Long Island Soaked By Record-Breaking Rainfall
Long Island, N.Y., was pummeled with rain today, possibly setting a state record for daily rainfall.
The town of Islip was hit the hardest, reports NPR's Sam Sanders. In one hour — between 5 and 6 a.m. — the area got more than 5 inches of rain. So far, 13 inches have fallen there, NBC New York says, "smashing the previous record for daily rainfall of 6.7 inches set on Aug. 24, 1990."
National Weather Service spokesman Chirstopher Vaccaro tells Reuters that 13 inches is believed to be the most to have ever fallen in the state in a 24-hour period.
Tim Morrin of the National Weather Service tells NPR the timing of the rain made things worse.
"We started to get many reports of flooded highways and multiple rescue missions as commuters were traveling in the dark and not seeing the flooded roadways," he says.
There are still active warnings for possible flash floods across eastern New England. There are also some remarkable images from Detroit of the flooding there earlier this week.
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