Flash Floods Wreak Havoc, Snarl Traffic Across New York

Jul. 23--Sudden downpours caused flash floods across the city Monday night, turning streets in Brooklyn and Staten Island into rivers and blocking traffic entirely on the Long Island Expressway.

Just before 8 p.m., severe flooding shut down all traffic in both directions on the LIE at Francis Lewis Blvd. in Queens.

Videos and photos showed torrents of rainwater rushing down streets in Williamsburg, flooding cars on 4th Ave. and Carroll St., and turning Wallabout St. at Throop Ave. into a watery mess.

Uber driver Walid Shawon, 27, said he had just picked up a fare on 4th Ave. and Carroll St. in South Slope, when the water rushed in.

"The water started filling up the bottom of my car, then it was up on the door. My customer was shouting for someone to please help," he said. "It was so terrible. I tried to back up. My car was floating in the water. We put it in neutral and it floated like a boat."

He and his customer escaped by crawling out a window.

Nearby, Amanda Denesha, 32, rushed into her first-floor apartment to retrieve her 4-year-old Bichon frise-Maltese dog.

"I got home and the street was flooded. I was running to save my fur baby, Coco," she said. "It was chaos. It all happened really quickly. The water was up to my ankles. When cars drove by, waves came into my apartment. I grabbed everything that was important and got out."

Her husband, Mark Denesha, said they had talked about getting renter's insurance last week, but wound up not signing up.

"I kept getting flood alerts at work and kept ignoring these stupid things. Then my wife called screaming," he said.

On Staten Island, rising water left a car stranded on Victory Blvd. near Woolley Ave.

"It was rushing so fast it was lifting manhole covers on the higher streets off Victory Blvd.," said Maura Yates, who was driving to her West Brighton home. "You could say it was like fording the river in Oregon Trail."

Flooding also shutdown northbound lanes of the Clearview Expressway at Northern Blvd. in Queens, emergency management officials said.

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