Heavy rains and thunderstorms caused devastating flash floods on the East Coast, overwhelming communities and roads in New York state and leaving at least one person dead.
Flood watches covering more than 50 million people would be in place until at least Tuesday morning, the National Weather Service said early Monday.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared states of emergency across several counties in the Hudson Valley region.
“We have one confirmed fatality at this time, but there are some missing individuals,” Hochul said late Sunday. “In one situation a house was swept away because of the intense rain.” She advised residents to stay off the roads and to monitor local forecasts.
Up to 8 inches of rain were recorded in parts of Orange County on Sunday, according to the NWS. Footage showed highways there overwhelmed by water and vehicles being washed away.
“The amount of water is extraordinary, and it’s a very dangerous situation,” Hochul said. “If you live on the eastern side of the state, from New York City up to Albany and further north, this is something we are asking people to be very, very aware of.”
Airports in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., warned of disruption to departing flights. More than 50% of flights scheduled to depart from New York’s LaGuardia Airport were canceled Sunday, according to data tracker FlightAware.
Several commuter trains from the Hudson Valley were canceled or delayed as of early Monday, rail operator Amtrak said.
The storms were expected to move east throughout the day, David Roth, a meteorologist at the NWS, said Monday.
“There’s a high risk of rain and further flash flooding across a bit of New York today, but it’s pretty much centered over Vermont now,” Roth said.
The Northeast is particularly susceptible to flash flooding because of a wet start to the summer, said Adrianna Kremer, a meteorologist at the NWS’s office in Burlington, Vt. When the ground is already saturated, it is less capable of absorbing more water. That makes runoff and flooding more possible.
“We’ve just been having such wet ground conditions and elevated rivers due to all the rainfall,” Kremer said, adding that these conditions haven’t been seen in a while.