Searches, sorrow in wake of Ida’s destructive, deadly floods
By MIKE CATALINI, WAYNE PARRY and MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
Posted:
Updated:
Mary Altaffer
Danny Hong shows where the water reached up to him as he shows the damage in his basement apartment on 153rd St. in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped historic rain over New York City, with at least nine deaths linked to flooding in the region as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging cars.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency in all of his state4's 21 counties, urging people to stay off the flooded roads as the remnants of Hurricane Ida cause widespread floods.
Mark Mirko
Rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida submerge Mix Street near Farmington Avenue in Bristol, Conn., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021.
Mark Mirko
Rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida submerge Barnes Field in Bristol, Conn., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021.
Scott Barrett
A woman takes video of the severely damaged roadway, Thursday, Sep. 2, 2021, along Fairview Lane, in Portsmouth, R.I., after the remnants of Hurricane Ida passed through the area.
Scott Barrett
Members of the Portsmouth Police Department stand near the crumbling roadway on Fairview Lane in Portsmouth, R.I. on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
Headstones at a cemetery that flooded are seen in Somerville, N.J. Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers, tornado damage and continuing calls for rescue Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, drowning more than two dozen people in their homes and cars.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
United States Geological Survey workers push a boat as they look for residents on a flooded street along the Raritan River in Somerville, N.J.., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers, tornado damage and continuing calls for rescue Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
United States Geological Survey workers measure the floodwaters along the Raritan River in Somerville, N.J. Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers, tornado damage and continuing calls for rescue Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
A car flooded on a local street as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida is seen in Somerville, N.J. Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021.
Mary Altaffer
A hole in the foundation where a window once was and flood waters rushed in is seen in the basement apartment on 153rd St. in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped historic rain over New York City, with multiple deaths linked to flooding in the region as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging cars.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida inundated large swaths of the northeastern U.S. with historic and unanticipated fury Wednesday night, killing at least 14 people in flooding in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
New York City reported nine deaths as the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida made its way through the tri-state area, fooding basements and freeways.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped historic rain over New York City, with at least nine deaths linked to flooding in the region as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging cars.
Relentless rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida sent the New York City area into a state of emergency early Thursday as floodwaters cascaded into subways and trapped drivers on highways.
Mark Lennihan
People clear debris and damaged belongings from their homes, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021 in the Queens borough of New York. The area was flooded Wednesday as rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida sent the New York City area into a state of emergency.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
General view of the 206 route partially flooded as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida in Somerville, N.J., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
A local street remains flooded in Somerville, N.J. Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. A stunned U.S. East Coast faced a rising death toll, surging rivers, tornado damage and continuing calls for rescue Thursday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, drowning more than two dozen people in their homes and cars.
Mary Altaffer
Emergency service personnel work at the scene of a basement apartment where bodies were found on Peck Ave. in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped historic rain over New York City, with multiple nine deaths linked to flooding in the region as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging cars.
Matt Rourke
A worker clears away sediment left behind from floodwaters in Philadelphia Friday, Sept. 3, 2021 in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area.
Matt Rourke
People standing on an onramp view a flooded section of Interstate 676 in Philadelphia Friday, Sept. 3, 2021 in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area. The cleanup and mourning has continued as the Northeast U.S. recovers from record-breaking rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
A Manville Police Officer stands guard near the remains of a house that exploded due to severe flooding from Tropical Storm Ida in Manville, NJ., Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Dozens of people in five states died as storm water cascaded into people’s homes and engulfed automobiles, overwhelming urban drainage systems never meant to handle so much rain in such a short time.
A woman in Queens drowned in flood waters that gushed into her basement apartment, filling her home with nearly 6 feet of water.
Matt Rourke
People walk by a downed tree in Fort Washington, Pa. Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area.
Matt Rourke
A person walks on a flooded street as the Schuylkill River exceeds its bank in the East Falls section of Philadelphia, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area.
