Hanna Brings Flooding, Flight Delays to New York City

Tropical Storm Hanna dropped a month’s worth of rain within hours Saturday, flooding highways, delaying flights and halting the U.S. Open Tennis tournament. But officials reported no major damage.

The storm dropped three or more inches of rain on parts of the city and more in some northern suburbs, the National Weather Service said. Nearly six inches was measured in Rockland County. The metropolitan area normally gets three to four inches of rain in the entire month of September.

Wind gusts reached 40 mph, National Weather Service meteorologist John Koch said.

Stretches of several highways in the city, Long Island and Westchester County were closed because of flooding, and a fallen tree briefly closed part of the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, police and city officials said.

Three apartment buildings in the Woodside section of Queens also grappled with some flooding, but residents didn’t have to evacuate, city Office of Emergency Management spokesman Chris Gilbride said.

“Overall, we’re doing all right,” he said.

The storm forced the U.S. women’s final off its usual Saturday date for the first time in 34 years and postponed one men’s semifinal at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens. Hanna also washed out the Philadelphia Phillies-New York Mets game at Shea Stadium.

Utilities said more than 7,800 homes and businesses were without power in the region, mainly on Long Island. Flight delays were as long as four hours at the region’s major airports.

City and suburban officials took pains to prepare for the storm. They cleared catch basins and street drains, and some areas prepared shelters in case they were needed.

Nassau County, on Long Island, had 20 shelters stocked with food and water and ready to hold as many as 34,000 people, emergency management commissioner Jim Callahan said. Adjacent Suffolk County also prepared shelters and closed all parks and campgrounds at 4 p.m., County Executive Steve Levy said.

The Red Cross opened two shelters on Long Island and said it had 1,500 volunteers ready to help.

The storm was expected to clear the area overnight.

“Most people will wake up tomorrow morning and like what they see,” Koch said.