The intersection of Sutter and Saratoga Avenues in Brownsville in July 1923, when severe storms turned the borough’s streets into rivers, flooded subway stations and basements, and caused geysers to erupt from manhole covers. Lightning blasted apart wood paving blocks on Cortelyou Road in Flatbush, threw a construction worker from his ladder on Ocean Avenue (thankfully, he was unhurt), and struck the steeple of Park Slope’s Greenwood Baptist Church, damaging one of its stained glass windows.
Photo: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle via the Brooklyn Public Library
Looks like these severe weather events have always been with us













