New York and New Jersey experienced extreme flash flooding Wednesday night. Mayor de Blasio declared a state of emergency, the subway looks like the Earthquake sfx show at Universal Studios, and rats are doing the backstroke. Busy Philipps’ house was also hit with flooding, and she found a unique solution. “I realized I had to make makeshift sandbags,” the Girls 5eva star said on her IG stories. “I have a ton of canvas bags … and I started filling [them] with rice, and oats, and then the dirt that was pouring into the house. And guess what? It worked.” Canvas totes are an unlikely savior during this climate crisis-augmented flooding, since the New York Times recently wrote that reusable bags are a greenwashing placebo and not actually an effective tool to prevent total climate collapse.
Mayor de Blasio tweeted that the rain is expected to stop within the next few hours, but until then people should stay off roads and subways. 5300 households are without power. Per AccuWeather, flash flooding is a danger in New York, southern New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania.
