Northeast Including New York City Facing Flood Risks From Thunderstorms Today

The US Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, including New York City, face another round of thunderstorms, increasing flood risks and transportation woes, with even the slight chance of a tornado.

Flood watches will cover New York’s five boroughs, as well as stretching from the lower Hudson Valley across New Jersey to eastern Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, starting midday Thursday, the National Weather Service said. Depending on the exact track of the storms, rain may fall at rates of up to 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) per hour, with New York City seeing as much as 3 inches overall.

In addition to the flood threat to nearly 39 million people, there is a level 2 risk of severe thunderstorms bringing hail and damaging winds across a large part of the Mid-Atlantic from Upstate New York to Northern Virginia, the US Storm Prediction Center said. There’s also a 2% risk of tornadoes.

“New Yorkers: Thunderstorms could bring heavy rain and damaging winds to our city,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a BlueSky post. “If conditions are dangerous, please wait to travel.”

Last week, New York was shaken as a rare tornado touched down on Long Island’s Atlantic Beach. The Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and parts of New England have seen waves of thunderstorms this summer that have grounded thousands of flights, driven residents from their homes and caused massive power outages. Parts of northwest Indiana were without electricity for more than 10 days after a wave of storms swept through.

In July, residents in Upstate New York had to flee their homes when heavy rains set records in Albany and brought almost a foot of precipitation to the surrounding area.

Thursday’s rain through the region may be hit or miss, with some areas getting drenched and others avoiding the worst of it, said Brian Hurley, a senior branch forecaster with the US Weather Prediction Center.

“There is decent rain in the forecast for that area but not everyone is going to get hit,” Hurley said. “We are more worried about repetitive rounds. For New York City and Philly, it is multiple rounds.”

Photo: Travelers board a bus during a downpour in New York on Aug. 21. Photographer: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu/Getty Images