Floodwaters
Torrential downpours in the Northeast have dumped a summer's worth of precipitation in a matter of hours in some places. Islip, New York, received 11 inches (27.9 centimeters) of rain in three hours on August 13, something the state hasn't seen before. And both Detroit and Baltimore experienced their second rainiest days in history earlier this week.
The storm system responsible for the deluge is more characteristic of spring and fall storms, with strong low pressure areas over the Great Lakes, cold air rolling southward out of Canada, and dense, moisture-filled air traveling from the tropics.
All that has resulted in flooded roads and driveways like the one pictured above. A car sits abandoned on a flooded street following heavy rains and flash flooding in Bayshore, New York, on August 13. (See "Amid Drought, Explaining Colorado's Extreme Floods.")
—Gloria Dickie
Pictures: Record-Breaking Summer Floods Swamp Northeastern U.S.
Summer floods have transformed roadways into raging rivers in the northeastern U.S.
