Weather
WATCH: 'Baby Tornado' Hovers Over Brooklyn As Storm Strikes
The torrential storm also flooded the subways and the FDR Drive.
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BROOKLYN, NY — The torrential storm that slammed New York City Tuesday afternoon brought plenty of rain and thunder — and even a "baby tornado." One video posted to Twitter shows a funnel-shaped cloud hovering over Brooklyn as the thunderstorms moved over the metropolitan area.
It's unclear whether the cloud is rotating. But Michael Uturn, who took the footage in Downtown Brooklyn, described it as a "baby brooklyn tornado."
It wasn't the only swirling mass spotted in the sky during the rough weather. Another video by Max Guliani appears to show a waterspout over New York Harbor as the storm hit Lower Manhattan.
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But the National Weather Service determined it was just a funnel cloud that didn't actually touch down.
baby Brooklyn tornado @NY1 pic.twitter.com/F83GWuH1oN
— michael uturn (@michaeluturn) July 17, 2018
"From the videos we saw, there was no apparent sign of the circulation touching the water," the weather service tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
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The storm is expected to drop more than an inch of rain on the city by Tuesday evening. The five boroughs are under a flash flood watch until 10 p.m.
The wet weather caused travel headaches as floods hit the subways and at least one major road.
A Twitter video showed the FDR Drive covered in water near 79th Street, with a puddle flowing over a curb.
One photo from the First Avenue L train station showed several straphangers — including one barefoot woman — navigating a big puddle front of a staircase.
Rain streamed into an N train stuck at Queensboro Plaza, creating "a river" in a subway car, a video tweeted by Paul Rosenberg shows.
Update: stuck at QBP on the N train. There is a river forming in the car 8745. Good times @NYCTSubway #Stormin pic.twitter.com/KjHQf4pJvd
— Paul Rosenberg (@PaulsRandomness) July" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/PaulsRando... 17, 2018
Wow! FDR is flooded by 79th St. @NBCNewYork @ABC7NY #nyc pic.twitter.com/Iqp5RftsZg
— EnforceNYC (@enforcelawsNYC) July 17, 2018
(Lead image: Screencap from Michael Uturn via Twitter/Used with permission)
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