The death toll continues to rise as the northeast recovers from Hurricane Ida.
Between Connecticut to Maryland, 46 people were killed by the storm. Governor Phil Murphy announced at least 23 deaths in New Jersey.
“We’re still not out of the woods, we still have damage that we’re dealing with, we still have floodwaters significantly higher than normal … it may be a long road,” he said on the TODAY show.
At least 11 of the 13 deaths in New York happened in flooded basement-level apartments.
“Officials said at least five people died in Pennsylvania, including one killed by a falling tree and another who drowned in his car after helping his wife to escape. A Connecticut state police sergeant, Brian Mohl, perished after his cruiser was swept away. Another death was reported in Maryland,” per AP News.
In addition to the death, the region’s infrastructure was overwhelmed with heavy rainfall, surging rivers, and tornado damage.
“In New York City, first responders rescued commuters from halted subway trains Wednesday night, while other travelers were stranded overnight in subway stations, some sleeping on benches with service suspended and no way to get to their destinations,” says CNN. “NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said Thursday that 835 people were rescued from the subway system.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul told CNN, “People are just shocked by this. I mean, this is an event that we planned for — we started deploying resources to the region the night before and in the morning before. But once that rain starts coming down and it's just unrelenting, there's nothing that the people can do other than look up with their jaws dropped and say, 'What is happening here?'"
Although it had been downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it reached the northeast, Hurricane Ida was originally considered a Category 4 storm. The National Weather Service said hourly rainfall was 3.15 inches in Manhattan, breaking the record set by Tropical Storm Henri two weeks before.
“US president Joe Biden has now declared an emergency in both New Jersey and New York, enabling both states to receive federal funding to support local disaster relief efforts,” per the BBC.
Ida is considered the fifth strongest storm to hit the United States mainland. It made landfall twice in Louisiana on Aug. 29 before moving north.
