On September 17, 1999, Hurricane Floyd made landfall in New York City (NYC). It brought with it 60 mph winds, and up to 13.7 inches of rain. The accumulation of rain caused flooding in low-lying areas and forced many residents of the outer boroughs to relocate for the duration of the storm. Floyd was first detected on September 2, off the coast of Africa. It moved towards the Northwest steadily, but evolved from a mild tropical wave to a full blown hurricane in a matter of days. Floyd had already turned into a Category 2 hurricane when it reached North Carolina. Thankfully, by the time Floyd reached the New York area, it was downgraded to a tropical storm. During the storm, major airports were running with 45 minute delays. The MTA faced delays as well. In preparation for Floyd, NYC had distributed up to 50,000 pamphlets with safety instructions, and gave away 4,000 sandbags to businesses throughout the City. Many businesses closed early and barricaded storefronts to prevent flooding. NYC Schools were closed for the first time in four years. Twenty shelters were set up around the city, capable of holding up to 70,000 people. In the following months, the city provided disaster relief assistance to many families affected by the tropical storm. Besides flash floods that plagued the low lying NYC neighborhoods, the high wind speed and heavy rainfall of the storm resulted in many downed trees all throughout the city. Thanks to the precautionary measures taken, Floyd was not nearly as disastrous as people imagined it would be.