Gothamist78%
Wild storms in NYC: 'Life-threatening' floods, intense winds, a tornado possible Saturday 52%
By Ryan Kost75% Louis C. Hochman78%
7/18/2026, 12:25:00 PM
Topics: Severe Weather, Natural Disasters
Keywords: New York City, Weather
BS Summary: This article contains 19 faulty reasoning types, including Loss Aversion, Availability Heuristic, and Negativity Bias, with Indoctrination as the most egregious example at 18.6% saturation with 137 hits. Analysis detected 812 faulty-reasoning hits from 737 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 51.4% and a BS Rank of 52% (9,918 of 20,369 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 51.30% of the article peer group.
New York-area residents were getting pummeled with rain mid-day Saturday, as a line of severe thunderstorms brought flash flooding, potentially damaging winds and the possibility of isolated tornadoes to the region.
A flash flood warning — meaning flooding is happening or imminent — was in effect until 3 p.m. for much of North Jersey, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.
Videos on social media showed streets throughout the boroughs flooded, some with cars trapped or moving cautiously through the water.
The FDNY said it was receiving reports of people trapped in cars, but didn't have any information about rescues available as of 2 p.m.
NYPD alerts early afternoon said all lanes were blocked on the eastbound Brooklyn Queens Expressway approaching Metropolitan Avenue, on the Long Island Expressway at 188th Street and the Clearview Expressway at Northern Boulevard.
Newark, JFK and LaGuardia airports were all reporting significant delays of about an hour or more mid-day Saturday, a day before travelers from all over the world were excepted to attend the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.
NJ Transit suspended service in both directions Saturday afternoon because of the weather conditions.
At least some NYC subway service was affected by the rains.
Video shared with Gothamist showed water pouring onto the track as and platform from the ceiling of the Jay Street station in Brooklyn.
A Gothamist journalist saw water pouring into the 59th Street station as well.
The National Weather Service said the areas around event venues like New York/New Jersey Stadium, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Sports Illustrated Stadium and Rockefeller Center were all likely to flood.
Its advisories reminded residents most flood deaths occur in vehicles.
The entire area remained under a high rip current risk as well.
Several venues announced show cancellations or schedule adjustments.
The region also remained under a flood watch into early Sunday, with the strongest storms expected in the late afternoon and early evening.
By 1 p.m., nearly 4 inches of rain had fallen, and another 1 to 2 inches of rain per hour were expected, according to the National Weather Service.
Damaging wind gusts between 50 and 70 mph are the main threat with these strong storms, according to the city’s Emergency Management Department.
They can topple trees, powerlines and send unsecured objects flying.
Residents Saturday also have to contend with more smoke from the Canadian wildfires.
Meteorologist Brian Ciemnecki with the National Weather Service said smoke drifted back into the area overnight and will linger through the first half of Saturday.
Saturday mid-day, air quality through most of the city was rated “unhealthy,” but was expected to improve into Sunday
Tornadoes in the five boroughs are rare but not underheard of.
“Tornadoes don’t discriminate,” Ciemnecki said.
But, he added, “It’s not like you have this classic F4 barreling through Manhattan,” using a term that describes a devastatingly intense tornado on the Fujita Scale.
NYC Emergency Management activated its Flash Flood Emergency Plan Friday, and Mayor Zohran Mamdani said crews were ready.
“City workers are preparing our city for tomorrow’s storms by clearing catch basins, staffing up emergency response teams, and placing our downed-tree task force on standby, and New Yorkers should take time to prepare too,” Mamdani said in a statement.
Govs.
Kathy Hochul and Mikie Sherrill also issued their own words of warning leading into the storms.
“I remind everyone to take this weather seriously: Take precautions, know what to do if a storm reaches your areas … and don’t forget to check on friends and family members who might need assistance,” Hochul said.
“Be very careful,” Sherrill said in a video posted on Instagram.
“Stay away from trees as the storm comes in.
Make sure you're keeping yourself and your family safe.
Never drive through floodwaters.
They can really rise quickly and unexpectedly.”
Emergency officials offered the usual guidance: Don't drive, walk or swim through floodwaters; secure loose outdoor items; head indoors and away from windows at the first rumble of thunder; and check on neighbors, especially those in basement apartments.
New York City residents can also sign up for alerts by texting NOTIFYNYC to 692-692.
New Yorkers will see a bit of calm following the storms, Ciemnecki said.
Sunday and Monday should be drier and the skies less smoky.
But by Tuesday, thunderstorms are expected to return.
— Includes reporting by Jill Webb.
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