We knew it was going to rain: the French high school sports outing had been canceled on Tuesday. But not to this extent. It was a deluge, brutal, the likes of which New York does not normally experience. Fifteen centimeters of water fell on Manhattan on Friday, September 29, while JFK airport was submerged by twenty centimeters, a record since 1948.
For the first time, we heard the shrill alerts ringing on all the phones: “Flash flood warning. This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation. Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing a flooded area or are under an evacuation order. » On the ground floor of our brownstone, these brown houses from the beginning of the 20th centurye century, the water cannot drain and the pressure is such that the water rises through the pipes through the closing valves, flooding the cushions in the living room. More fear than harm, as in all of New York, where Mayor Eric Adams had not listed any victims. There were three rescue operations in basements and fifteen in cars.
However, New York is not equipped to receive torrential rains in these times of climate change. It was not the Indian summer in September, with its usual sunshine and temperatures of around 20°C, but a humid atmosphere, with the tails of hurricanes from the tropics passing offshore, which made it the wettest September in over a century.
New York’s sewer system is not calibrated to absorb such precipitation. “All drainage systems have their limits and New York City’s drainage system cannot absorb more than 1.7 inches of rain per hour. Unfortunately for many New Yorkers, the storm that flooded the area Friday brought more than 2 inches of rain between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.summarized the New York Times. The 12,000 kilometers of the water drainage system have become clogged. “When it’s flooded this much, the water flows backsaid Dave Balkan, manager of a Queens sewer company. This is when people start to have sewage water gushing out of their drains or basement toilets. »
There is nothing to do except wait and take shelter if necessary. The receding waters left streets flooded, cars drowned, expressways blocked and the metro paralyzed. The Central Park Zoo was submerged to the point that a sea lion escaped from its tank. Flights were delayed by several hours at the city’s airports and one of the terminals at La Guardia airport even had to temporarily close. The high tide when the rains fell made the flooding worse. The spectacular images went around the planet.
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