There is the storm… and then there is the recovery…both are tough.

And it’s raining again. (Note: the city has warned that basement apartments are again at risk - get basement alerts filling out this simple form: http://on.nyc.gov/Basements).

For those in recovery mode, here are some curated lists specific to NYC flooding with MANY links you might need…as well as some tips. About 75 Flood-Recovery Topics Specific to NYC.

A cloudburst storm hit NYC on May 20, 2026 with approx. 2-3 inches of rain in different areas:

That’s just rain collection. These days… inches turn into feet quick!

Clearly it got much more than that depending on where you were that day. In Hollis Queens, it was measured to be 46 inches (see below).

Why? 1) Rain velocity: it is more intense cloudbursts dropping more water from more humidity, and 2) Water moves across NYC cemented streets and gathers quickly in lower places where it may not be absorbed because of high-underground water tables or overwhelmed sewers.

From the Flood Net sensors (which measure compound flooding) during the storm showed it these hotspots (…311 data may show more later):

Source: FloodNet. Data Viz: Bea Steers. Screen capture from LinkedIn post, May 20 2026 storm

According to FloodNet: “FloodNet sensor network detected flooding at 98 sensor locations during the event, predominantly in Brooklyn and Queens. The greatest peak flood depth recorded by a FloodNet sensor was 46 inches, observed at the intersection of 183rd St and 90th Ave in Hollis, Queens; this flood also had an extremely fast onset rate of 1.7 inches/minute.”

As someone pointed out under the FloodNet LinkedIn post: “1.7 inches per minute is the number worth flagging. At that onset rate, depth becomes almost secondary. Urban drainage and warning systems aren't designed for water arriving that fast.”

[ Request to FloodNet team if reading this: maybe we didn’t figure it out…but would be great tried to be able to get a time-series view over all the sensors, or multiple ones, vs just one. And see that with graphing tool you have. Couldn’t find way to do that. We went to NYC Open Data but last updated there was May 15.]

According to New York Post article: “Queens bore the worst of it, with Bellerose recording 2.57 inches of rain in what one local called flooding that arrived within “a span of 25 minutes.”

Oddly enough, it felt hard to find other sources of rainfall data on that day. Ended up looking at NOAA Storm Prediction Map and was surprised to see it didnt have a good view of what actually happened in NYC on May 20 (maybe we were looking in wrong place). See video.

With a few inches, NYC got swamped. It serves as a reminder of the new reality that we now live in a “sub-tropical climate” in NYC. It is more than inconvenient…it is damaging and as we saw again, deadly.

Bottom line: That’s why we need to get “spongier.” And we need to get “safer.”

Some gathered videos from May 20 flooding here

There are people who literally “jump in” to help reduce flooding in their neighborhoods and clear blocked catch basins so water can move into the sewer system (if it can handle it). They are “NYC Stormtroopers”…and we put together a little highlight reel of them in action. There ARE good people out there!

See NYC Stormtrooper Highlight Reel on IG:

» Are you a NYC Stormtrooper or did you capture one in action? Share it with us so we can include them in highlight reel.

“NYC Stormtrooper” submission page

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