Heavy Rain Again Scrambles Commute for NYC, But City Escapes Forecast’s Worst

The National Weather Service had predicted up to 5 inches of rain in the area and issued flash flood warnings for all five boroughs.

This article originally appeared in The City.

By Samantha Maldonado 

The City 

August 1, 2025

NEW YORK - Subway stations flooded. Cars got stuck on a Queens parkway. Park staircases became waterwalls in Brooklyn. But, overall, New York City mostly avoided the worst possible outcome from Thursday evening’s torrential rain storm.

New York City was under a flood watch Thursday afternoon, bracing for potentially dangerous and disruptive flooding in streets, basement apartments and on transit.

The outlook looked grim ahead of the storm, with the five boroughs expecting to see 1.5 inches to 3 inches of rain and the possibility of up to 5 inches in some areas, according to the National Weather Service.

Some neighborhoods experienced more severe flooding than others. Flood monitors measured waters over a foot deep in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and nearly two feet deep in Richmond, Staten Island.

In Park Slope, a subway station was inundated with water, as was the FDR Drive in Manhattan. First responders rescued two people in a vehicle from the flooded Clearview Expressway in Queens, while drivers abandoned other cars and trucks.

Yet neighborhoods typically the first to flood in heavy rainfall were mostly left unscathed, including parts of Gowanus, Brooklyn, and East Elmhurst, Queens.

Most of the storm had moved on by evening, but a flood watch will remain in effect in the city until 8 a.m. Friday.

New York City Emergency Management warned New Yorkers to avoid travel Thursday afternoon and urged those who live in flood-prone homes to prepare to evacuate. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday afternoon declared a state of emergency, and the city later suspended alternate side parking.

“Our emergency teams and city agencies are fully mobilized and prepared, but New Yorkers must also take steps to stay safe,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “Sign up for Notify NYC, know your exits if you live in a basement apartment, and be ready to act before conditions become life-threatening.”

Basement apartment residents could head to New York Police Department precincts if they had nowhere else to go, officials said.

“Check in on your loved ones,” Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said Thursday late afternoon.

In recent years, summertime deluges that flood the city have become common — and destructive. Record rainfall came in 2021 as a result of Hurricane Ida. The Weather Service measured more than three inches an hour at that storm’s peak, with more than seven inches in all in many parts of the city. At least 13 people died, including 11 who drowned in flooded basements. The event was unprecedented.

People hurry to the Barclays Center station while torrential rain hit the city, July 31, 2025.

New York City got nearly as soaked on July 14 this year, which saw the second-wettest hour recorded in the city after Ida. The torrential rains once again transformed some subway stations into waterfalls.

The city’s sewer systems, which mostly handle both stormwater and wastewater, were designed to handle about 1.75 inches of water on average. But moderate rain can quickly overwhelm the system’s capacity and cause flooding — as well as sewer backups. 

The city Department of Environmental Protection has invested in sewer expansions throughout the boroughs, as well as other solutions like installing rain gardens and porous pavement to absorb water. The agency bought new trucks to scoop debris out of catch basins ahead of storms and has encouraged locals to report or clean out clogged drains themselves. 

DEP has also given away sandbags, rain barrels and flood barriers to homeowners so they can prepare.

 

Still, the concrete jungle needs to do more to handle the kind of deluges it’s increasingly experiencing and the storms scientists expect to become more frequent and intense due to climate change. DEP put a $30 billion price tag on necessary resiliency measures for the city’s neighborhoods that are most vulnerable to flood from heavy rainfall. 

To get ready for and respond to the extreme rainfall, check out THE CITY’s previous reporting:

• Here’s our guide on how to prepare for a flood before the rain starts falling.
• Here’s our explainer on how to clean up from a flood and what moves to make next.
• Here’s our tip sheet on whether tenants should get flood insurance in addition to renter insurance.