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Video: Yesterday's Rains Were Record Breaking!
By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 15, 2011
Modified Aug 15, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Aug 15, 2011
Modified Aug 15, 2011
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We said that there would be rain this weekend. But wow, there was a LOT of rain yesterday! How much was there? Why, enough to smash the record for most rainfall recorded at JFK in one day by well over an inch! By 9 p.m. last night the National Weather Service had recorded 8" of rain at the airport. A head above the previous record—6.3" in one day set June 30, 1984. And the hurricane-like rainfall was not so good to the tristate area's infrastructure.
The extreme amount of water coming from the skies caused a whole lot of trouble, with people trapped in cars in Brooklyn and without power in parts of the city. Trains were delayed and canceled, as was the Yankees/Rays game, and more. The city's Office of Emergency Management even activated its Situation Room! On Staten Island two construction workers were trapped in an elevator quickly filling with water ("I literally thought I was going to die," one of the men told the News) and in New Jersey the waters are responsible for the destruction of at least two bridges. Seriously, there was a lot of rain. Just look at the flooding on Metropolitan Avenue near Cooper Avenue in Middle Village, Queens!
The highest total of rainfall recorded by dusk was at Lido Beach in Nassau County (10.87"). And to be fair to the city's records, in Central Park only 5.8" of rain were recored by 10:45 p.m., making it just the fifth-wettest day on record. Expect more than a few additional raindrops to fall today. But speaking of records... The normal rainfall for all of August is just 4". Chew on that. Meanwhile, wasn't it just a few days ago we were begging for a drop of rain?
Tagged
Floods
national weather service
rain
record breaking
weather
Garth Johnston
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