For the first time in the counties of Fairfield and New Haven, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency on Wednesday when tornadoes, floods, and record rain reached the northeast from the rest of Hurricane Ida. Just after 10 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service issued an advisory stating that between 1 and 1.5 inches of rain had fallen. However, a further 2 to 4 inches of rain is possible in the cautioned region. Flash flooding is already happening or is likely to start soon. According to the weather service, local creeks and waterways, metro areas, highways, roads, and underpasses, as well as many other poor drainage and low-lying zones, should be avoided. At night, when it’s harder to see all the threats of flooding, be extremely careful.
Flash floods threaten the entire region. Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill, Methuen, Billerica, Chelmsford, Andover, Dracut, Tewksbury, North Andover, Wilmington, Westford, Acton, Concord, Newburyport, Amesbury, North Reading, Bedford, and Ipswich were all added to the list shortly after 11 p.m. Mariners are being warned to keep a watch out for a severe thunderstorm capable of producing waterspouts off the coast of Cape Cod near Martha’s Vineyard.
New York City has also been soaked, with 3.15 inches of rain falling in Central Park in just one hour. A Flash Flood Emergency has been declared for Metro New York City, according to the weather service. This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation people are in a Scary Position. Attain better ground RIGHT NOW! In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency just after the tornado was spotted.
Heavy downpours hit the state, flash floods and thunderstorm warning advisories have been issued.
Stay Indoor
It is strongly urged that residents refrain from driving at all costs. Although we have had many flooding occurrences in the last month, “training doesn’t really guarantee success” when it comes to driving in severe rains, as per Amy Parmenter, a representative for AAA in Greater Hartford. If at all feasible, the safest approach is to stay at home and off the roadways. If you really must travel, allow more time, drive carefully, and stop over to a secure place if visibility is low. Metro-North suspended service on the New Haven, Harlem, and Hudson lines out of Grand Central Terminal late Wednesday due to severe flooding in New York City, and advised people to avoid travel if possible. As of 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, all subways in New York City were temporarily shut down. In addition to air travel, all departures from Newark have been canceled due to a heavy flood at the terminal.
Outages of Electricity
The majority of the storm’s winds will remain above ground level, although strong winds of 30 to 45 mph are expected throughout the eastern coast and south-eastern coast portions of Massachusetts overnight into early tomorrow. Normally, winds of this strength would not be a reason for concern along our coastline, but considering the volume of rain that has saturated the land, many trees will probably collapse and there will be some dispersed power cuts.
