Pack a life raft for your commute! New Yorkers resort to jet skis to get around after Tropical Storm Elsa unleashed torrential rains on the city forcing people to wade through rat-infested subway stations while AOC blamed ‘fossil fuel execs’
- Storms caused flash flooding this week, with waist-high water deluging stations and cops rescuing motorists
- Maximum winds from Tropical Storm Elsa peaked near 50 mph as it moved through NYC and Long Island
- Comes as AOC leapt on flood footage to promote Green New Deal and claim corporate elites were to blame
- Critics said her policy proposal makes sweeping assumptions about what has caused ‘climate emergency’
New Yorkers have resorted to jet skis to get around as Tropical Storm Elsa unleashed torrential rains on the city and commuters were forced to wade through rat-infested subway stations.
Thunder storms caused widespread flash flooding across NYC, with waist-high water deluging Washington Heights subway station and cops deployed to rescue stranded motorists.
Maximum sustained winds from the storm peaked near 50 mph as it moved through NYC and Long Island, the National Hurricane Center said in an 8am update.
Several roads in the Bronx and Manhattan were closed Friday, with up to 6 inches of rain predicted to fall in some areas. One creative Bronx resident was seen using a jet ski to cross a road under several feet of water.
Elsa has now made its way over Cape Cod and is tracking into southeastern New Hampshire and coastal Maine, where it will make its way out to see at around 9ET. Forecasters said Elsa was moving northeast at 31 mph.
It came as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez leapt on a viral video of commuters wading through murky waters to claim the scenes were a result of Americans taking ‘orders from fossil fuel execs.’
The firebrand Democrat, 31, said that her Green New Deal was being sidelined by corporate elites who would ‘make you swim to work’ – prompting a string of bemused reactions.
After walloping the Southeast, Elsa’s cone barreled north and began hitting NYC late Friday morning, before rains stopped at around midday. The storm has already caused multiple injuries and at least one death in Florida and Georgia this week.
One creative Bronx resident was seen using a jet ski to cross a road under several feet of water, as shown in this astonishing video grab
Thunder storms brought flash flooding to the city this week with footage showing New Yorkers wading through filthy waist-deep water at Washington Heights subway station
After walloping the Southeast, the cone of Tropical Storm Elsa is now barreling north (pictured is a graphic showing the movement of the storm’s cone)
Flooding in the Bronx on the Henry Hudson parkway Friday. Some roads in NYC were completely closed due to flooding
Town of Barnstable’s beach safety officer Sanjeev Kc, left, helps lifeguards push ashore four sailboats which which blew off their float onto Veteran’s Beach, in Hyannis, Mass, on Friday
Sisters Lilly, left, and Haleigh Pickel frolick in the surf pushed up on Craigville Beach, in Hyannis as Storm Elsa blew over Cape Cod
There were some snags on commuter rail lines Friday, with slight delays on the Harlem Line north of the city and service suspended on the Long Island Rail Road’s Oyster Bay Branch because of fallen trees.
Meanwhile, on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx, the NYPD Strategic Response Group was deployed Thursday to rescue motorists whose vehicles stalled in deep water.
AOC blamed the severe weather on ‘fossil fuel execs’ and said her Green New Deal was the solution
Utilizing a department truck designed to haul crowd-control barriers, NYPD officers rescued several stranded motorists, loading them onto the truck’s flatbed to ford the floodwater.
The rescues took place near 179th street in the University Heights neighborhood.
Meanwhile, several Manhattan subway stations experienced severe flooding as well.
In the Washington Heights neighborhood, the 1 Train station at 157th Street was seen submerged in deep water.
One shocking video circulating on social media showed a woman plunging into the squalid, trash-filled water to catch a train as it arrived in the station, holding shopping bags high above her head to keep them dry.
Flooding was also spotted in Penn Station, and the Metropolitan Transit Agency warned that A Train service was suspended between Inwood-207 Street and 181 Steet ‘because of an excessive amount of rainfall collecting at track level near Dyckman St.’
‘Crews are actively addressing flooding issues in our stations. We’ve hardened stations in coastal flooding zones, but when streets above flood, water will always flow downhill,’ the agency said in a statement.
‘Please be safe and do not enter flooded stations while our crews work to resolve this,’ the MTA added.
The traffic circle on Coney Island Ave in Brooklyn floods on Friday as New York City braced for tropical storm Elsa
A woman makes her way on a flooded street in Hoboken, New Jersey, as the area was hit by unseasonably wet weather
A truck makes its way through the flooding caused by Tropical Storm Elsa on Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst on Friday
A surfer heads out to ride the high waves in Atlantic City on Friday as Tropical Storm Elsa moved over South Jersey
A dog in a yellow raincoat looks well prepared for whatever the weather can throw at it during a walk in New York City
Two people wearing protective gear walk through a street in Hoboken, New Jersey, as the rain hammers down
Workers put up sandbags to protect their premises against the flooding in Hoboken, New Jersey
A car is seen partially flooded on a street in Hoboken. There have been numerous similar scenes across NJ and NYC
New York City’s major airports all experienced major delays as the storms rolled through, and called a ‘ground halt’ on incoming traffic until the weather passed.
Thursday’s Mets game against the Pittsburgh Pirates was another casualty of the bad weather, with the 7.10pm game rescheduled for a double-header on Friday.
Friday night’s game could also be at risk as Tropical Storm Elsa makes its way up the East Coast.
