The Flash flood in New York City killed at least 44 people.
New York, United States:
Rapid flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida killed at least 44 people in the New York area overnight on Thursday, including several people who died in basements during the “historic” weather event that officials blamed on the climate change.
Record rainfall, which triggered an unprecedented instant flood emergency warning for New York City, turned streets into rivers and shut down subway services as water flowed down the platforms to the tracks.
“I’m 50 and I’ve never seen so much rain,” Metodija Mihajlov said, the basement of her Manhattan restaurant was flooded with three inches of water.
“It was like living in the jungle, like tropical rain. Amazing. Everything is so weird this year,” he told AFP.
Hundreds of flights were canceled at LaGuardia and JFK airports, as well as Newark, where the video showed a terminal flooded by rainwater.
“We’re all together. The nation is ready to help,” President Joe Biden said before a trip Friday in eastern Louisiana, where Ida destroyed buildings and left more than a million homes without electricity.
– “Historic weather event” –
Floods closed major roads in New Jersey and New York neighborhoods, including Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens, flooding cars and forcing firefighters to rescue hundreds of people.
At least 23 people died in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy told reporters.
“Most of those dead were people who got stuck in their vehicles,” he said.
A state soldier was killed in neighboring Connecticut.
Thirteen died in New York City, including 11 who could not escape from the basements, police said. The victims ranged in age from 86 to 86 years.
“Among the people MOST at risk during rapid floods are those who live in basements that do not meet the safety codes needed to save lives,” legislator Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted in a tweet.
“These are working-class, immigrant and low-income people and families,” he added.
Three also died in the suburb of Westchester, New York, while four others died in Montgomery County, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a local official confirmed.
Ida opened a trail of destruction to the north after falling in Louisiana over the weekend, causing severe flooding and tornadoes.
“We are enduring a historic weather event tonight with record rain throughout the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday afternoon.
State emergencies were declared in New York and New Jersey, while the National Weather Service issued the first instant flood emergency alert in New York City, urging residents to move to higher ground.
“You don’t know the depth of the water and it’s too dangerous,” the New York branch of the National Weather Service (NWS) tweeted.
The NWS recorded 3.15 inches (80 millimeters) of rain in Central Park in just one hour, surpassing a record set last month during Hurricane Henri.
The American Open also came to a halt as wind and rain howled beneath the corners of the Louis Armstrong Stadium roof.
– Persistent tornado threat –
New Yorkers woke up with a blue sky on Thursday as the city came back to life, but signs of the previous night’s massacre were not far away: residents were moving fallen tree branches off the roads as subway services resumed. slowly.
On Thursday evening, about 38,000 homes in Pennsylvania, 24,000 in New Jersey and 12,000 in New York were without electricity, according to the website poweroutage.us, a significant decrease from the early hours of the day.
These storms rarely hit the northeast coast of the United States and occur when the surface layer of the oceans heats up due to climate change.
Global warming is making cyclones more powerful and carrying more water, posing a growing threat to the world’s coastal communities, scientists say.
“Global warming is coming to us and it’s going to get worse and worse if we don’t do something about it,” said Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer.
In Annapolis, 50 miles from Washington, a tornado uprooted trees and knocked down electricity poles.
The NWS warned that the threat of tornadoes would persist, with tornado clocks in effect for parts of southern Connecticut, northern New Jersey and southern New York, while Ida followed north through New England.
A tornado hit the popular tourist destination Cape Cod, Massachusetts on Thursday evening.