Severe Flooding Threat for Tri-State Continues Monday as Henri Drops Up to 12 Inches of Rain – msnNOW

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Members of the New Market Volunteer Fire Company assist Doug, a neighborhood resident, during an evacuation effort following a flash flood, as Tropical Storm Henri makes landfall, in Helmetta, New Jersey, on August 22, 2021. – Tropical Storm Henri slammed into Rhode Island on the US east coast Sunday, knocking out power to thousands of Americans, canceling scores of flights and bringing record rainfall. The storm — earlier downgraded from a Category 1 Hurricane — hit land near the town of Westerly at approximately 12:15 PM (1615 GMT), the National Weather Service said. Henri is a rare tropical storm to hit America’s northeastern seaboard and comes as the surface layer of oceans warms due to climate change.

What to Know

  • Henri weakened to a tropical depression Sunday night but that won’t stop it from dumping as much as 12 inches of rain in some places before finally moving out
  • Flash flooding represents the greatest threat for Sunday night and well into Monday; strong winds with gusts up to 40 mph continue into the night as well
  • The storm will stall over the Hudson Valley area along the New York-Connecticut border into Monday, before finally heading east into Massachusetts and giving the tri-state a break from rain

Tri-State Deals With Widespread Flash Flooding After Henri Hits

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The worst of the winds from Henri may have missed the tri-state, but the extended heavy rain is hitting the region hard — and will continue to do so well into Monday.

Henri weakened to a tropical depression Sunday night, but the threat for potentially dangerous weather is far from over, as torrential downpours are stranding drivers in floodwaters in multiple states. Isolated rainfall totals of up to 12 inches are possible in some areas.

The storm is expected to slow down and stall near the Connecticut-New York border Sunday night, according to the National Hurricane Center, which could turn already difficult flooding problems into potential catastrophes. Another 2-3 inches of rain could still fall in some spots, as winds diminish to around 30 mph.

Flash flooding remains a huge threat, as the heavy rain produced by Henri will continue to result in considerable flash, urban and small stream flooding, the agency said in its latest update. Track live radar and see the latest conditions here

There are widespread flash flood warnings for parts of NYC (Bronx, Manhattan) and the Hudson Valley (Orange, Rockland and Westchester) through 11:45 p.m. Parts of northern New Jersey (Bergen, Essex, Sussex and Warren) are under flash flood warnings as well, some lasting until early Monday morning.

Areal flood warnings (for floods that develop more gradually over time rather than quickly) were issued for Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Rockland, Orange and Westchester counties in New York, as well as Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties in New Jersey, until 5 a.m. See the latest weather alerts for your neighborhood here.

The storm has already produced record rainfall of 3 to 6 inches over the New York City metro area — including a historic 4.45 inches within two hours in Central Park on Saturday night, as well as the rainiest hour in 150+ years of recorded history, with nearly two inches of rain falling between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Brooklyn had seen more than nine inches of rain as of Sunday night, and parts of Middlesex County in New Jersey had seen even more intense rainfall — with plenty more on the way.

A team of police, firefighters and emergency response teams in Newark rescued nearly 100 people from dangerous flood waters. City officials say 86 people, including 16 children, were extricated from submerged vehicles. Also in Newark, 23 people had to be evacuated from a building on Taylor Street after the firefighters discovered the foundation had partially collapsed due to the storms.

There have been multiple reports of vehicles stranded in parts of the city, northern New Jersey and Long Island. Transit officials have been urging people to stay home if at all possible.

One of the hardest hit areas has been Helmetta, New Jersey, where bands of rain almost all day long overwhelmed creeks and sewers. Flash flooding swamped block after block, with emergency crews plucking more than 150 people from their homes as water rose around them — reaching just below mailboxes there. Floating trashcans and debris had nowhere to go except round and round.

Another 150 or so people were rescued from their cars or homes in Cranbury, many of them from cars that had to be fished out of the water by tow trucks. That town has also seen one of the highest rainfall totals of anywhere in the tri-state.

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So when will the rain end? The storm will slowly drift west and will continue to dump heavy rain over New Jersey through the night, then swing back east through the Hudson Valley, NYC, Connecticut and Long Island. The far eastern reaches of Long Island will be the last to see the storm go later Monday night.

Some spots in the tri-state may see totals near 12 inches of rain, and just to give an idea of how much that is: If that were snow instead of rain, those areas would be buried under up to 10 feet of snow.

States of emergency for Connecticut and two dozen counties in New York, including the city, remain in effect amid the torrential rain that will make driving treacherous. By Monday, the storm should move across northern Connecticut or southern Massachusetts in the afternoon.

Following weekend cancellations in service, the MTA said on Sunday that Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North would resume regular weekday service on Monday, with LIRR adding extra service on its Montauk branch to accommodate customers disrupted by the storm. Get real-time transit updates here.

The storm, which made landfall Sunday afternoon along the coast of Rhode Island as a tropical storm after it had been downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane hours earlier, is expected to weaken further over the course of the next few days.

Some utility companies in the tri-state warned customers about the possibility they could be without power for up to 14 days, but widespread outages have not been as big of a factor as once feared. There were more than 34,000 customers without power in the tri-state as of 4 p.m. Sunday, although the vast majority of those are located in the eastern half of Connecticut. Click here for the latest updates on outages by county.

New York City’s Office of Emergency Management continues to closely monitor Henri. Open Restaurants outdoor seating and Open Streets are suspended.

All NYC Health + Hospitals COVID-19 testing sites and COVID vaccine sites located at hospitals are closed Sunday as well. State parks and historic sites are also shuttered, officials announced, with all state parks south of I-84 remaining closed until noon on Monday.

Ocean swells generated by Henri are expected to increase across much of the east coast Sunday and continue into Monday. Those could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Track the storm using our interactive radar below.