NYC NOW - Evening Roundup: Assessing Flood Damage in Plainfield, Cuomo’s Mayoral Run as an Independent, and NYC’s Hot and Humid Week

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Officials in Plainfield, NJ are clearing debris after several inches of rain caused flood waters to rise. Plus, former governor Andrew Cuomo says he’s staying in New York City’s mayor’s race as an independent candidate. And finally, the National Weather Service says the heat could break 100 degrees later this

Assessing the flood damage in Plainfield, New Jersey, Andrew Cuomo's may all run this time as an independent, and New York City's hot and humid week. From WMYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jenae Pierre. Authorities in New Jersey say Monday night's flash flooding has killed two women in Plainfield. Officials say high water swept the women's cars into the Cedarbrook

at the height of the storm. It's the second time this summer the city has been hit by flooding. Two men also died during a storm in Plainfield on July 3rd when a tree branch fell on their car. WMYC's Mike Hayes is at the scene in North Plainfield. Mike, where are you exactly in Plainfield? And tell me what you're seeing right now. Yeah, hey, Jenae, so I'm in North Plainfield. I'm here on the corner of West End Avenue and Greenbrook Avenue,

where floodwaters hit this area really bad on Monday night. and I'm staring at a completely burnt-out Mercedes-Benz sedan that was just left in the middle of the road. Locals told me that the waters got so high here that folks were trying to drive through, and this motorist, she couldn't get her car down this road because the waters were so high. It started to smoke, and she hopped out

and went into a home across the street. The folks living there were gracious enough to let her in, and then the car burst into flames. Nobody was hurt, but yeah, it's pretty surreal to look at. Yeah. And as I mentioned, this is the second time this month that this part of New Jersey has been hit. Mike, is there any sense of why this keeps happening there?

Yeah, so this immediate area that I'm in Jenae is at the base of the Wachong Mountains and the Raritan River and a couple different bodies of water are not too far from here. So what's going on in this area is what during these storm, that are just dumping five, six inches of rain on the ground in a couple of hours. The water is just rushing down the mountain and overwhelming the area and just flooding the streets. That seems to be what's happening here, but any official you talk to will tell you,

flash floods are one of the hardest things to predict. So I think they're still trying to figure out exactly what's going on here. From what you're hearing from officials or emergency crews, have they given any indication of how plan to protect these areas going forward? It sounds like it's still very a reactionary type thing. Actually, when I was over here speaking with a local woman, her name is Joy, she was standing in the middle of the road taking pictures of this car. She actually got on the phone with a woman named Chanel Robinson.

She's the commissioner for Somerset County, and we asked some questions about that together. And what the commissioner told us was she's in constant contact with federal partners, with folks at the state level, county level, but they're still trying to come up with a plan. And in the meantime, this area on Monday night, Governor Murphy declared a state of emergency, which will unlock various state funds to help with the cleanup.

But it seems like they're going incident to incident right now trying to figure this out. I know you mentioned that the focus right now is on cleanup. But I'm wondering what's next for people in these flood-prone areas. Are there any signs of some long-term solutions or anything? Yeah, I mean, it's going to be hard in the age of climate change to see a clear path to things getting better. Locals I spoke to who lives in the neighborhood that we're in right now

mentioned that she's taken down 23 trees in her yard just to make her property a little safer, so a tree literally doesn't fall on her house. I mean, folks are taking precautions like that. And in a lot of these flood prone areas, the state has a program where if you decide I can't live there anymore, I need to go, they will work with you to potentially buy out your home. But there's a lot of challenges there. You know, the state might not offer you, for instance, as much to move out of your home to buy out your home as you would have liked to get for it. So folks are dealing with that sort of thing too.

But there's various different programs that are out there to help when things get bad and people have to deal with tragedies like what we're seeing in Plainfield and North Plainfield today. But as far as how we can plan for this moving forward, it seems like just reacting to these extreme weather situations has become more and more than new normal. That's WMYC's Mike Hayes reporting from North Plainfield in New Jersey, a community on the brink of recovery. recovery from Monday night's flash floods. Now to New York City, where former Governor Andrew Cuomo has relaunched his campaign for mayor. More on that after the break. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo says he's staying in New York City's mayor's race as an independent candidate. Cuomo made it official Monday with an understated video posted online.

The fight to save our city isn't over. Only 13% of New Yorkers voted in the June primary. The general election is in November, and I am in it to win it. My opponent, Mr. Mandani, offers slick slogans, but no real solutions. The opponent Cuomo's referring to is assembly member Zora Mamdani, who beat him by a landslide in June's Democratic primary. WMYC's Bridget Bergen says the announcement is no surprise and that Cuomo's campaign has been planning this move since conceding in the primary. She says one of the things to watch for is how much of course. Cuomo's campaign actually changes course.

Versus just getting back into the race and seeking out support from some of the same people who supported him during the primary campaign. People like wealthier New Yorkers, most of whom are concerned about Mamdani's success in the primary. Bridget says the campaign also sent letters to supporters that reiterated that the campaign had made mistakes. But also criticized Mamdani very directly and while acknowledged that he had energized, voters around issues of affordability, the ability to pay for rent, child care transportation, that so much of what Cuomo will be running on is to serve as a firewall against Mamdani's

very likely win in a general election, given that there are so many candidates who are occupying moderate and conservative lanes. And speaking of lanes, Cuomo is now the third candidate running as an independent in the mayor's race. He joins attorney Jim Walden and current Mayor Eric Adams. Bridget says there will likely be some overlap among voters who support Mayor Adams and Cuomo. The two are pretty much chasing the same type of voter. However, Adams has retained some pretty strong support among black voters, particularly older black voters. That's some of the base that Cuomo has traditionally relied on. And I think we've already seen some very sharp attacks from Adams on Cuomo in, you know, how he has pushed other black candidates out of

races in the past. The statement that his campaign issued cited some of the other candidates who Cuomo has run against, Charlie King, H. Carl McCall, and David Patterson, and how he had urged those candidates to drop out of the race when he was running. It's something that he says Cuomo has done to him as well, asked him to drop out of the race. And there is no indication at this point that Mayor Adams is giving up on his re-election bid. That's WMYC's Bridget Bergen. High temperatures and humidity left many New Yorkers with some serious sweat stains Tuesday. No judgment, I'm right there with you.

And according to the National Weather Service, the heat index will be even higher Wednesday and Thursday when it could break 100 degrees. New York City officials say cooling centers are open across the five boroughs. They're also urging residents to stay in air conditioning and avoid. strenuous outdoor activity as much as possible. Meteorologists say chances of showers persist through Friday. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WNYC. I'm Jenei Pierre.

We'll be back tomorrow.