Kickball players, rejoice: City Councilman Stephen Levin is putting $930,000 towards fixing the constantly-flooded McCarren Park. One softball player tells DNAinfo, "It's a nuisance, but it's also become a part of the landscape. People ride their bikes through it, kids are dying to play in it and the parents are like, 'Don't go in there!' because it's so dirty," and reveals she and her friends call it "Hipster Lake." Another park visitor's dog "sat vomiting after slurping up a fetid puddle." more ›

Last night's big storm soaked the region and left thousands of homes outside of NYC without power. In fact, there are some power outages in NJ that has left PATH service suspended (or maybe it's flooding?). more ›

Yes, Irene by and large passed over New York City with less damage than some had feared, leading some to glibly announce that we were a bunch of overreacting ninnypants. But the same cannot be said for our neighbors to the north—in many parts of upstate New York and Vermont, the damage is still being fully assessed, with state parks and historic sites looking to be in bad shape. more ›

Sigh. Nearly 3.5 inches of rain has fallen out of this latest storm, the illegitimate child of former tropical storm Lee and a cold front. We're exaggerating a bit, as September's normal rainfall is 4.23 inches, but several inches of rain is not really needed at this time. Have you noticed how coffee-colored the Hudson is? Here's a neat NASA satellite comparison showing what happens when Irene discharged several years worth of sediment into the river within a couple of days. more ›

While some thrill-seekers opted to surf Irene over the weekend, others took a decidedly more modern ride... on a jet ski. Take a tour of the flooded, empty streets of Oceanside, Long Island from aboard a jet ski, passing a half-submerged Dunkin' Donuts and plenty of stranded cars along the way. We'd like to think that these guys stopped to help anyone in need, but... they mostly look like they're out for a joyride. WARNING: the six-minute video is scored by Linkin Park... so you may prefer to savor the fun fruits of global warming in contemplative silence. more ›

The FDNY rescued over 60 Staten Islanders after Hurricane Irene hit and flooded their homes, but now those same people are complaining. The Daily News reports they're fuming because they weren't warned that nearby Willowbrook Lake could flood, and when the storm hit, branches and debris clogged a drain that normally keeps the lake from overflowing. more ›

In a video that would be a boon for recruiting efforts, National Guard soldiers are seen piloting their vehicles through high water on South Main Street in flooded Manville, New Jersey during rescue efforts. In the background, one man asks, "How is that possible?" Another replies, "It's the Army, bro." The recruiting video would end there, because the trucks get stuck. Is this a crude metaphor? more ›

Grab a case of Hot Pockets and get to higher ground, you guys: there's a coastal flood warning in effect for Staten Island and parts of New Jersey. The warning is in effect until 6:45 p.m., and The National Weather Service is warning drivers not to try and pass through areas where water covers the road, because the water may be deceptively deep. The Doppler radar indicates that the heaviest rain is behind us, but as you can see from this photo, it's going to take a while for it drain off. Elise Rita Zilber, who took this photo, says, "This is water on top of a drain. Up to my ankle and not draining at all on SI." more ›

Don't let the semi-bright skies fool you! We are catching a short break from the precipitation as a tongue of somewhat drier air is squeezing its way between rain bands. Another round of showers and thunderstorms, some containing heavy rain, should arrive later this afternoon. Since the ground is saturated from all this rain, close to 2.5 inches has been measured in Central Park, a flood watch has been issued for the entire metro area. The Weather Service has also issued a coastal flood advisory for this evening. more ›

Another night, another two-inch rainfall in the city. For the second time in five days two inches of precipitation filled the rain gauge next to Belvedere Castle. There was quite a gradient of rainfall across the region. To the east only a quarter-inch or so fell on the Hamptons. More than five inches of rain fell on central and northern New Jersey, leading to flooding, road closures and evacuations. National Flood Safety Awareness Week is happening one week too late! more ›

Stop me if you've heard this one before. It is very tempting to just cut-and-paste last Friday's forecast into this space as the current weather forecast is a virtual repeat. High pressure to our north is slowly moving eastward and a low pressure system with lots of rain will soon arrive. The high is a bit further north this time, so instead of 60-degree weather we're looking at east winds, cloudy skies, and the mercury hugging the low 40s for the rest of the day. more ›

Many of those new condos popping up along the East River in Williamsburg were struggling to find buyers after the economic collapse, but buildings like The Edge are reporting a recent surge in sales, and real estate brokers tell the Brooklyn Paper that happy days are here again. But if you're buying along the waterfront, you may want to make sure your building offers perks like complimentary gondola service and free speedboat rentals, because some experts say parts of Williamsburg and other low-lying areas will soon be submerged with alarming frequency. more ›

Well, that was something else: After a beautiful day, the evening brought a sudden thunderstorm to the NYC area—hail "the size of macadamia nuts" (as one reader who sent a photo put it) bombarded Brooklyn so severely that snow-like mounds formed. There's also flooding, and the Jets-Vikings game, which was supposed to start at 8:30 p.m., was delayed until 9:15 p.m. because of lightning! Check out these videos: more ›

As a result of the heavy rainfall this morning, over 100 graves are under water at Cypress Hills National Cemetery in Brooklyn, where grave sites date back to the Civil War era. A cemetery spokesperson "appeared to be unaware of the flooding" after receiving a call from PIX 11 News, and told a reporter that a "major draining operation has been going on for the past year at the national gravesite." PIX reports that there are currently no clean-up crews in sight, so it looks like a zombie Civil War reenactment is inevitable this weekend. more ›

Watch out for winds and rains! The city is in "Flash Flood Warning" mode until 7:45 a.m. according to NY1, which says, "Flooding has or is occuring on streets and highways!" And don't forget the subways: NYC Transit Tweeted that there's flooding at the 72nd Street subway station, "3 service suspended,. 2 via 5 149th St - Nevins St, 1 suspended 137th St - Times Sq." Earlier, service had been suspended between 96th and Times Square for the 1, 2 and 3; also, a tree fell near 167th St in the Bronx, which meant delays on the downtown 4 (it's supposed to be cleared up by now, but it's always good to check mta.info). more ›

September has been pretty dry—up until now. Thanks to Tropical Rainstorm Nicole, torrential rain is headed our way. Last night, the National Weather Service warned there was "the chance for strong to severe rain and wind late this evening through early Friday"—translation: there may be flooding—and now there's a "High Wind Warning" in effect until tomorrow morning at 6 a.m.—translation: watch out from stuff flying off roofs or scaffolding and if you're a property owner/manager, tie stuff down! more ›

There's a headline we haven't had to use in a while. A low pressure system has brought much needed rain to the city and much too much rain to portions of Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley. A little over 2.5 inches of rain has fallen on Central Park while some spots upstate have received over five inches. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] NotifyNYC warned a few minutes ago that there was a "Water main break in the vicinity of E15th St and Union Square East in MN. Expect street closures and traffic delays in the area." We've contacted the Office of Emergency Management, and will update when we know more about what's going on. Until then, you might want to grab a pair of galoshes if you're going to be in the area. Or a bikini if you can slip past the cops. more ›

Over the weekend, the low-flying, scary sounding "Shrike Commander" plane was busy collecting images for what will be the most detailed map of New York City ever. The images are collected by a sonar-like laser system, which shoots out laser pulses from the aircraft and measures how long it takes for the pulses to return. The data will be compiled into a comprehensive map and used to assess everything from flood prone areas to neighborhoods in need of more trees. They couldn't just use GoogleMaps? more ›