High Tide Inundates Lower Manhattan
As the sun shone on Saturday, January 13, 2024, and clouds scudded across a blue sky, high tide rolled in to the three watery sides of Lower Manhattan around 9am—and kept rising until seawalls were immersed and sidewalks were submerged.
Ferries to the Statue of Liberty were halted because the boarding area was a foot under water. Parts of Hudson River Park were closed.
So-called “sunny day flooding” is triggered by the gravitational pull of new and full moons that results in exceptionally high tides, and is exacerbated by rising sea levels.
(The first new moon of 2024 occurred on January 11. Look into the sky on the evening of January 25 for the year’s first full moon.)