Matt Rourke
Vehicles are under water during flooding in Norristown, Pa. Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area.
Mary Altaffer
Danny Hong and his wife Wenqing Ou are emotional as they talk to reporters in front of their flooded home in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped historic rain over New York City, with at least nine deaths linked to flooding in the region as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging cars.
Matt Rourke
Workers pump water from a flooded section of Interstate 676 in Philadelphia Friday, Sept. 3, 2021 in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area. The cleanup and mourning has continued as the Northeast U.S. recovers from record-breaking rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
Mary Altaffer
Residents of Peck Ave in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York use buckets to remove water from their basement apartment, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped historic rain over New York City, with several deaths linked to flooding in the region as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging cars.
Mary Altaffer
A resident of 153rd St. in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York sits outside her home with her water logged belongings, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, in New York. The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped historic rain over New York City, with several deaths linked to flooding in the region as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging cars.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
A man looks at a vehicle flooded as a result of the remnants of Hurricane Ida in a parking lot in Somerville, N.J., Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021.
Joe Lamberti
Kenley Thomas, 6, is hugged by her neighbor Natalie Bonnenberg, 12, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 after homes in Mullica Hill, N.J. were damaged by a tornado. A stunned U.S. East Coast woke up Thursday to a rising death toll, surging rivers and destruction after the remnants of Hurricane Ida walloped the region with record-breaking rain, filling low-lying apartments with water and turning roads into car-swallowing canals.
Mark Lennihan
A man who gave his name as John, helps to clean a friend's basement, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021 in the Queens borough of New York. The area was flooded Wednesday as rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida sent the New York City area into a state of emergency.
Mark Lennihan
A vacate order from the New York City Department of Buildings is posted on an apartment building door, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021 in the Queens borough of New York. People died in a basement apartment Wednesday as rain and flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida sent the New York City area into a state of emergency.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
Flowers are seen on a makeshift memorial at the door of one of the four dead victims after flooding at Oakwood Plaza Apartments complex in Elizabeth, N.J., Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. The storm swamped homes and engulfed vehicles, overwhelming urban drainage systems never meant to handle so much rain in such a short time.
ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) — Police went door to door in search of more possible victims and drew up lists of the missing as the death toll rose to 49 on Friday in the catastrophic flooding set off across the Northeast by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
The disaster underscored with heartbreaking clarity how vulnerable the U.S. is to the extreme weather that climate change is bringing. In its wake, officials weighed far-reaching new measures to save lives in future storms.
More than three days after the hurricane blew ashore in Louisiana, Ida’s rainy remains hit the Northeast with stunning fury on Wednesday and Thursday, submerging cars, swamping subway stations and basement apartments and drowning scores of people in five states.
Intense rain overwhelmed urban drainage systems never meant to handle so much water in such a short time — a record 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) in just an hour in New York. Seven rivers in the Northeast reached their highest levels on record, Dartmouth College researcher Evan Dethier said.
On Friday, communities labored to haul away ruined vehicles, pump out homes and highways, clear away muck and other debris and restore mass transit.
Even after clouds gave way to blue skies, some rivers and streams were still rising. Part of the swollen Passaic River in New Jersey wasn’t expected to crest until Friday night.
“People think it’s beautiful out, which it is, that this thing’s behind us and we can go back to business as usual, and we’re not there yet,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy warned.
At least 25 people perished in New Jersey, the most of any state. Most drowned after their vehicles were caught in flash floods. A family of three and their neighbor were killed as 12 to 14 feet (3.5 to 4 meters) of water filled their apartments in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Across the street, Jennifer Vilchez said she could hear people crying, “Help! Help!” from their windows.
At least six people remained missing in the state, Murphy said.
In New York City, 11 people died when they were unable to escape rising water in their low-lying apartments. A man, woman and 2-year-old boy perished as their Queens street turned into a raging gully, hemmed in by a concrete wall on the nearby Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Officials said Friday that five of the six apartments where people died were illegally converted.
