New York: 44 dead in floods | “State of emergency” after the passage of hurricane Ida

At least 44 people have died in the past few hours in New York City and other parts of the northeast coast of the United States due to the torrential rains and historic flooding that caused Hurricane Ida to pass.

With the streets turned into rivers and the subway service flooded, the NYPD has reported at least 13 deaths, many trapped in basements and substandard housing at the foot of buildings in Manhattan, Queens or Brooklyn.

“Among those most at risk from unexpected floods are those who live in unregistered basements and do not follow safety rules,” Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. “Workers, low-income families and immigrant families,” he added.

“I’m 50 and have never seen so much rain,” said Metodija Mihajlov, a hotelier on the Upper West Side, a neighborhood near Central Park. He added that “it was like a tropical storm, like in the jungle. Unbelievable.”

North of Manhattan, Westchester County was still muddy, and many traditional homes on the east coast had up to two feet of water. There, three people drowned while trying to flee their vehicles.

The largest number of victims occurred in the state of New Jersey, where “at least 23 people lost their lives,” said its governor, Phil Murphy.

Most of those who died were taken in their cars and likely drowned, Murphy lamented. In turn, near Philadelphia, four people died, according to local authorities.

On the other hand, the White House declared a state of emergency in the states of New York and New Jersey, ordering federal agents “to identify, mobilize and provide the necessary equipment and resources at will. “.

“We are all together. The nation is ready to help,” said President Joe Biden, who will travel to Louisiana, the first state affected by Hurricane Ida, with homes destroyed and hundreds of thousands of homes left on Sunday. electricity.

The declaration of a “state of emergency” is unprecedented in New York, reported the US weather service, the NWS, which said it recorded an all-time high of 80 milliliters of rain per square meter in one hour in Central Park .