Two dead after flash flooding in New Jersey and New York City

Torrential rains in New York and New Jersey on Monday night brought flash flooding that killed two people and led New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency.

Officials had to perform rescues as flooding left drivers stranded as their vehicles rose in the waters.

In Plainfield, New Jersey, two people died when a car was sept away by floodwaters as the storm hit, Governor Murphy said on Tuesday.

Additional storms are expected on Tuesday with the potential for more flooding in the north-east as well as Florida and the mid-western US, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

As of Tuesday morning, several main roads in New Jersey were closed because of the floods, while both New York City and New Jersey experienced subway delays.

New Jersey saw more than 6in (15 cm) of rain in a matter of hours on Tuesday evening, leading to flight delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty International Airport.

In Scotch Plains, New Jersey, people had to be rescued, including one instance in which responders had to use a rope to pull a man out of his car to escape the floodwaters, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Flood waters also rushed through subway stations in New York City on Monday evening, pouring into subway cars and forcing passengers to kneel on their seats to avoid getting wet.

New York City saw its second-ever highest hourly rainfall in over 80 years – 2in of rainfall in just 30 minutes.

The flooding hit parts of Virginia as well, with two cities, Colonial Heights and Petersburg, at risk of “catastrophic” damage from floods, according to the NWS.

The heaviest rainfall is now moving to the east and weakening in intensity, the NWS in New York said, encouraging people to heed road closures.

The rain comes two weeks after extreme flash floods killed over 130 people in south central Texas, with many people still declared missing.