Residents in New York City and New Jersey have been advised to stay vigilant and monitor official updates closely as emergency declarations have been issued in the Northeast. This is because 43 million people in both NYC and NJ face a flash flood warning. The authorities have also advised people to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary due to possible street, basement and transit system flooding. Residents living in basement apartments have been advised to relocate to higher ground for safety.

Severe weather has caused widespread travel disruption, with hundreds of flights in New York cancelled or delayed. Amid the chaos, dramatic videos showing floodwaters engulfing parts of New York City and New Jersey have gone viral on social media.

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Dramatic visuals of flash floods

One social media user shared videos showing flooded streets and subways, with vehicles struggling to navigate through the water. In the subway, people can be seen holding railings as they carefully make their way, trying to avoid the waterlogged floor. Floodwaters are visibly pooling throughout the station.

Yet another video from the subway shows water pouring through the walls as commuters carefully exit the Park Slope, Brooklyn. 

“Oh my God. I don’t know if I’ll get through this,” a woman can be heard saying from behind the wheel as she drives through the floodwaters.

One gut-wrenching video, made by a man who somehow made it through the waters, shows cars at a dealership nearly submerged in floodwaters, while people appear trapped as the rising water reaches up to their windshields.

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“People are trapped… They’re not going anywhere… I feel bad for these people. I barely made it. My entrance is done,” said one person on social media.

A video shared by a New Jersey resident shows buses and an ambulance stuck in water. He then pans the camera to show a dramatic rescue of a man. He was taken out of his car and was then dragged by the rescuers to the other end using a rope. 

“This isn’t weather. It’s weather warfare,” said the social media user who posted the video, before asking, “How is this still normal?”

Yet another video shows water filling buses as they make their way through the water. It also shows the condition of different areas as flash floods hit them.

National Weather Service updates

The National Weather Service (NWS) has been issuing continuous flash flood warnings across different areas, and has also been advising people to “move immediately to higher ground” and to “avoid walking or driving through flood waters”. It has also been giving severe thunderstorm warnings. Several are feared dead.

“Scattered thunderstorms and heavy rainfall are expected to bring the potential for flooding across the Carolinas, Southern Plains, and the front-range of the Rockies on Friday. Fire weather concerns will persist in the northwestern Great Basin on Friday due to isolated dry thunderstorms. Air quality will continue to be impacted through Saturday in the Midwest due to smoke from the Canadian wildfires,” NWS wrote four hours back on its social media handle.