AT least two people have been killed inside a flooded basement after heavy rain lashed New York, the police said.
Storms and flooding battered the city after record-breaking rainfall disrupted flights and caused some damage, according to media reports.
Footage showed submerged cars and broken trees after a deluge hit the streets of New York.
Water was rising to the bumpers of cars and pouring into subway stations.
A scuba team recovered the body of a 39-year-old man after firefighters received a call of a person trapped in the flooded basement of a three-story townhouse in Brooklyn, police said.
Emergency responders rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
He had entered the flooded basement of his building while trying to rescue one of his dogs, a neighbour told The New York Times.
In Manhattan, a 43-year-old man was found dead inside the flooded basement boiler room of an apartment building, police said.
The cause of death was under investigation.
Both deaths occurred while a flash flood warning was in effect in parts of Manhattan, USA Today reported.
Media have reported incidents of flooding and damage, while officials at the city’s JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports said flight schedules were disrupted.
Mayor Eric Adam said: “This storm broke rainfall records for October 30,” adding that much of the rain forecast to fall over a few hours fell in a 10-minute window in the afternoon.
“When you look at the amount of water that was coming down, our sewer systems are just not built to handle that,” he added.
Weather authorities reported a record-breaking 1.85 inches (4.7 cm) of rain in Central Park, while 2.09 inches (5.31 cm) fell at LaGuardia Airport and 1.99 inches (5.05 cm) at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.
Street flooding was highly localised, turning some intersections with clogged drains into pools deep enough to float cars.
Falling tree limbs damaged vehicles in some neighbourhoods.
The National Weather Service also issued coastal flood warnings for parts of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.
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