The National Weather Service says some 2 to 4 inches of rain dumped on the Hudson Valley Sunday night, with higher amounts in localized areas. That, coupled with high winds, spurred flooding, power outages, flight delays, and school closures across the region.
Chris Kear, director of the Fire & Emergency Services department in Rockland County, says residents are being asked to avoid unnecessary travel today as crews work to clear any fallen trees and restore power.
"Right now, Route 59 by the Palisades Mall — both ways, north and southbound — have been closed for flooding," says Kear. "Route 303 in Orangeburg, by Mountainview Avenue, that's also closed. There was heavy flooding on Route 17 in Sloatsburg, and then there's closures from the Palisades Parkway north to Exit 14, north to the Long Mountain Circle, which is Route 6, and then out to the Bear Mountain Bridge to the Bear Mountain Circle."
The county’s local bus system, Transport of Rockland, says it is not operating in certain areas due to the closures. As of this morning, #59 and #92 buses are not serving Palisades Center and Nyack. All #91 buses are only serving stops between Spring Valley and Haverstraw.
Kear says the department has received more than 80 emergency calls since 11 p.m. last night, including eight pump-out calls for flooding in private buildings, seven calls for vehicles trapped in water, and numerous reports of downed trees and power lines. In all the vehicle rescues, Kear says the caller had already escaped and was safe.
"Just be careful of the high water. Don't drive through high water. And obviously, stay away if there's any power lines down," he warns. "Now that things are starting to calm down a little bit, they might pick up later on because there's loose branches or trees with wires out there — if the wind picks up again, we could start having some more issues out there."
Orange & Rockland says roughly 18,000 customers lost power at some point over the storm. As of 10 a.m., the utility says about 7,000 are still in the dark (that number shrunk to 4,600 customers by 11:30 a.m.). NYSEG says more than 9,200 customers are without power in its Brewster division, which includes residents in Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester Counties. Central Hudson is still working to restore service for nearly 4,900 customers.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer says things are easing up there after flooding primarily impacted northern areas of the county. He says the Bronx River Parkway was closed this morning from the county center south to its split with Bronxville and the Sprain Brook Parkway. Parts of the Sprain, Route 9A southbound, and the Saw Mill River Parkway were closed for flooding — but if weather conditions continue to improve, Latimer expects most of those areas to reopen by this afternoon.
"The sun's actually peeking out a little bit, which is good news," says Latimer. "The high tide on the Long Island Sound isn't expected until afternoon. So if the rain is in fact stopping, then some of our concerns about some of the streams flooding will be mitigated. So it's a matter of good fortune."
Latimer says flights at the Westchester County Airport were not impacted. The same can’t be said for New York City’s airports — JFK canceled 70 flights today, according to FlightAware, while LaGuardia canceled 160.
How likely are things to clear up for the evening commute? James Tomasini, a meteorologist with the New York office of the National Weather Service, says the odds are good — but a number of flood watches and warnings remain in effect across the region.
"There are still several flood warnings and flash flood warnings across the lower Hudson Valley and even a little bit south into northeast New Jersey and then east into Connecticut," says Tomasini. "Conditions will remain gusty, although the winds will be lower than they were last night. But this afternoon, gusts could still be 30-35 miles per hour."
Further north, the city of Kingston, New York says several roads are closed due to riverfront flooding and heavy rain. The city urges all drivers to exercise caution, as those roads will remain closed through the end of the day.
