New York and New Jersey are both under states of emergency as a nor'easter barreled into the region early Tuesday. New York City is under a flash flood watch (when conditions are possible for flooding) while many counties in New Jersey are under a flash flood warning (when flooding is "imminent").
Schools in some New Jersey towns—Bayonne, Harrison, Jersey City, Montclair, and West New York—were closed due to flooding concerns. Brian Ciemnecki, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said, "We're seeing some ponding on the roadways, maybe a lane is potentially blocked by the roadways, but for the most part the roads are passable and people are getting by."
Areas of the BQE saw high water levels this morning:
Residents in parts of Queens that were badly hit by the remnants of Hurricane Ida have not yet seen any major flooding. In Hollis, where flooding is a constant during regular rainstorms, homeowners say they got sandbags from the city. In Woodside, Ivette Mayo told Gothamist that a group of neighbors bought their own pallet of sandbags and placed them at their doors facing the alley, which flooded in September.
"My friend was up this morning with a flashlight [at 5:30 a.m.] sweeping away the leaves from the alley way, which was blocking the sewer... water was starting to accumulate."
Mayo added, "Not one city agency in sight, and no action has been taken to clean any of the sewers in the area since September 1st" (when Ida hit).
A flood advisory is in effect until Wednesday morning.
With reporting from Katherine Fung, Gwynne Hogan, and Elizabeth Kim
