Less clear is what happened to the denizens of those cities' subterranean depths: the rats. In New York City, 3.2 inches (8 centimeters) of rain fell in a single hour on September 1 — about an inch shy of the normal monthly total. The same is true in Philadelphia, which was also ravaged by rain, according to health department officials there. Rats are excellent swimmers, points out Michael Parsons, an environmental biologist and visiting research scholar at Fordham University in New York City. (Lanza noted that the disease is rare in New York City and there are no known cases associated with this or past floods.)

Source: CNN September 19, 2021 10:07 UTC