Rain that flooded New York is the new normal, says governor – 09/30/2023 – World

After a week of constant rain, the intense storm that caused flash flooding in New York City this Friday (29) reflects a “new normal” and is the result of the climate crisis, according to the governor of New York, Democrat Kathy Hochul.

“I want to emphasize how serious this event was,” Hochul said this Saturday (30). “We know this is a result of climate change. Unfortunately, this is what we have to expect as the new normal.”

The New York metropolitan region is no longer under a flood warning, according to the country’s climate agency, although rain showers still leave authorities on alert to send aid and rescue teams to some risk areas.

The New York governor added that she spoke with the White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and said they were prepared to support a federal emergency declaration if necessary.

On Friday, the Democrat had warned that the floods were “life-threatening” and declared a state of emergency for New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley. She praised the authorities’ action and reinforced that no deaths related to the storm were reported.

The state of emergency, which allows for faster allocation of resources to deal with crisis situations, will remain in effect for the next six days, according to Hochul.

The most populous city in the United States was hit by almost 200 millimeters of rain in some places. With cascades of water gushing from the walls and ceilings of subway stations, several lines were suspended on Friday. Some bus routes were also slow and videos on social media showed passengers inside moving vehicles with their feet submerged.

Flights were canceled or delayed at La Guardia and JFK airports. In the area of ​​the latter, in the neighborhood of Queens, there were 218 millimeters of precipitation this Friday — the highest amount for a single day in the history of the place, according to the country’s climate agency.

This Saturday, the situation was normalized in the subways and roads that had been blocked, but delays are still being recorded. At airports, service has resumed.

A Brooklyn hospital that operated on emergency generators for hours after a power outage on Friday began evacuating all patients and staff on Saturday so the local electric company could make repairs.

“We are prepared to activate a full evacuation plan,” said Gregor Calliste, chief executive officer of Woodhull Medical Center. Patients in critical condition had been transferred to other hospitals on Friday as a precaution. Another 120 patients would be sent to other institutions this Saturday, according to a statement.

The intensity of the storm added to the consecutive days of constant rain and made the city break a record: with 354 millimeters of accumulated precipitation, this was the wettest September since 1882, when the city recorded 428 millimeters, according to data from the climatological agency.

“The system [de esgoto e drenagem] “It was projected a long time ago for precipitation at the rate of 44.4 millimeters per hour, and we are consistently receiving more than that, so we need additional runoff,” Metropolitan Transportation Agency head Janno Lieber told reporters.

Millions of people have been impacted by extreme weather phenomena and prolonged heat waves across the world in recent weeks. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has already stated that it is now unequivocal that part of these changes are caused by human action.

Data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN agency for climate issues, indicate that extreme weather events such as droughts, floods, landslides, storms and fires have more than tripled over the last 50 years as a result of global warming.