The deadly wrath of Hurricane Ida has brought havoc in the states of New York and New Jersey, forcing the governors to declare emergencies. Heavy rains have caught the Northeastern regions of the United States, killing dozens.
The storms that hit Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and Louisiana on Sunday travelled the neighbouring areas, leading to power outages and deaths. Entire communities were destroyed due to the rapid influx of floodwaters in Southern Louisiana, reconnaissance flights showed on Wednesday. Strong winds carried away several structures while officials are still evaluating the damage caused due to the tornadoes.
Parts of New York City and New Jersey got submerged in waters and storms crashed into Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey, killing 8 more people in the northeast US along its path on Wednesday. Another 7 died in New York City, the local police reported while New Jersey recorded one more fatality.
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Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, declared a state of emergency after Hurricane Ida’s remnants wreaked massive destruction due to heavy flooding in the city. Meanwhile, New Jersey’s Governor Phil Murphy did the same in response to the tornado followed by New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday night.
New York City entered a travel ban on Wednesday till 5 am ET on Thursday, disallowing all non-emergency vehicles from moving, Mr Blasio ordered, saying, “We’re enduring a historic weather event tonight with record breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads.”
Within just one hour, the National Weather Service department recorded 8 cm of rain in Central Park of New York. This was almost double of what was witnessed on August 21st (4.9 cm), which was believed to be the highest ever recorded.
The floods made history as the department issued a Floor Emergency to 9.1 million New York residents who were the most the risk. The warning urged them to move to higher ground to avoid the gushing waters.
Among the several who died were a mother and her son who died after their home got submerged in the NYC’s floods in Jamaica of Queens.
Apart from lives lost, properties also got thrashed in the waters as did regular government office operations, affecting normal lives. All flights were suspended from Wednesday night and all parking lots were shut with the water entering the cellars and low-lying areas.
The roof of the US Postal Service building collapsed in NJ while a Pennsylvania damn was about to overrun in the tornadoes. People were present inside the building at the time of the incident but there is no clear information on the number of people injured in the same.
On Wednesday, Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said a teenager was found dead while one person was reported missing. Around 200 residents of 60 complexes were displaced due to the floods.