalists, local media, and on social networks showed vehicles traveling with difficulty on submerged roads, or even completely blocked with water up to the windows; traders trying as best they could to clear the water from their shops; and flooded metro stations.

The water has already risen to the first floor of the Brooklyn building where Ahmed Abdou, a 50-year-old taxi driver, lives. “All these storms happen every year at the same time. We should better anticipate them,” explains this New Yorker of Egyptian origin, describing the subway as “catastrophic”. “The sad reality is that our climate is changing faster than our infrastructure can respond,” said New York City Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala.

Metro lines closed

In the subway, necessary for the daily travel of millions of New Yorkers, several busy lines in the Brooklyn borough have been closed since Friday morning, and traffic is limited throughout this gigantic and aging underground network, the one of the largest in the world with more than 30 lines and some 420 stations.

Getting it back up and running is the “number one priority,” state Governor Kathy Hochul said, as criticism came from parents who wondered how their child would get home from school and why schools remained open Friday.

“This morning’s events blatantly showed that the City and State of New York must improve their communication with New Yorkers when extreme weather events occur, before they occur,” criticized the mayor of Brooklyn Borough, Antonio Reynoso.

At Grand Central Station, in the heart of Manhattan, Sue Evangelista, a 63-year-old retiree, has been waiting for five hours with her husband for her train to return to Connecticut, but the three suburban lines were still canceled in the middle of the afternoon. -noon, leaving thousands of travelers stranded.

“The moment they say the trains are coming, it’s going to be a mad rush, because soon people will start getting off work and there will be even more people,” she explains, while many travelers are sitting on the ground.

Local authorities declared a state of emergency for the megacity of 8.5 million inhabitants, as well as Long Island to the east and the Hudson Valley, regions regularly affected by flooding.

Danger of basements

The situation is being taken seriously in New York, where Hurricane Ida caused the death of 13 people in September 2021 (and several dozen other victims in the region), most of them trapped in the basements of homes. transformed into apartments in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in a city struggling with a severe housing crisis.

“If you live in these neighborhoods, in a basement apartment or in a flood zone, make sure you are ready to climb to higher floors to take shelter,” warned the commissioner. to the city’s emergency management, Zach Iscol.

A portion of the expressway that runs along the East River in Manhattan, the “FDR Drive”, crucial to relieving traffic congestion, was also closed while vehicles were stopped there. La Guardia Airport announced for its part that all access to Terminal A was “currently closed”, partially disrupting air traffic, while JFK Airport also announced disruptions.