Wild Weather Causes Problems For Drivers, Commuters Across Tri-State Area

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Monday's wet and windy weather caused problems across the Tri-State Area, where some drivers seemed to be caught off guard by flooding and torrential downpours and subway stations became inundated with deluges of water.

Trapped by fast-moving floodwater in Hawthorne, New Jersey, Mark Sokol had to stand on a flower pot until firefighters came to the rescue.

"It was gushing here at like 30 miles an hour, three feet of water than can push you over down the stream," he told CBS2.

Sokol says the water was only ankle-deep when he walked into his warehouse around 9 am to reinforce the doors.

"If he would've stepped into the current he would've been swept away," Fire Chief Joe Speranza said. "There's no way a person would have survived that."

On McClellan Street in Newark, multiple cars are stuck in water up to the windows below the underpass as police arrived on the scene to aide drivers.

Other parts of Newark like Neck Lane looked like a lake. Flooding at Frelinghuysen Avenue and Virginia Street also trapped several vehicles. Firefighters helped rescue the occupants.

There was two to three feet of water nearby in Rahway on St. Georges and New Brunswick Avenues. Some drivers ignoring the police barricades found themselves stuck.

Further north in Hackensack, Hudson Street was completely under water with reports of cars stuck there as well.

In Hoboken the wind so strong that two boats were damaged when they pushed up again the rocks at Hoboken Cove.

In Bogota, New Jersey, the Bogota Police Department posted video to their Facebook page of four foot flooding at the intersection of River Road and Elm Avenue. They urged drivers to use caution and avoid closed roadways.

Route 1 south was closed in South Brunswick due to flooding, South Brunswick Police said.

In Union, a vehicle got stuck in high water on Westfield Road.

A boat may have come in handy on the subway in New York, if you could even make it down the waterfall-like staircase seen in a station in Hamilton Heights, Brooklyn.

And then there's the wind -- scaffolding went flying onto the sidewalk on Lincoln Road in Brooklyn. In Mount Vernon, a massive tree uprooted and fell onto a family's home -- taking down powr lines and splintering their walls.

"I heard a rumble and then my bed started shaking and the next thing I know I wake up and I start to panic," the homeowner said. "I was afraid it was going to collapse on me."

Authorities were asking drivers to not drive into flooded roadways. If you are unable to get to your destination, authorities recommend you park in a dry area and wait for the water to recede.

In:
• Newark