Jersey City's first responders pulled 69 people from floodwaters Thursday evening, answering 44 calls for service between 6 and 8 p.m. as a stalled front dumped rain across the Northeast. Most were drivers trapped in rising water. [1]

The arithmetic of the commute: forecasters warned of peak rainfall rates up to 2.5 inches per hour, and about 2.12 inches actually fell on the city during the evening. Route 440 flooded again, along with several downtown blocks. The city had scrubbed its own events before the rain, canceling a library movie night and a tax-relief session at St. Aloysius Church under the flood watch. City spokesman Nathaniel Styer confirmed the tally; Mayor James Solomon thanked fire, police, public safety, and public works crews for keeping the count at zero deaths. [1] [2]

The storm system was bigger than one city. A Level 3-of-4 flash-flood risk covered New York City and New Jersey, 17 million people, with a tornado watch over 15 million more. Tornado damage reached beaches on Long Island and streets in Dover, Delaware. [2] [3]

The cruelty is the timing. A flash flood timed to the evening rush converts every stalled sedan into a 911 call, and every driver who judged the underpass passable into a statistic with a rescue boat beside it. The water recedes by midnight. The videos do not.

-- MAYA CALLOWAY, New York