Photos: Floodwaters prompt water rescues, submerge portions of northeastern US
A slow-moving storm has plagued portions of the northeastern United States with dangerous flash flooding through the weekend and into the early portion of this week.
On Saturday, parts of northern New Jersey and the New York City area were hit hard by torrential rain and flooding.
During Monday morning, multiple water rescues were performed in southeastern Pennsylvania. Portions of New Jersey and Pennsylvania experienced significant flooding throughout the day.
Dangerous flooding continued into Tuesday, as areas of New York continue to report water rescues and flash flood warnings.
"The combination of the extensive moisture from the Gulf states and Southeast states and the slow-moving nature of the storm over a several-day period of heavy rain have led to some heaviest rains that people have experienced," Abrams said.
For example, Little Falls, New Jersey, received in 5 inches in about two hours on Monday.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area of Pennsylvania received record-breaking daily rainfall with 4.25 inches of rain at the official observing point. The previous daily record was about 2.5 inches of rain during Hurricane Camille in 1955, according to Abrams.
The highest National Weather Service (NWS) Spotter total yesterday was 8 inches in Brick Township, New Jersey. However, there was also a CoCoRAHs report of 9.92 inches at Mohnton, Pennsylvania.
A police car blocks off a bridge submerged in floodwaters in Darby, Pa., Monday, Aug. 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
"I think that when we look back at this, it will be viewed as one of the most historic heavy rain events not associated with a tropical storm that the Northeast has had," AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams said.
While tropical storms are typically associated with these high rainfall totals, the recent rainfall can be linked to atmospheric rivers of moisture that came up from the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S.
"This summer, there have been several of these atmospheric rivers of moisture aimed toward the Northeast. It’s happened over and over again; it happened in July and it’s happened in recent weeks," Abrams said.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has experienced 15.43 inches of rain since July 1, in comparison to the average of about 6 inches that they receive during this time period.
Since Aug. 1, there have been 1,015 spotter reports of flooding in the U.S., mostly in the East. There have also been 374 flood warnings issued by the NWS.
While the storms have not been particularly strong in terms of wind, they have been slow moving. This allows them to drop significant amounts of rainfall on affected areas.
These tremendous amounts of rainfall have not occurred everywhere. It is not flooding every stream, everywhere like a tropical storm.
"These storms have been more like guerrilla warfare where small areas will receive large amounts of rain, while other surrounding areas will not receive heavy rain," Abrams said.
While this current storm will pass through the area Wednesday, another slow-moving storm is going to affect the region on Friday and Saturday. The storm will likely worsen the recent flooding over the coming days.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urges local communities to prepare for the upcoming storm, as the recent storm places affected areas in vulnerable situations.
The national guard is pre-deloyed in anticipation of a problem. The state has declared a state of emergency in numerous counties ahead of the potential threat.
The state government has allocated resources so that if the situation arises, the state is prepared to handle it and handle it quickly, Cuomo said in a press conference.
Flooding this morning on shores of Seneca Lake in Hector, New York, on August 14, 2018. (Twitter/ @DreaFreeman)
Flooding this morning on shores of Seneca Lake in Hector, New York, on August 14, 2018. (Twitter/ @DreaFreeman)
