'Major catastrophe': Watch as road collapses into giant sinkhole amid Northeast flooding
Torrential rains and flash floods across the Northeast on Sunday caused a road in Long Island, New York to collapse, causing a huge sinkhole that presented a stunning visual.
Harbor Road in Stony Brook received "catastrophic damage" after heavy rainfall soaked parts of New York and Connecticut late Sunday night, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico said in a post on Facebook, adding "flooding across the north shore" caused "extensive damage to roadways and homes."
Video footage shows water gushing out of the pond into the broken road, with debris floating near the surface presenting a picture of ruin of what was previously a scenic site. Fallen trees can also be seen in the background.
Watch: Road collapses due to flooding
"The entire Mill Pond at Avalon emptied across the now collapsed roadway," Panico said, sharing a video of the collapsed road.
Panico said the last time the Mill Pond washed out was "over 100 years ago." Millions of gallons of water from the pond, along with turtles, fish and the belongings of several flooded homes flowed downstream, worsening flooding elsewhere.
"It is a road and rehabilitation project that is going to coast upwards of $10 million dollars," Panico said.
'Major catastrophe'
Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine declared a state of emergency for Suffolk County Monday morning and signed a disaster declaration, calling on the state and federal governments to assist with rehabilitation. He estimated damage costs for the entire county at over $50 million.
"This is a major catastrophe which was not expected," Romaine said after surveying the site and damages. "Our long time Mill Pond is gone. Six houses along here are damaged. Their personal belongings are now floating down this creek into the south. We are dealing with damage reports throughout this county."
Romaine said he hopes to get aid to help local businesses and homeowners recover from the catastrophe, adding that his government is "committed to rebuilding."
"We will rebuild. We will clean this up," Romaine said. "Whatever it takes. These are our communities. These are friends and neighbors. We are going to do what it takes to put this county back together again."
Gloria Rocchio, president of the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, which owns and operates the Mill Pond told the New York Times the flooding caused the pond’s dam to break.
“It is a tremendous loss to our organization,” Rocchio told NYT, adding that the pond was “nothing but a huge mud puddle now.”
Stonybrook University cancels student move-in plans
The unprecedented rainfall also flooded several areas of Stonybrook University's campus, prompting the public school to cancel student move-in plans on Monday and Tuesday as the damage was being assessed, the university said in an emergency alert. However, the scheduled start date for the Fall semester's first day of classes remains the same: Monday, Aug. 26.
Floods ravage Connecticut, New York
Between Saturday night and Monday morning, parts of Long Island got just over 10 inches, according to the National Weather Service office in Uptown, New York. In several areas, multiple inches fell within a few hours, causing flash floods that quickly transformed roads into powerful rivers that trapped people in their homes and cars.
Dozens of people were evacuated and rescued from their homes across several towns and municipalities, however, the worst impacts were in the town of Oxford, Connecticut, where two women were swept away by the rushing floodwaters as crews were attempting to rescue them. Their bodies were recovered on Monday.
Contributing: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.