NEW YORK CITY Flash Flood due to Climate Change

(Reuters) New York Governor Kathy Hochul warned on Saturday, as the city began drying out after one of its wettest days ever, that the torrential downpours that caused flash flooding on Friday reflect a “new normal” due to the effects of climate change.

A sea lion at the Central Park Zoo was able to swim briefly outside of her pool enclosure after nearly eight inches (20 cm) of rain fell on some parts of the most populous city in the United States.

A municipal hospital in the Brooklyn borough announced it would evacuate all patients and staff after a power outage on Friday, even though the risk of flooding in the city had decreased by midday on Saturday.

Officials from NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull said that despite having switched to backup power after Friday’s neighbourhood outage, power will be completely shut off for several days while repairs are made. On Saturday, the hospital was preparing to transfer its 120 patients to other hospitals, a process that was expected to take eight hours.

Subway and commuter rail lines were shut down, and buses and cars were stuck for hours as the streets turned into rivers. At LaGuardia Airport, flights were either rescheduled or cancelled, and one terminal was forced to be evacuated.

We have to accept this as the new normal,” Hochul said.

Hochul has declared a state of emergency for the next six days, which will allow for quicker allocation of resources to deal with the crisis. There were no reported deaths from the storm.

According to the White House, Vice President Joe Biden was updated on the flooding on Friday and Saturday, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was standing by to provide assistance.