Flash flooding hits New York as storms batter city hours before World Cup final

Storms battering New York City caused flash floods in the hours before the World Cup final.Flash floods triggered by the deluge left some cars stranded in the streets of the city.The storms are the latest episode in a spate of inclement weather which has affected the duration of the World Cup. England were late arriving in Miami the night before their bronze final meeting with France due to another storm, and had their last-16 match against Mexico delayed by an hour for the same reason. Various other matches have also been delayed, including France’s group stage defeat over Iraq, where half-time lasted close to two hours.Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House World Cup task force, had admitted that the smoke could impact the final if air quality were too poor on the day.That does not seem likely to be an issue, though. One benefit of Saturday night’s thunderstorms, though, is the rain has helped disperse the smoke hanging over the city.Residents were warned against vigorous outdoor activity as wildfire smoke left an orange haze hanging over New York CityGettyWith the previous night’s storms now well clear of New York, the World Cup final seems set to get underway as scheduled at 3pm local time (8pm BST).Temperatures in the city had hit 23C by 9am EST and will only get hotter, with a beating sun helping to dry out the playing surface at the New York/New Jersey Stadium. Temperatures of 27C are expected by kick-off.