Three ingredients came together to produce the heavy rainfall. The majority of flood-related fatalities happen in vehicles.

River flooding will be a major risk as well.Īs the flood event unfolds, forecasters and authorities stressed not to drive through any flooded roadways and use extreme caution around rivers and coastal areas. The rain is not expected to end region-wide until Saturday morning for places like New York and Hartford and early Saturday afternoon for Boston.Ĭoastal areas could see two types of flooding, one from heavy rainfall and the other from high tides exacerbated by the supermoon. The axis of heaviest rain was expected to impact the I-95 corridor causing life-threatening conditions on the roadways, and crippling travel delays were likely at all the area airports. The situation is expected to be a long-duration rainfall event, with the risk of flooding persisting all day Friday, including through the evening rush hour. Rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour will cause flash flooding, especially in urban areas and those saturated by recent heavy rainfall. Central Park was already up to 3.28 inches with New York's JFK and La Guardia airports up to 4.22 and 3.3 inches, respectively. Spencer Platt / Getty Imagesīy 9:45 am, most areas around New York City had already eclipsed the 4-inch mark, with some of the highest totals of 6.23 and 4.85 inches recorded over parts of southern Brooklyn. A vehicle stuck in high water on the Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn on Friday. For extreme isolated spots, double-digit rainfall totals were not out of the question. Much of the area is forecast to pick up 3 to 5 inches of rain, with locally higher amounts of 7 to 9 inches including in and around the New York City metro area. If New York City picks up more than 7.13 inches of rain over the 24-hour period on Friday, it will eclipse the record rainfall that fell from the remnants of Hurricane Ida on Sept. New York City’s rainfall total will likely rank in the top 5 for wettest Septembers on record. rescue personnel with the Westchester County Emergency Services use rafts as they check buildings for victims trapped in heavy flooding Friday in Mamaroneck, N.Y. The rain is not expected to let up after the morning hours, and the Northeast could see potentially historic amounts of rainfall Friday into Saturday morning.

Illinois 24 hour rainfall totals