Hochul, Adams declare state of emergency as rain soaks NYC region

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told residents to “shelter in place” on Friday, issuing a state of emergency as heavy rains flooded roadways and subway stations

In a briefing with city and state officials, Adams announced a state of emergency shortly before noon Friday as rains continued to batter the five boroughs, closing down roads and severely disrupting public transit.

“This is a dangerous weather condition and it is not over,” Adams said at the briefing.

Adams' announcement followed a similar state-level decree from Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier Friday morning. Adams administration officials insisted that the city was not behind the curve on its response, citing media appearances by Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol, and also pushed back against criticisms that the mayor did not address the public sooner. Adams advised people at work and in schools to shelter in place well after people had endured a treacherous morning commute.

“There was not an absence of a voice of this administration,” Adams said.

Iscol defended the city’s decision to broadcast the state of emergency at the briefing, after Hochul had declaring one on the state level earlier that morning.

“Issuing a state of emergency at 8 a.m., 7 a.m., 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. — it's not going to impact our response for the work that we're currently doing,” Iscol said.

The downpours began overnight, with parts of Queens and Brooklyn receiving several inches of rain between 8 a.m. and midnight on Friday. Schools remained open by midday Friday, with Schools Chancellor David Banks saying “our kids are safe.”

“We feel good. We're fully prepared. We're ready to go. We have taken on some water, but nothing that has created an infrastructure problem where our kids are not safe,” Banks said.

Subway service remained severely disrupted, and none of the Metro North's three lines were running between Manhattan and the Bronx. But MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said buses were available.

“This is a tough travel day,” Lieber said. “There are significant portions of the subway system that are shut down. We are starting the process of reactivating certain lines. But when water covers the electrified third rail we have to do inspections, so that that will be unfolding.”

Six basements have reported flooding, with all of them being successful rescues so far, according to the fire department, and no fatalities had been reported as of noon. There was "very minimal leaking" at the migrant shelter on Randall’s Island at this point, Fabien Levy, deputy mayor for communications, said at the briefing.

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What you need to know

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• Gov. Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency in New York City onf Fr.
• "If anyone was caught off guard, they had to be living under a rock," Mayor Adams said defensively during an interview on 1010 WINS later Friday evening.
• Here’s an updating list of mass transit, road and airport delays and closures.
• A series of flash flood warnings have been issued for the NYC area. Here’s what to do in the event of a flood.

Between 1 and 3 inches of rain had fallen across the region overnight, according to National Weather Service totals around 8 a.m. on Friday. JFK Airport got more than 3 inches of rain, with the bulk of it falling after midnight. Up to 5 additional inches are expected for the city, with as many as 8 inches possible through Friday.

The National Weather service has issued flash flood warnings just after 8 a.m. throughout the region as precipitation comes at a rapid clip, with higher rates of rainfall in localized areas. Significant flooding took place in parts of Brooklyn and Queens as of Friday morning, and the MTA said trains were experiencing major disruptions.

"There is only extremely limited subway service available because of heavy flooding caused by rainfall. Service may be suspended on certain stations," the agency wrote on X just after 9 a.m.

Forecasters say the rain accumulation in a short period is particularly dangerous for flood-prone areas.

“We had that rainy weekend last weekend where we saw similar amounts of rain over two, three-plus days,” said NWS meteorologist Dominic Ramunni. “Whereas we’ve already seen that amount of rainfall in the last six to 12 hours.”

Certain parts of the city and Long Island received almost 2 inches of rain in a single hour, prompting the NWS to issue a range of flash flood warnings in effect throughout Friday. The ground is still saturated from last weekend's rain.

According to education department spokesperson Nathaniel Styer, the city sent pumps to about 15 schools so far to remove water.

Parents said their kids at Brooklyn Tech reported that the basement was flooded and classes had been moved upstairs.

At P.S. 139 in Ditmas Park, the principal sent a note to parents that the lobby had flooded and said children would not be marked tardy if they were late to school, and that their parents could pick them up early if they wanted to.

With cafeterias flooded, some schools were serving lunch in classrooms.

“We’re busting out all our extra clothing and mopping the floors,” said Michael Perlberg, principal of M.S. 839 just south of Prospect Park. He said the school fortunately had some dry clothes on hand: “We keep a stash of extra clear T-shirts from events and for some reason we have bags of socks.”

Educators across the city reported low attendance.

A teacher at a public high school in downtown Brooklyn said the area around the building had been flooded. Only a handful of students had arrived by 9 a.m. Many students were stuck on the subway. Those who trickled in arrived "looking like they went swimming."

Though rainfall rates for the broader area are still well under those seen during Hurricane Ida in 2021, Ramunni cautioned that people should still be aware of the “elevated flood threat” — and avoid travel if possible.

“When we get that amount of rain to fall in that little amount of time, that’s when we really start to see issues,” Ramunni said.

The city’s Office of Emergency Management issued a travel advisory that began early Friday and will continue until 6 a.m. Saturday.

A handful of flights at city airports were also canceled or delayed on Friday morning, according to the website FlightAware. LaGuardia Airport warned of weather-related “flight disruptions” due to weather on X.

This is a developing story and will be updated.