A number of New York City schools reported flooding Friday — forcing kids to shelter in place or move to higher floors — as torrential rain pummeled the Big Apple, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
“We have reports of flooding in a number of schools but no children are in danger as far as we know,” the governor told NBC in a Friday morning interview.
“Children are either being sheltered in place, moved to higher floors or, in some cases, parents have been asked to pick up their children.”
“Parents are worried about their children in schools they dropped them off a few hours ago when the conditions were not as they are unfolding right now,” added Hochul.
The governor, who earlier declared a state of emergency over the “dangerous, life-threatening” storm, didn’t elaborate on where the flooded schools were located.
“[Parents will] be contacted by their schools if there’s a change in circumstances,” Hochul said.
Reports on social media indicated the basement and lower levels of some schools buildings in the hard-hit boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens were experiencing flooding.
“Urgent! The school is flooded in many places, including the cafeteria. There is no way to serve lunch, water is backing up from drains, and the building is not safe for children. We need all families to come pick up their children as soon as possible,” one parent tweeted, referencing a message they reportedly received from an unidentified school.
The NYC Department of Education didn’t immediately respond to The Post.
The DOE had put out an alert late Thursday warning parents of the extreme weather, urging them to allow for extra travel time and to drive slowly.
Meanwhile, wild scenes of flash flooding unfolded across the city as potent rains tore through the tri-state area — swamping subways and basements and flooding streets and highways.
Up to 5 inches of rain fell in some areas overnight Thursday and as much as 7 inches more was predicted throughout Friday, the National Weather Service said.
“Count on this for the next 20 hours,” Hochul warned in an interview with NY1.
“We anticipate, we warn, we prepare. But then when it hits and you have 5 inches in the last 12 hours — 3 in the last hour this morning — that’s a scale that we’re not accustomed to dealing with.”