New York’s subways were running Friday with delays or not at all. North of the city, commuter train service remained suspended or severely curtailed. In the Hudson Valley, where several feet of mud covered tracks, Metro-North President Catherine Rinaldi said she didn’t expect service to be restored until early next week.
Floodwaters and a falling tree also took lives in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York.
While the storm ravaged homes and the electrical grid in Louisiana and Mississippi, leaving more than 800,000 people without power as of Friday, it seemingly proved more lethal over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away, where the Northeast death toll outstripped the 14 lives reported lost so far in the Deep South.
Ida stands as the deadliest hurricane in the U.S. in four years.
In a second wave of calamity in the Northeast, fires broke out in swamped homes and businesses, many inaccessible to firefighters because of floodwaters. Authorities said gas leaks triggered by flooding were likely to blame.
A Manville, New Jersey banquet hall exploded in flames around 2 a.m. Friday. Its owner, Jayesh Mehta, said he felt helpless and heartbroken looking at videos of his burning business.
“I don’t know what to do and how to deal with something like this,” Mehta told NJ Advance Media.
In Philadelphia, part of the crosstown Vine Street Expressway remained flooded after the Schuylkill River reached its highest level since 1902. An inch-thick (2.5-centimeter-thick) layer of mud was left where the road had dried.
Officials said they wanted to get the highway reopened by Saturday afternoon, when thousands of people are expected for the two-day Made in America music festival, which Mayor Jim Kenney insisted will go on as planned.
In New York City, teams of police officers knocked on doors to check for anyone left behind. Police reviewed emergency calls from when the storm hit to pinpoint where people may have been in harm’s way. Calls to the city’s 911 system Wednesday night peaked at 12 times above normal.
In Wilmington, Delaware, crews rescued more than 200 people after the Brandywine River reached record levels, swamping roads, bridges and homes. No major injuries were reported.
Ida came ashore Sunday in Louisiana tied as the fifth-strongest storm to ever hit the U.S. mainland, then moved north. Forecasters warned of hazardous flooding, but the ferocity of the storm caught the nation’s most densely populated metropolitan corridor by surprise.
In Manville, on the Raritan River, storm evacuees told the same story: an urgent knock on the door, a wall of water crashing into their apartments, being rescued by boat and taken to higher ground — until that ground also flooded, necessitating a second rescue.
Richie Leonardis, a 60-year-old who has had one leg amputated and uses a wheelchair, said a siren went off around 4 a.m. Thursday. Within minutes, police knocked on his door, urging him to evacuate.
“When I opened the door, the water rushed in and almost knocked me out of my wheelchair,” he said. “The cops had to grab me to keep me from going under the water.”
Richard Leoncini said 6 feet (2 meters) of water rushed in when he opened his door, knocking him backwards.
“The fire department came and got me in a boat,” Leoncini, 65, said. “You’re waiting for that boat to arrive and you’re surrounded by water in your apartment and you’re thinking, ‘How am I going to get out of this?’”
Leaders in some states pledged to examine whether anything could be done to prevent a catastrophe like this from happening again.
New Jersey and New York have both spent billions of dollars improving flood defenses after Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012, but much of that work was focused primarily on protecting communities from seawater, not rain.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the region needs to turn its attention to storm water systems unprepared to handle a future of more frequent flash flooding because of climate change.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city will work to clear people from roads, subway trains and basement apartments in advance of major rainstorms, and will ban travel as it does during major snowstorms. He said the city will also send cellphone alerts warning people to leave basement apartments and dispatch city workers to get them to shelters.
“It’s not just saying to people you have to get out of your apartment,” de Blasio said. “It’s going door to door with our first responders and other city agencies to get people out.”
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Parry reported from Manville, New Jersey. Associated Press writers Bobby Caina Calvan, Jim Mustian and Karen Matthews in New York City, Marina Villeneuve and Michael Hill in Albany, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.
