Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain triggered flash flood warnings across the New York City Metro area on Thursday as NYC is inundated by storms.
Videos and pictures have gone viral showing subway stations, roads and even Grand Central Station inundated with rain water.
The Queens-Clearview express way has also been shutdown as motorists were caught in the sudden flooding.
LIRR train stuck in Queens after being overwhelmed by flooding
A Long Island Railroad train filled with passengers was halted in Queens after the tracks were consumed by floodwater from Thursday’s ongoing storm.
Emergency responders with the FDNY were down on the tracks, including parts that weren’t even visible because of the murky water from the flood, as they tried to help clear the tracks and assist passengers to safety.
Officers with the MTA police responded alongside FDNY emergency responders to help load the passengers off of the halted train after the downpour let up.
Jessica Grant, a Stony Brook resident who was taking the train home after a trip to Lake George, said she could see the water covering the tracks while she was on the train.
Oliya Scootercaster/FreedomNewsTV
“I was scared at first. About like 15 minutes after we stopped on the tracks, all the lights went off. That’s when I got a little scared and went ‘oh boy, something’s going on’,” she said.
One claustrophobic passenger started to panic once the cars started to heat up.
“It’s still scary. I don’t have depth perception and I have double vision. It’s scary, and it was getting hot,” she said.
Throughout the city, nearly every form of public transportation has been impacted by the storm that is anticipated to dump more than three inches of water over the city through Friday morning.
The major NYC-area airports all experienced delays while an MTA bus somehow flooded — on top of Thursday morning’s power outage that spelled disaster for multiple subway lines at stations that are also seeing water pour through the walls.
Aisle in MTA bus filled with stormwater: video
A bus in Brooklyn inexplicably had water fill its center isle during Thursday’s storm, leaving commuters confounded.
The MTA bus was inching through Flatbush while water steadily trickled down the aisle, sloshing back and forth while the passengers watched on in sheer confusion.
“They need traffic agents over here,” the person recording the growing puddle on the bus said. “It is flooded.”
Subway stations across the boroughs have also seen flooding with stormwater even slipping through cracks in the walls.
Mayor Adams makes emergency declaration for NYC as floodwater seeps into subway stations
NYC Mayor Eric Adams announced an emergency declaration during Thursday’s thunderstorm while many parts of the city, including major roadways and subway stations, experienced flooding.
The mayor’s declaration follows Gov. Kathy Hochul’s issued state of emergency for the city, which freed up certain federal assets to be used as needed while the storm progresses.
Parts of the city could see up to three inches of rain through Friday morning, Adams said, and encouraged anyone living in basement-level apartments to seek higher ground immediately.