Two women were swept into a river as heavy rainfall caused severe flooding in parts of Connecticut and New York's Long Island. The severe weather resulted in washed-out roads and people trapped in vehicles and a restaurant.
Authorities reported at least one fatality due to the storms, which also wreaked havoc in New Jersey late Sunday and early Monday.
Western Connecticut experienced as much as 10 inches of rain, falling so rapidly that drivers were caught off guard as roads swiftly transformed into fast-flowing rivers.
The body of a woman who went missing during the storm was found on Monday in Oxford, approximately 35 miles southwest of Hartford, according to Oxford Fire Chief Scott Pellitier, as reported by the New Haven Register. Search efforts are ongoing for a second woman who was swept away while firefighters attempted a rescue.
The storm system that impacted Connecticut on Sunday before moving onto Long Island is different from Hurricane Ernesto , which was over the open Atlantic Ocean on Monday but still anticipated to generate powerful swells, hazardous surf, and rip currents along the East Coast.
William Syrett, a professor of meteorology and atmospheric science at Penn State University, described the Connecticut- New York system as "training thunderstorms."
"It's like each thunderstorm is a car on a train track, and so they just keep going over the same place," he said.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said more than 100 people were evacuated by search and rescue teams on Sunday night. In a dramatic scene in Southbury, Lucas Barber was recorded as he waded through chest-high waters to aid a man whose vehicle was nearly submerged due to a flash flood.
"I pulled over, grabbed some rope that's in the back of my car for emergencies, and threw my phone and wallet on the seat and ran out there," Barber recounted to The New York Times.
Barber managed to extract Patrick Jennings, the trapped motorist, and his golden retriever from the drifting vehicle.
"He got me all the way out of the water, the dog comes swimming up and the rest is history," Jennings told the Times.
Another harrowing rescue unfolded at the Brookside Inn in Oxford, where the establishment was besieged by a violent surge of water. Firefighters saved eighteen people who were stranded inside by extending a ladder over the floodwaters to reach them.
The waters were "literally enveloping this whole restaurant," described Jeremy Rodorigo, a firefighter from Beacon Falls, on Monday. He said he is concerned for the restaurant's structural integrity as cars and large debris floated past, striking the building.
Firefighters also saved a woman and her small dog from an apartment adjacent to the inn, Rodorigo disclosed.
Ed Romaine, the executive of Suffolk County in Long Island, said hundreds of homes have been affected by flooding and mudslides have covered cars in some areas. "We are dealing with damage reports throughout this county," Romaine stated during a press conference near a pond in Stony Brook where a dam breach destroyed a section of a major road and flooded homes.
Dan Panico, the Supervisor of the Town of Brookhaven, described the flooding as "an environmental and economic disaster."
He added: "Millions of gallons of water, turtles, fish, everything is downstream along with the personal belongings of many of the houses that were flooded," estimating that repairs to Harbor Road alone would cost $10 million.
Dozens of flights were canceled at Newark Liberty, LaGuardia and John F Kennedy airports due to the severe weather conditions.
The storms dumped approximately 2 to 4 inches of rain on most of northern New Jersey, causing minor to moderate flooding on roads including the Garden State Parkway and other major highways, leaving some motorists stranded. However, no deaths, injuries or property damage were reported in New Jersey.
Amtrak suspended service between Philadelphia and New York's Penn Station for several hours on Sunday evening due to flooding on the tracks in New Jersey . Service was restored by Monday morning, although several trains between Washington and New York were canceled due to unspecified "equipment unavailability."
Flooding has disrupted service on a Metro-North Railroad branch in Connecticut, while New Jersey Transit train lines experienced up to 30-minute delays Monday morning due to weather-related signal problems.
Penn State professor Syrett pointed to "perfect conditions" for the storms, attributing them to high atmospheric moisture and a sluggish weather system. Syrett said that the extraordinary aspect was the volume of rain within several hours, rather than the thunderstorms themselves.
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