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The residual effects of Hurricane Ida slammed the Northeast with a combination of tornadoes, torrential rainfall, and massive flooding throughout the region, the Associated Press reports.
On Wednesday night, reports of at least two tornadoes, heavy rainfall, and strong winds left cars abandoned and underwater in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Per the latest reports, in New York and New Jersey, the storm has claimed the lives of at least 15 people and three deaths have been reported in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
The rain on Wednesday night was calculated at 3.1 inches in Central Park in just an hour, breaking the previous record set last week, when 1.94 inches of rain fell in the park during Tropical Storm Henri, according to the New York Times. The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency, the first in the history of New York City.
Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency just before 11:30 p.m., saying New York City was “enduring a historic weather event” with “record-breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads.” He implored New Yorkers to “stay inside” for safety against the unprecedented storm.
In an email sent on Wednesday night, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority gave an update on the status of the rail system.
“Train service is extremely limited, if not even suspended, because of heavy rainfall and flooding across the region,” the email read. Because of the storm, service was suspended across more than 18 subway lines. Except for the Atlantic City line, all lines in New Jersey were suspended, New Jersey Transit said.
3.24 inches of rain accumulated between 8 and 9 p.m.at the Newark Liberty International Airport. Newark Airport was experiencing severe flooding, the airport said in a statement on Twitter.
Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey declared a state of emergency in all 21 counties, urging people to stay off the dangerous roads.
“There’s a lot of hurt in New Jersey,” Murphy said in an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America on Thursday. Also, he spoke about the destruction caused by flooding in the northern part of the state and tornadoes impacted the southern part of the state.
According to the latest figures, at least 220,000 customers were still without power in the region, with New Jersey and Pennsylvania accounting for most of the outages. In New York City, Long Island, and the northern suburbs, more than 35,000 customers remain without power.
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