Cars were left stuck in the flood water in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on Tuesday as heavy rain hit the city
Cars were left stuck in the flood water in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on Tuesday as heavy rain hit the city
Heavy rain was pummeling the TriState area on Tuesday evening, with 65mph winds expected in Connecticut and Bridgeport airport breaking a rainfall record set in 1958.

On Long Island, the weather station in Ronkonkoma saw 3.33 inches of rain fall by Tuesday evening - smashing the previous daily record of 1.50 inches, set in 1981. In New York City, JFK airport also set a new record, with 2.05 inches of rain falling - the most since 2002.

Power company Con Edison, which supplies the region, said there were 'scattered outages' on Tuesday night, and urged people not to go near downed power lines.

As of Tuesday night, Massachusetts was beginning to feel the force, with Cape Cod and Boston being hit. The state was reporting about 11,000 power outages, as the storm brought down trees along the coast.




The easternmost part of Long Island, the southeastern corner of Connecticut and parts of coastal Massachusetts and coastal Rhode Island were under a high wind warning until Wednesday afternoon, with the National Weather Service cautioning that 'widespread power outages are expected.'

The storm system was expected to linger through Wednesday morning.

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One brave driver tried to brave the flood waters in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning
One brave driver tried to brave the flood waters in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning
Roads were flooded in some areas, causing misery for drivers trying to get home on Tuesday evening.

Flooding was reported along the Saddle River in Lodi, and for the Ramapo River - both in New Jersey - and, in New York, in Orange and Rockland Counties.

The Weather Service extended a flood warning in Warren County and Sussex County through Wednesday morning.

The New York Police Department reported flooding that in some cases blocked traffic during rush hour on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, a key traffic artery.

Residents and elected officials had feared a repeat of the flooding that plagued the Big Apple after Hurricane Ida, but fortunately the storm was far less severe.

City streets throughout the five boroughs were swamped on Tuesday morning, however - stopping cars in their tracks, and making for a messy morning commute.

The flooding forced several high-water rescues as rivers quickly reached their banks after the state received more than three inches by 7am, according to NJ.com.

In Union Beach, New Jersey alone, CNN reports, there had been over a dozen water rescues throughout the night.

No injuries were reported in any of the rescues and no one has required any first aid or hospital care, Police Chief Michael J. Woodrow said.

'Fortunately, our highly trained officers are able to reach traditionally inaccessible areas with these vehicles, especially when time is of the essence,' he said.

'Our playbook was created from lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy as well as other meteorological events.'

He added that the town has also received 'countless' calls for service and multiple vehicles have been submerged in water, as state troopers reported they responded to 188 accidents and 81 motorist aid calls.

Rutgers University, citing the threat of the storm, also asked instructors to move all of their classes online on Tuesday.

In New York City, though, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday that custodial staff stayed overnight at 250 schools to prepare the buildings so that they could fully reopen.

He added that 450 sandbags were distributed in hard-hit areas of Queens to protect from flooding.

Forecasters with AccuWeather said the storm had undergone a period of rapid intensification known as bombogenesis overnight on Monday, when the central pressure of the storm dropped by 0.71 of an inch of mercury or more over a 24-hour period to become a bomb cyclone.

Tuesday's storm was expected to produce the most rainfall in a day since Ida dropped more than seven inches of rain over the city last month, according to NBC News.

More than 40 people were killed in New York and New Jersey as a result of that storm.

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