BROOKLYN, New York (WABC) — Brooklyn was the epicenter of Friday’s torrential rain, with streets and subways flooded under more than half a foot of rain.
“This is a serious situation. This is a dangerous, life-threatening storm,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
At a press conference, Mayor Adams said this was a time of “high alert.”
“This is a dangerous weather condition and it’s not over yet,” he said. “We could see up to eight inches of rain by the end of the day.”
As the rainfall increased, several cars were submerged and the streets were quickly flooded.
Roger Lee documented Park Slope from his balcony.
“Cars floating around, boats on wheels,” Lee said. “This is crazy.”
The madness spread to the building below the basement level, with the ground floor being flooded.
There are even barriers at the entrance to the Dean Russo building due to frequent flooding on Carroll Street.
This time, a site across the street where ground contamination was being remediated was also flooded.
“The water behind the wall at their site was full,” Dean said. “There’s a lot of brown sludge — oil and gas or whatever.”
He said it was concerning and irritating for the owners of the cars that were hit and flooded.
“The battery is dead and the cup holders on the seats are full of scale. Is anyone looking for a used car?” Jamie Tan said.
Tan at least laughed off the dilemma, but everyone on the block knew there would be insurance claims, expenses and frustrations.
Vehicles were trapped and towed in parts of Gowanus, Coney Island, Flatbush, Windsor Terrace and Williamsburg.
RELATED: New York City declares state of emergency
The same is true for major roads like the Belt Parkway, Prospect Park Expressway and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, where cars are stuck in river-like In traffic conditions.
On a street in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn, workers tried to clear storm drains while cardboard and other debris floated in water up to their knees. The city said major drains, particularly those near subway stations, were inspected and cleaned ahead of the storm. But that was of little comfort to Osman Gutierrez, who was trying to pry soaked garbage bags and food scraps out of a gutter near the synagogue where he works.
“The city must do more to clean its streets,” he said. “Very dirty.”
As the rain temporarily eased, residents rushed out of their homes to survey the damage and began draining water from the tops of many basement doors. Some people placed milk crates and wooden boards on flooded sidewalks, with water nearly waist-deep in the middle of some streets.
As high school student Malachi Clark tried to return home to Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, she stared at a flooded intersection, unsure of how to move forward. He tried taking a bus and then a train.
“When the bus stops, you know it’s bad,” he said. According to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, bus service was severely disrupted across the city.
David Banks, the principal of a Brooklyn school, told a news conference that the school was evacuated because of smoke coming from the boiler, possibly due to water intrusion.
The problem was that the school’s basement was flooded, causing the boiler to smoke.
Students were transferred to another school.
Mayor Adams spoke and supported Principal David Banks’ decision to keep schools open.
“As you can see, the decision was the right one. There are no issues, dangerous issues, in our schools and our children are in the schools. They are getting a proper education. I believe the chancellor made the right decision, ” He said.
Jessie Lawrence said she woke to the sound of rain dripping from the ceiling of her fourth-floor apartment in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood. She picked up the bowl to catch the drops of water, but heard a strange sound coming from outside the door.
“I opened the front door and the water got thicker and louder,” she said, pouring into the hallway and down the stairs. Downpours gathered on the roof and leaked in through the skylight above the stairwell.
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Some information comes from the Associated Press
RELATED: Rainfall totals around New York City, tri-state area
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