By Gabriela Resto-Montero and Ben Frachtenberg
DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — Remnants of a deadly storm that ravaged the south whipped through Manhattan Thursday afternoon, slamming the city with periods of heavy rain.
The National Weather Service had issued flash flood and severe thunderstorm watches for the city, but both were cancelled in the afternoon.
The brief deluges, which dumped about an inch of rain, didn't phase one Vancouver couple hanging out in Chinatown's Columbus Park.
"We're from Vancouver, this is nothing," said Barbara, 62, who was with her husband, Lee, 63.
But Alex Macron, 47, said that he was sick of the wet weather.
"There's been some form of precipitation almost every day since November," he said. "I'm worn out."
Scattered showers and thunderstorms were expected through the evening and sprinkles are in the forecast for Friday afternoon before the weather clears.
Temperatures are expected to be in the 60s with some sun and heavy wind gusts on Friday and Saturday. Sunday is expected to be sunny with temperatures in the low 70s.
The storm is the tail end of a weather system that reportedly killed 248 people in the south with a series of tornadoes. There were 162 deaths in Alabama, 32 in Mississippi, 32 in Tennessee, 13 in Georgia, eight in Virginia and one in Kentucky, the Associated Press reported.
A weak tornado also touched down in Oneida, N.Y. on Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed Thursday. The EF-1 tornado touched down seven miles north of Rome, N.Y. at 4:20 p.m. with winds up to 100 miles per hour, the Examiner reported.
DNAinfo/Elizabeth Ladzinski
