Dispatch from Dumbo’s Evacuation Zone: East River Swells, Creeps Up Towards Brooklyn Bridge Park

The Observer decided to take a morning stroll through the streets of Dumbo, the area of Brooklyn between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges that borders the East River. By the time we returned to our apartment we were just grateful we didn’t die from falling debris. The wind propelled us forward, at times so strongly that we wondered if we should maybe just turn back. At the end of Bridge Street, where it dead ends at the river, water was beginning to crest over the barrier, rising higher than we’ve ever seen it.

By Brooklyn Bridge Park, a gaggle of onlookers–one couple with a baby!–gathered to watch the apocalyptic scene unfold. The water was already lapping at the gate, and the rain hadn’t even seriously begun. The streets were empty except for a few NYPD trucks patrolling Zone A to make sure residents had properly evacuated.

“It’s only going to get higher,” one onlooker said of the water.