Those with cars (and means) could leave, the rest were stuck; some had gas burners, the rest ate their food cold; those with water towers had at least a few days with running water, others had to make do with hydrants. The drama of unequal division uncannily defined the crisis, just as it had an election year that was finally coming to an end.

“The city’s sewer system, the storm-water management system does not have the capacity to process water when you go above an inch and a half, an inch and three-quarters, in an hour,” Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chairman and CEO, told PIX11 on Tuesday. “Last night that rainfall was more than two inches in an hour; that’s when you get the backup into the... See more