It’s the second rainout this week for the Mets, who waited nearly 2 1/2 hours Tuesday to play the Brewers before owner Steve Cohen tweeted that the game was called off.
State Senator Mike Gianaris warned in a tweet: ‘This is only going to get worse as Elsa passes through. Please be safe and don’t go out unless absolutely necessary.’
Forecasters predict that Elsa’s tropical-force winds will arrive in New York City by Friday afternoon.
‘Tropical Storm Elsa, currently moving through eastern North Carolina this afternoon, will continue to bring tropical storm force winds and heavy rainfall to portions of the Mid-Atlantic tonight and parts of the Northeast into Friday,’ the National Weather Service said in a flash bulletin on Thursday.
‘From eastern North Carolina northward into New England, rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches, with locally higher amounts, are possible and could lead to numerous instances of flash and urban flooding,’ the bulletin added.
Motorists were rescued from flooded cars Thursday near 179th street in the University Heights neighborhood
On the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx, the NYPD Strategic Response Group was deployed to rescue motorists whose vehicles stalled in deep water
Brave commuters waded through filthy water at 157th St Thursday, while others innovated and tried to hop through it in a trash bag, in the style of a potato-sack races
The tropical storm was expected to cross over the Northeast by the afternoon and move over Atlantic Canada by the night and Saturday. No significant change in strength was expected during the day, and Elsa is forecast to become a post-tropical cyclone by Friday night.
On Wednesday, nine people were injured in coastal Camden County, Georgia, when a tornado struck a campground for active-duty service members and military retirees. Eight of those hurt had to be taken to hospitals, Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base spokesperson Chris Tucker said.
The EF-2 tornado flipped over multiple RVs, throwing one of the overturned vehicles about 200 feet (61 meters) into a lake, the National Weather Service said in a preliminary report early Thursday after its employees surveyed the damage.
Authorities in Jacksonville, Florida, said one person was killed Wednesday when a tree fell and struck two cars. A spokesperson for the Naval Air Force Atlantic Office said Thursday that a sailor assigned to Patrol and Reconnaissance Squadron 16 in Jacksonville was killed.
In South Carolina, a Coast Guard Air Station Savannah crew rescued a family that became stranded Wednesday on Otter Island after their boat drifted off the beach. The group was flown to a hospital in good health, a Coast Guard news release said.
The National Weather Service in Morehead City, North Carolina, tweeted that a tornado was spotted near Fairfield on Thursday afternoon.
Scattered power outages were being reported along Elsa’s path Friday morning, with about 24,000 homes and businesses without electricity from Delaware to Massachusetts, according to the website poweroutages.us.
Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami.
FlightAware’s ‘Misery Map’ showed major airport delays in New York City due to the storms
A tarp covers the infield prior to the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Mets being postponed at Citi Field. The teams will shoot for a double-header on Friday
A National Weather Service graphic showing the course of Tropical Storm Elsa as it makes its way along the east coast
The National Hurricane center says heavy rainfall is predicted as Tropical Storm Elsa moves across North Carolina on Thursday
AOC has leapt on the scenes of weather chaos to tout her Green New Deal, which sets out bold targets to reduce green house gas emissions and ban fossil fuels to prevent a ‘climate crisis.’
Slammed by Republicans, critics say AOC’s policy proposal makes sweeping assumptions about what has caused this ‘climate emergency’, including corporate greed and ‘racial injustice’.
Biden announced in January that the United States would rejoin the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight climate change, and has promised to put the country on track to net-zero emissions by 2050.
AOC and her allies believe net-zero by 2050 is not enough to tackle the problem.
However, critics say that even to achieve net-zero by the mid century will require a total overhaul of the economy at a colossal cost to the taxpayer with potentially negligible improvements to the climate.
New Yorkers received a flash flood warning on Thursday as thunderstorms swept through
The NYC subway system often floods when there is heavy rain, however many scientists theorise that stormy weather has become more common due to climate change.
AOC’s tweet brought a mixture of bemused and critical reactions, with one person replying: ‘I don’t understand the connection. I’m not being a jerk. Yet. I just don’t understand how AOC is saying this is a republican caused / fossil fuel execs issue.’
Equity research analyst Gordon Johnson replied: ‘So, buying solar panels made in China, shutting down natural gas plants in the US (the ones that employ millions in the US), and sending our energy grid back to the Middle Ages (CA is begging people to consume less water, natural gas, and engaging in 3rd world blackouts) is a solution?’
Despite work to protect the city against flooding since Hurricane Sandy in 2012 — which killed 44 people and paralyzed the American economic capital for days — New York remains very vulnerable to flooding, with such incidents expected to increase because of climate change.
Several officials, including Eric Adams, president of Brooklyn and the favorite for the November mayoral election in New York after winning the Democratic primary this week, called for urgent investments to fortify the city’s infrastructure.
‘Extreme weather episodes like this are not going to go away,’ warned one of his primary opponents, Kathryn Garcia, who oversaw the water pumping after Hurricane Sandy.
‘We must invest in strategies to protect the city,’ she said.
Clouds hang over Manhattan on Thursday as severe thunderstorms hit and Elsa approaches
FDNY crews used pumps to clear the roadway and restore traffic flow
All lanes of the Major Deegan were closed in both directions due to severe flooding
Storm clouds are seen over Manhattan as flash flooding hits the roads and subways
People walk along Wall Street in the rain on Thursday in New York City
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