{"id":299580,"date":"2026-07-18T18:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/299580\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T18:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T18:10:24","slug":"nyc-hit-with-flash-flood-warnings-heavy-rain-force-airport-flight-delays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/299580\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC hit with flash flood warnings, heavy rain \u2014 force airport flight delays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Flash flood warnings were issued in the Big Apple Saturday afternoon as heavy downpour forced ground stops and delays at the city\u2019s airports.<\/p>\n<p>The rain rolled through around noon, triggering flash flood alerts throughout the five boroughs.<\/p>\n<p>Manhattan\u2019s South Street Seaport district\u00a0was\u00a0turned into a swamp around 1 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>A man attempting to take cover during the downpour in Midtown, Manhattan on July 18, 2026. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Incredible video shows cars partially submerged in the water \u2014 and New Yorkers\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Deadjetson\/status\/2078528082009268617\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">trudging through shin-high flooding.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Long Island Expressway\u00a0was\u00a0washed out at 188th Street in Queens, forcing officials to shut down traffic in both directions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSevere thunderstorms are hitting across New York City, and much of the city is under a flood advisory. Don\u2019t risk your safety in these dangerous conditions,\u201d said Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n<p>Officials warned those in low-lying areas to move to higher ground and out of basements.<\/p>\n<p>Pea-sized hail\u00a0was also mixed in\u00a0with the rainfall, prompting a special weather alert for all boroughs except The Bronx.<\/p>\n<p>All three major airports, LaGuardia, JFK and Newark, suspended flights because of the storms, with the FAA ordering flights\u00a0to be\u00a0grounded until at least 3 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>The heavy rain rolled through around noon Saturday across New York City. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Flights at LaGuardia were delayed up to four hours and climbing by 1 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>The rain is expected to continue in bursts throughout the remainder of the day, with nearly 2.5 inches\u00a0expected to be dumped across three hours in\u00a0parts of the city.<\/p>\n<p>The heaviest rain so far has fallen over lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn and Queens, according to the city\u2019s Office of Emergency Management.<\/p>\n<p>NYC bicyclists seen battling heavy rain during their commute on Saturday. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n<p>Cars driving through flood waters on a New York City street on Saturday. Pix11<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFlooding can develop in minutes, so do not wait for water to enter or for another alert before acting. Do not drive, walk, or swim through floodwater, including flooded roads, underpasses, and subway stations. Turn Around, Don\u2019t Drown,\u201d the agency warned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust 6 inches of moving water can knock you off your feet, and 1 foot can sweep away a car. Floodwater can also hide open drains, downed lines, and other hazards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The storms also threatened strong gusts that could bring down trees.<\/p>\n<p>The rain may contain soot, ash and other particulate matter\u00a0that has been polluting the city\u2019s skies for the past few days after wafting down from the Canadian wildfires.<\/p>\n<p>The air quality hovered at \u201cunhealthy\u201d levels Saturday \u2014 but meteorologists say\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/17\/us-news\/dirty-rain-will-dump-toxin-riddled-water-onto-nyc-but-theres-an-upside-experts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">the heavy storm will help clear the air quality<\/a>\u00a0after dragging the smoke out of the sky.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday is expected to be sunny with low humidity and cleaner air.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flash flood warnings were issued in the Big Apple Saturday afternoon as heavy downpour forced ground stops and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3347,899,900,57,9,24,11,10,58,133],"class_list":["post-299580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-airports","tag-extreme-weather","tag-floods","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-us-news","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}