WATCH: Eastern US lashed by 2 ferocious ‘once-in-50 years’ storms in just TWO WEEKS
Up to 56 million people across the eastern seaboard of the US are at risk of flash flooding, gusts of up to 60 mph and even isolated weak tornadoes, as an unusually powerful storm lashes the region.
Flash-flood warnings were issued across New York City, Newark, and Jersey City, with strong gusts reported in areas of Nassau County and the city boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens on Wednesday.
Eyewitness video from the affected areas shows the sheer ferocity of the storm as it bore down on residents, unleashing nature’s full fury following a major heatwave.
@cnnbrkpic.twitter.com/fkieSYF4Ab
— George Field (@thegeorgefield) July 22, 2020
The best video I ever captured. #NewYork#WeatherChannel#NYCpic.twitter.com/cOBqTqJ9LO
— Mikey Cee (@_Mikey_Cee) July 22, 2020
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Carl Babinski warned of “heavy thunderstorms” as a result of a “very humid air mass spreading out across the East,” but it appears from video uploaded to social media that residents got a lot more than just thunder.
Next big purchase will be a kayak #Hobokenpic.twitter.com/x2hyFBYiRd
— Connor Schroeder (@conzq) July 22, 2020
Crazy rain and lightning in #nyc right now. ⛈⚡️ pic.twitter.com/34fxK0Pi3p
— Carolyn D (@nycat) July 22, 2020
Beleaguered residents in Hoboken, New Jersey complained to City Mayor Ravi Bhalla that this was the second “once-in-50-year-storm” the city had endured in the space of two weeks as, once again, the city’s flood defenses failed.
So now we’ve had TWO “once in a 50-yr storm(s)” in 11 days? Can’t wait to hear @RaviBhalla & @CityofHoboken’s next excuse. #hoboken#flooding#RainmoreAndFloodagainhttps://t.co/q03wzUjw53pic.twitter.com/TwLszdJgZ5
— Mikey D (@miggalooch) July 23, 2020
Despite efforts to install more flood pumps in recent years, the streets were still awash and apparently smelling of sewage.
Just two weeks ago, the Northeastern Seaboard was hit by an unusual tropical storm which formed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and hit the Jersey Shore directly, in much the same way Hurricane Sandy did in 2012.
Speaking about the storm at the beginning of July, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla described it as “the equivalent of a 50-year storm; in other words, a storm that has a two percent chance of happening in any year.”
Meanwhile, in Virginia, residents were so astonished by the violent winds on Wednesday evening that some wondered whether they’d just survived a tornado.
Did the storm that just went through #charlottesville have a tornado confirmed. Watch this video from our home and let me know your thoughts? @NBC29@CBS19Newspic.twitter.com/8bAvkPZdQF
— nealpiper (@nealpiper) July 22, 2020
Some apparently took the recent ferocious storms in their stride, however.
— RM (@rmal13_1) July 23, 2020
The storms hit on the same day a tsunami warning was issued in Alaska following a powerful offshore earthquake, but thankfully it was a false alarm.
Also on rt.com Tsunami warning issued for several hours after magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit offshore AlaskaThink your friends would be interested? Share this story!