Heavy downpours drenched the five boroughs, parts of coastal New Jersey and Long Island Wednesday morning, and the rain will linger for much of the day.
Forecasters say parts of the area saw localized street and highway flooding in poor drainage spots. Cars were nearly submerged in some places, including Jersey City and Brooklyn's Fourth Avenue.
Max Racine's minivan got stuck in deep water in Hoboken Wednesday morning, and was still sputtering eight hours later.
"I followed someone through -- they stopped. Once they stopped, I stalled," he said.
Racine managed to push his cars out but other drivers had to be rescued by fireboats.
In other parts of the city, some areas weren't even accessible even on foot.
"It looks like the street surrounding our building is pretty much a moat," said Desi Saran.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said flooding problems have become an "emergency" for the city, and pleaded for help to build three super water pumping stations. The project is estimated to cost $29 million.
"Heavy rainfall, high tide, we get flooded," she said. "We need help immediately."
Local
Across the tri-state, showers were dissipating by the evening, and temps will stay mild throughout the day, with highs in the mid to high 60s.
Light rain returns Thursday morning and scattered showers will hang out throughout the day, with the chance for thunderstorms north and west.
Track the storm with our interactive radar here.
The skies clear on Friday, but rain could return in the evening and overnight into Saturday, with a chance for severe storms that bring strong wind gusts and hail.
Here are your highs for the next few days:
Thursday: 69
Friday: 78
Saturday: 70
Sunday: 66
NBC 4 New York captured this video of flooding in Long Island City Wednesday morning.
-- Pat Battle contributed to this report.
