Heavy Rain — Orange, New York

2010-08-22 · near Highland Falls, Orange, New York

Event narrative

A car traveling on Route 9W in Highland Falls hydroplaned from the heavy rain, spun off the road, hit a rock and then hit the guard rail. A passenger in the back seat, who was pregnant, was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at Cornwall Hospital. Two other passengers also sustained minor injuries. A Cocorahs observer in Cold Spring, 4 miles NE of the accident in Putnam County, reported 5.29 inches of total rainfall.

Wider weather episode

A warm front extending through the Tri-State Area from a low pressure system moving across the northern Mid-Atlantic States acted as the focus for heavy rain and training thunderstorms in Queens and Nassau Counties. Slow moving showers with embedded thunderstorms produced heavy rain which led to flash flooding on Long Island. In addition, a woman driving in Orange County lost control of her car in a heavy shower, killing both herself and her unborn child.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (41.3548, -73.9735)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 256947. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.