New York battered by severe thunderstorms, flash floods and lingering wildfire smoke

On July 18‑19 2026 a powerful storm system moved across the New York City metropolitan area, delivering intense thunderstorms that produced between one and four inches of rain in a few hours. Heavy downpours triggered flash‑flood warnings for all five boroughs, northern New Jersey and parts of the Bronx, closing major roads such as the Brooklyn‑Queens Expressway and flooding subway stations and basements. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for 16 New Jersey counties and warned of damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph, with isolated tornadoes possible. Strong winds and hail added to the damage risk.

The storms also helped clear a thick plume of smoke from large Canadian wildfires that had kept air‑quality indexes in the unhealthy range (AQI 173) for several days. City officials urged residents to stay indoors, avoid travel, move to higher floors if in basements, wear N95/KN95 masks when outside and use air purifiers. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul warned of power outages, fallen trees and road closures. Rescue crews responded to vehicles stranded in waist‑deep water and to emergency calls across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Newark, while flights at LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark experienced delays. The combined weather and air‑quality threats affected millions of residents in the tri‑state area.