New York Governor Kathy Hochul updated New Yorkers on potential flash flooding on Spectrum News.
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"We've seen rain before. We've seen flash floods before, but usually an event like this only occurs once a summer. We're looking to possibly back-to-back days of flash flooding in parts of our State.
"So, this is a time for people to be vigilant, and I appreciate the chance to talk specifically about what that means and what's in store.
"We're looking at Eastern New York. The rain has already started in the Lower Hudson Valley, but we anticipate the worst hitting the Capital Region and East around five o'clock today.
"But again, we're accustomed to rain in the summer. We've had everything from extreme heat.
"We've had the air quality conditions. And we've had heavy rains. But when you have six inches of rain up to two inches an hour then the level of flash flooding, the risk of it becomes very high, river flooding and reservoir flooding. We're concerned about this. It's a 40 to 70 percent chance of flash floods.
"And the challenge is, the ground is so wet already. Ordinarily, we could handle this volume, but because the ground is already soaked, it will not be able to absorb this particular storm event, and that could lead to flooding.
"And my biggest concern is the fact that most people's lives that are lost during a flood event occur because they're in their vehicles - not in their homes, but in their vehicles.
"And I want people to be very cautious about not going into a road that's closed or if you see any running water, because it doesn't take much for a vehicle and you lose all control, and you could actually lose your life. And that is what we're really cautioning people about. If it looks, you know, fine to you, it may not be on the other side. And to just be really smart and pay attention to all the warning signs.
"Well we've already been in contact for the last actually 72 hours with all the counties and the affected regions.
"We've deployed our State Police, our DOT workers, the Swift Water Rescue Teams are already in place just in case they're needed and pray hopefully, they're not. So, we've been deploying people already.
"We have thousands of utility workers, over 5,500 utility workers in case the power goes out. Like I said, 3,400 DOT personnel, Thruway personnel, Canal personnel." ■
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