FDR Drive Flooding Tops Upper East Side's Rainstorm Woes

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — As the remnants of Hurricane Ida inundated New York City Wednesday night, one of the most dramatic scenes played out along the FDR Drive, where oceanlike conditions led to abandoned vehicles and temporary closures.

The highway, which runs along the East River from Lower Manhattan to the RFK Bridge, began to flood Wednesday evening as record rainfall dumped on the city.

By 11 p.m., the floods forced the FDR to be closed entirely between East 75th and 79th streets. The Upper East Side's police precinct said they had blocked off several entrances, tweeting a video of a construction barrier floating onto the highway.

And yes, that is a construction barrier floating onto the FDR Drive.

Over the next few hours as the water subsides & roadways reopen, continue to exercise extreme caution commuting, as many items may have drifted onto roadways & sidewalks. pic.twitter.com/AHLqChIlqx
— NYPD 19th Precinct (@NYPD19Pct) September 2, 2021

By Thursday morning, scores of cars left behind by their owners were being towed away. Dirt and debris still covered part of the roadway, snarling traffic.

The storm seemed to catch the city off-guard, and the flooding on the FDR encapsulated the sentiment that New York may be unprepared for an increase in extreme weather brought about by climate change.

The FDR Drive has long been seen as vulnerable to storms and rising sea levels, having flooded badly during Hurricane Sandy. The city's ambitious East Side Coastal Resiliency project, however, only protects lower portions of the FDR, well south of the Upper East Side stretch that shut down Wednesday.

City Councilmember Ben Kallos, who said Wednesday's flooding was the worst he had witnessed on the FDR Drive, suggested that the city should "rethink" the highway's design, which snakes along the side of the island and is topped by the East River Esplanade.

"A consequence of Robert Moses is that our roadways, our highways are all on waterfront areas where they’re no longer well-suited," he told Patch on Thursday.

If the FDR were buried below ground and topped with a park, Kallos suggested, New York could "go back to being the city that doesn’t even flinch at weather."

Off the highway, the Upper East Side's residential blocks appeared to have been relatively spared by the storm, seeing none of the loss of life that struck Brooklyn and Queens.

One East Side Twitter user reported that water entered their home through a basement toilet and shower drain. The Central Park Lake also overflowed its bounds, covering much of Bethesda Terrace with greenish water. (Later, on Thursday, the city temporarily reduced voltage to the Upper East Side while Con Edison made utility repairs.)

For the most part, though, Upper East Siders simply sat back and watched as their neighborhood was soaked.

Insane rain in the #UpperEastSide right now!! #nycweather #nyc @nynjpaweather pic.twitter.com/f69rLfdm7N
— Ben Cathers (@bencathers) September 2, 2021

Lots of abandoned cars being towed off of FDR this morning pic.twitter.com/7OFk06Q3XY
— andrea zagata (@zagatam) September 2, 2021

Full coverage:

• Central Park Again Records Wettest Hour In NYC History
  
• At Least 9 Dead After Hurricane Ida Remnants Flood NYC