New York Mayor Mamdani urges residents to stay home amid flash flood warning

BASRA, Iraq — NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Sunday urged New York City residents to stay indoors as the city braces for sudden flash flooding and heavy rainfall following a heat wave that pushed temperatures to 38 degrees Celsius and left more than 840,000 households without power. In a post on social media, Mamdani warned residents to prepare for flash floods accompanied by thunderstorms. He asked residents not to go outside during the storm and ordered those living in basement apartments to evacuate immediately if water levels rise. The mayor said emergency shelter locations have been set up across all neighborhoods for overnight use, with a dedicated hotline available for residents seeking transportation to those sites. Officials asked that non-emergency issues, such as downed trees and blocked storm drains, be reported through a separate line, while life-threatening situations and flood-related entrapments should be directed to 911. No further details on the scale of the expected storm were immediately available.