Staten Island Flooding Leaves Homes Flooded, Vehicles Ruined
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Rain showers Wednesday afternoon caused a major mess on the roads particularly on Staten Island.
While much of the rest of the area was experiencing sweltering humidity as New York City hit its third 90-degree day in a row, Staten Island and parts of Monmouth County saw as much as 2 1/2 inches of rainfall in less than two hours.
The cell rolled through Staten Island between 3 p.m. and about 4:30 p.m., dumping well over an inch of rain an hour, CBS2's Lonnie Quinn and Chief Meteorologist Giorgio Panetta reported.
As CBS2's Valerie Castro reported, it seemed as though the storm caught many by surprise, as the waters rose so high that stranded drivers had to be rescued by tow truck operators.
"It happened so quick – 10 minutes is all it took," said John Kalenberg.
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A little more than 2 inches of rain was enough to flood Doty Avenue in the South Beach section of Staten Island Wednesday afternoon. Cellphone video showed a car up to its bumper in floodwaters, with a man sitting on top – stranded in the newly-formed river.
"I had mixed emotions. I was like, is he OK? Like, how is he going to get out?" one young woman said.
Staten Island Flooding Leaves Homes Flooded, Vehicles Ruined
Around him, several classic cars owned by Kalenberg were ruined.
"It's heartbreaking to see that they were underwater that bad like that," Kalenberg said. "One of them I bought a week ago."
Kalenberg's home was also left flooded, and it had still been in disrepair from Superstorm Sandy.
"It's like a nightmare," he said. "Every time it rains, it becomes like a nightmare."
Kalenberg has lived in the area for more than 25 years, and said the two catch basins on the street just can't handle a heavy rain.
"I just wish they would do something about it -- the city; you know, put storm sewers in so it don't happen again," he said.
Janine Valentino was home when the rain fell.
"All of a sudden you heard, thunder; lightning," she said.
Valentino waded through the water just to be able to leave her home.
"To walk through this, it's disgusting," she said. "There's debris. There's gasoline all in the water."
Valentino said calls to the city never seem to do enough.
"Every time something like this, like, we get a little bit of a bad rain, you can't go to work, you can't do anything," she said. "You're stuck in your house."
And Kalenberg said there was no hope for his classic cars.
"Without a doubt, they're going to be a total loss, because the water was at the highest peak, it was almost to the roof of each car," he said.
The Department of Environmental Protection was on the scene late Wednesday, and was working to pump out the street and fix the drainage problems. They could not say anything late Wednesday about long-term plans to fix the issue.
Flooding was also seen on the Staten Island Expressway, and photos also showed waters rising in the Stapleton neighborhood, at Front and Wave streets.
Numerous people posted video to social media showing flooding and rushing water in their neighborhoods.
CBS2's Lonnie Quinn warned that much of the area will experience heavy rain on Thursday – with a total of 2.2 inches expected for New York City proper by 7 p.m.
