NEW YORK (AP) — Two people in New Jersey were killed after their vehicle was swept up in flood waters during a storm that moved across the U.S. Northeast overnight, authorities said Tuesday.
Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, noted the deaths occurred in the northern New Jersey city of Plainfield where there were two storm-related deaths July 3. A third person was killed in North Plainfield during that previous storm.
“We’re not unique, but we’re in one of these sort of high humidity, high temperature, high storm intensity patterns right now,” Murphy told reporters after touring storm damage in Berkeley Heights. “Everybody needs to stay alert.”
The names of the two latest victims were not immediately released Tuesday.
Heavy rains moved through the Northeast on Monday night into early Tuesday, causing flash flooding.
Video posted on social media appeared to show water flooding down into a Manhattan subway station, submerging the platform while passengers inside a train watch. Another photo appears to show passengers standing on a train’s seats to avoid the water beginning to soak the floor.
Janno Lieber, chair and CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, told ABC 7 in New York the city’s sewer system got overwhelmed by the rain and backed up into the subway tunnels and to the stations. In several cases, he said, the backup “popped a manhole,” creating the dramatic “geyser” seen in some videos.
“What happened last night is something that is, you know, a reality in our system,” he told the TV station, noting the backup happens when more than 1 3/4 inches of rain falls in an hour. “We’ve been working with the city of New York to try to get them to increase the capacity of the system at these key locations.”
Lieber said there was now full subway service, as well as full Long Island Railroad and Metro North commuter rail service after hundreds of people worked overnight to restore operations.
Some roads remained closed in sections of New Jersey and dozens of flights were delayed or canceled at area airports Tuesday, including 159 total cancelations at Newark Liberty Airport, according to FlightAware data.
Most flash flood watches and warnings had expired in parts of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as the rain moved on.
In one flooded North Plainfield, New Jersey, neighborhood, a house caught on fire and collapsed, possibly due to an explosion, not long after the family inside had evacuated, authorities said. No injuries were reported.
