Flash flooding brought on by the remnants of Hurricane Ida killed at the least 44 individuals.
New York, United States:
Flash flooding brought on by the remnants of Hurricane Ida killed at the least 44 individuals within the New York space in a single day into Thursday, together with a number of who perished in basements in the course of the “historic” climate occasion officers blamed on local weather change.
Document rainfall, which prompted an unprecedented flash flood emergency warning for New York Metropolis, turned streets into rivers and shut down subway providers as water cascaded down platforms onto tracks.
“I am 50 years previous and I’ve by no means seen that a lot rain ever,” stated Metodija Mihajlov whose basement of his Manhattan restaurant was flooded with three inches of water.
“It was like dwelling within the jungle, like tropical rain. Unbelievable. All the things is so unusual this 12 months,” he informed AFP.
A whole bunch of flights have been cancelled at LaGuardia and JFK airports, in addition to at Newark, the place video confirmed a terminal inundated by rainwater.
“We’re all on this collectively. The nation is able to assist,” President Joe Biden stated forward of a visit Friday to the southern state of Louisiana, the place Ida earlier destroyed buildings and left greater than one million properties with out energy.
– ‘Historic climate occasion’ –
Flooding closed main roads throughout New Jersey and New York boroughs together with Manhattan, The Bronx and Queens, submerging automobiles and forcing the fireplace division to rescue a whole lot of individuals.
Not less than 23 individuals died in New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy informed reporters.
“Nearly all of these deaths have been people who received caught of their autos,” he stated.
A state trooper died within the neighboring state of Connecticut.
13 died in New York Metropolis, together with 11 who couldn’t escape their basements, police stated. The victims ranged from the ages of two to 86.
“Among the many individuals MOST in danger throughout flash floods listed below are these dwelling in off-the-books basement dwellings that do not meet the security codes needed to avoid wasting lives,” lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.
“These are working class, immigrant, and low-income individuals & households,” she added.
Three additionally died within the New York suburb of Westchester, whereas one other 4 died in Montgomery County exterior Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, a neighborhood official confirmed.
Ida blazed a path of destruction north after slamming into Louisiana over the weekend, bringing extreme flooding and tornadoes.
“We’re enduring an historic climate occasion tonight with record-breaking rain throughout the town, brutal flooding and harmful circumstances on our roads,” New York Mayor Invoice de Blasio stated late Wednesday.
State emergencies have been declared in New York and New Jersey whereas the Nationwide Climate Service issued its first-ever emergency flash flood warning for New York Metropolis, urging residents to maneuver to larger floor.
“You have no idea how deep the water is and it’s too harmful,” the New York department of the Nationwide Climate Service (NWS) stated in a tweet.
The NWS recorded 3.15 inches (80 millimeters) of rain in Central Park in simply an hour — beating a document set simply final month throughout Storm Henri.
The US Open was additionally halted as howling wind and rain blew below the corners of the Louis Armstrong Stadium roof.
– Lingering twister risk –
New Yorkers woke to clear blue skies Thursday as the town edged again to life, however indicators of the earlier evening’s carnage weren’t distant: residents moved fallen tree branches from roads as subway providers slowly resumed.
By Thursday night, round 38,000 properties in Pennsylvania, 24,000 in New Jersey and 12,000 in New York have been with out energy, in keeping with the web site poweroutage.us, a big lower from earlier within the day.
It’s uncommon for such storms to strike America’s northeastern seaboard and comes because the floor layer of oceans warms on account of local weather change.
The warming is inflicting cyclones to develop into extra highly effective and carry extra water, posing an growing risk to the world’s coastal communities, scientists say.
“International warming is upon us and it is going to worsen and worse and worse until we do one thing about it,” stated Democratic senator Chuck Schumer.
In Annapolis, 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Washington, a twister ripped up timber and toppled electrical energy poles.
The NWS warned the specter of tornadoes would linger, with twister watches in impact for components of southern Connecticut, northern New Jersey, and southern New York as Ida tracked north via New England.
A twister struck the favored vacationer vacation spot Cape Cod, Massachusetts on Thursday night.
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