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NEW YORK – (AP) – A stunned US east coast faced rising death tolls, swollen rivers, tornado damage and continued calls for help on Thursday after the the remains of Hurricane Ida ravaged the region with record rains, filling low-lying apartments with water and turning the roads into car-swallowing canals.
In an area that had been warned of potentially fatal flash floods but had not prepared for such a hit from the hurricane, the storm killed at least 26 people from Maryland to New York on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
At least 12 people have died in New York City, police said, including one in a car and eight in flooded basement apartments that often serve as relatively affordable housing in one of the country’s most expensive housing markets. . Authorities said at least eight people have died in New Jersey and three in Montgomery County, a suburb of Pennsylvania; one was killed by a fall from a tree, another drowned in a car and another in a house. A state soldier on duty in Connecticut was whisked away in his patrol car and later taken to hospital, state police and local authorities have said.
In New York City, Deborah Torres said water quickly filled her knee-deep Queens first-floor apartment as her landlord frantically urged her neighbors downstairs – who included a baby – to come out, she said. she declared. But the water rushed in so hard that she assumed they weren’t able to open the door. All three residents are deceased.
“I have no words,” she said. “How can something like this happen?”
Ida’s remnants lost most of the storm’s winds but retained their soggy core, then merged with a more traditional storm front and let pouring rain down the Interstate 95 corridor, the meteorologists. The situation has followed hurricanes before, but experts said it was slightly exacerbated by climate change – warmer air traps more rain – and urban environments, where expansive pavement prevents water from sinking. infiltrate into the ground.
The National Hurricane Center had warned since Tuesday of the potential for “significant and potentially fatal flash floods” and moderate and major river floods in the central Atlantic and New England region.
Yet New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the force of the storm took them by surprise.
“We didn’t know that between 8:50 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. last night, the skies would literally open up and bring the water level of Niagara Falls to the streets of New York,” said Hochul, a Democrat who became governor last week after the resignation of former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
De Blasio, also a Democrat, said he got a forecast of 3 to 6 inches (7.5 to 15 cm) of rain during the day on Wednesday. The city’s Central Park eventually grew to 3.15 inches in just one hour, surpassing the previous record of 1.94 inches (5cm) in one hour. during tropical storm Henri August 21.
The storm eventually dumped more than 9 inches (23 cm) of rain in parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and almost as much on Staten Island in New York.
In Washington, President Joe Biden assured residents of the Northeast that federal first responders were on the ground to help clean up.
In the country’s most populous city, some highways were inundated, garbage poured into the water rushing through the streets, and water poured into the city’s subway tunnels, trapping at least 17 trains and forcing the cancellation of the service all night and early in the morning. Videos online showed runners standing on seats in cars filled with water. All of the runners were safely evacuated, officials said.
In one development in Queens, water filled the patio below of a basement apartment, then came through a glass door and rushed inside, trapping a 48-year-old woman in 6 feet (2 meters) of water. The neighbors tried unsuccessfully for an hour to save her.
“She was screaming, ‘Help me, help me, help me!’ We all came to her aid, trying to get her out. But it was so strong – the water push was so strong, ”said Assistant Building Superintendent Jayson Jordan.
In Elizabeth, New Jersey, near Newark Airport, four people died and 600 were left homeless due to rains and river flooding at an apartment complex, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage.
Neighbors described hearing screams from the resort around 11 p.m. as water poured down the street, pushing dumpsters and cars.
“Sandy didn’t have anything about it,” said resident Jennifer Vilchez, referring to the 2012 Super Storm Sandy.
Greg Turner, who lives in another part of town, said his 87-year-old mother started calling 911 from the resort at 8 p.m. when water started to rise in his apartment. He said he and his brother tried to rush to her aid, but the water was too high.
Around midnight, the water was reaching his neck, he said. Rescuers eventually managed to break through the floor of the apartment above and bring her to safety.
“She lost everything,” Turner said as he walked to a bank to get money to buy clothes and shoes for his mother.
Elsewhere in New Jersey, flooding killed two people in Hillsborough, two in Bridgewater and one in Milford Borough, where authorities found the body of a man in a car buried up to the hood in dirt and rocks, the authorities said.
The fierce storm also spawned tornadoes, including one that tore houses apart and toppled silos in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia.
Resident Ashley Thomas, her husband and their two young children rushed into their basement after hearing sirens. But after waiting 15 minutes with debris falling on them, they rushed into the yard, Thomas, 37, said. She broke several toes and has a bruise on her shoulder, but was grateful that her family and neighbors survived.
Record-breaking flooding along the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania inundated homes and commercial buildings, flooded highways, submerged cars and disrupted rail service in the Philadelphia area. In a tweet, city officials predicted “historic flooding” on Thursday as river levels continue to rise. The riverside community of Manayunk has remained largely underwater.
The Schuyilkill reached levels not seen in over 100 years in Philadelphia, where firefighters were still receiving calls about minor building collapses and people trapped in flooded cars Thursday morning, Fire Marshal Adam Thiel said.
High winds and torrential rains cut a hole in the roof of a US Postal Service building in New Jersey. Rain poured into a terminal at Newark International Airport on Wednesday and threatened to overflow a dam in Pennsylvania. Meteorologists have warned that rivers are unlikely to peak for a few more days, raising the possibility of more widespread flooding.
Rescues have taken place across New York City as its 8.8 million residents have seen flooding far worse than Henri’s, which was followed by two weeks of wild and sometimes deadly weather conditions across the country. Forest fires threaten Lake Tahoe, tropical storm Henri hit the northeast and Ida hit Louisiana as the fifth strongest storm to ever hit the Americas, leaving 1 million people without power, possibly for weeks.
A flash flood warning continued Thursday in New England. Authorities used boats to rescue 18 people from a flooded neighborhood in Plainville, Connecticut, and 15 people – including one in a wheelchair – from a flooded compound in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. A road in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, has collapsed.
Parts of Johnstown, Pa., Where 2,200 people died after an infamous dam failure in 1889, were evacuated for a time on Wednesday after water has reached dangerous levels at a dam near the city. An official said later on Wednesday that water levels near the dam were dropping.
In Frederick County, Maryland, first responders used a boat to rescue 10 children and a driver from a school bus caught in rising waters. The county school principal apologized for not firing the students earlier, the Frederick News-Post reported.
The hurricane season in the Atlantic is far from over. Larry turned into a hurricane Thursday morning, which is expected to intensify rapidly and become a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm by Sunday. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said it was heading west but staying away from any coast.
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Porter reported from Elizabeth, New Jersey. AP reporters Bobby Caina Calvan, Karen Matthews and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Maryclaire Dale in Mullica Hill, New Jersey; Seth Borenstein and Darlene Superville in Washington; Michael Catalini and Shawn Marsh in Trenton, New Jersey; Wayne Parry in Point Pleasant, New Jersey; Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia, and Mark Scolforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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