New York Today: Umbrellas on Parade

Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

Updated 8:51 a.m.

Good wet Wednesday morning to you. It will rain all day.

But the heaviest part of the storm comes tonight.

When it comes to umbrellas, New Yorkers often have commitment problems.

We spring for them at the first splotch of rain.

And sometimes lose them before the ground is dry.

If you step out, you are likely to see one left on the subway or in a cab, at a bar or cafe.

You’ll want to hang onto yours today, though, as the chilly rain grows steadier, dumping up to an inch on our heads before dark.

It’ll be another raw day, with temperatures stuck in the 40s until nightfall, then rising as the rain turns torrential and causes widespread local flooding.

And beware: It may be umbrella-bustingly windy.

In honor of these transient companions, some New York umbrella facts:

- An umbrella sharing program, ‘brellabox, is coming to the city. A 12-hour rental will cost $2.50.

- Many umbrella vendors are immigrants from Senegal in West Africa.

- Their umbrella source: wholesale stores in Manhattan’s flower district.

- At the Rain or Shine shop on East 45th Street, a customer on Tuesday bought a folding Italian umbrella with red rhinestones on the handle for $130.

- Last year, architects created a floating dome from the skeletons of hundreds of umbrellas discarded around the city. It floated in the Bronx River.

Here’s what else you need to know for Wednesday.

COMMUTE

Subways: Delays on the Times Square shuttle. Check latest status.

Rails: Scattered delays on N.J. Transit Northeast Corridor. Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: Delays of up to an hour at the inbound G.W.B and 40 minutes at the inbound Lincoln Tunnel. Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect all week.

COMING UP TODAY

- Authorities announce the arrests of six people for trafficking guns in Brooklyn. 11:30 a.m.

- Students from the Urban Assembly School for Emergency Management fan out to interview 1,500 New Yorkers about their storm preparedness.

- First public day of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden plant sale. Get there early; the competition is cutthroat. 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. [Free with $10 garden admission]

- Restaurants start serving 10,000 oysters from Atlantic Coast farms for the “Billion Oysters Project”; the shells will be used to cultivate oysters on Governors Island. 11:30 a.m.

- “Letters to the Mayor,” an exhibition of letters from 50 architects to the mayors of more than 20 cities, at the Storefront for Art and Architecture downtown. 11 a.m. [Free]

- Rangers-Flyers finale at the Garden. Nets at Raptors. Possible rainouts: Mariners at Yankees, Mets at Phillies.

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- A little-known state law blocks drivers from suing for pothole-related damages during the winter months â€" high season for potholes. [New York Times]

- A 4-year-old boy in the Bronx died after possibly eating rat poison. [New York Post]

- The couple who jumped to their deaths from the George Washington Bridge this week have been linked to the murder of the woman’s uncle. [Daily News]

- Finding adequate housing has become more difficult for the city’s aging residents. [New York Times]

- Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the AIDS advocacy group, hired a new leader. [Capital New York]

- The city is testing “townhouse-style” post-disaster housing in Downtown Brooklyn. [Brooklyn Daily Eagle]

- Scoreboard: Flyers clobber Rangers, 5-2, to force Game 7. Mariners sink Yankees, 6-3. Mets break Phillies, 6-1.

AND FINALLY …

A silent film star has her gravestone â€" nearly 100 years after her death.

Florence La Badie, known as Fearless Flo because she did her own stunts, died after a car crash in 1917, at 29.

She had made some 180 films, including “Cinderella” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

But her plot at Green-Wood Cemetery was unmarked until Sunday, when a marble stone reading “Fearless Flo” was unveiled.

No one is sure why her resting place remained blank for so long.

Sandra E. Garcia and Kenneth Rosen contributed reporting.

New York Today is a weekday roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning. You can receive it via email.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com, or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Follow the New York Today columnists, Annie Correal and Andy Newman, on Twitter.

You can always find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com.