The deaths including that of a toddler and a state trooper
At least 58 people have died in the US as it struggles to deal with the remnants of Storm Ida.
The deaths include that of a Connecticut state trooper and at least four people who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Louisiana. Two people also died in Mississippi after torrential rain caused a highway to collapse, and a number of people were killed after their cars were swept away in floodwaters.
Many of the deaths in New York were in flooded apartments, Sky News reported, such as a family of three, including a toddler, who were not able to get out before the water rushed into their home.
A state of emergency was declared in NY at midnight on Wednesday and a flash flood emergency was issued was the very first time as chaotic scenes emerged at subway lines and streets in Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey.
The National Weather Service (NWS) announced the warning as the remnants of Hurricane Ida battered the city with heavy rain.
New York mayor Bill de Blasio also declared a state of emergency shortly before midnight on Wednesday,
28th St & 7 Ave subway station (Chelsea, Manhattan) https://t.co/2q4UQRIhm0
— Christiaan Triebert (@trbrtc) September 2, 2021
Hero bus driver managed to get us safely through the 3-4 feet of rain coursing down the boulevard, but only seemed to be getting worse.
Finally made it through to higher ground and a fellow passenger exclaims ‘oh no I missed my stop..’ pic.twitter.com/ofrVQhGnhK
— Joe English (@JoeEEnglish) September 2, 2021
Water cascades onto a New York City subway train as remnants of Hurricane Ida bring flooding rain to the Northeast. https://t.co/pKqmXs6g8J pic.twitter.com/sYmzPSGb1I
— ABC News (@ABC) September 2, 2021
New York mayor Bill de mayor said: “We’re enduring an historic weather event tonight with record breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads.”
De Blasio declared a state of emergency at about 11:30pm, saying thousands of New Yorkers had lost power.
The NWS recorded 3.15 inches of rain in Central Park in one hour. When Tropical Storm Henri hit on 22 August, 1.94 inches of rain fell during an hour in what was believed, at the time, to be the most ever recorded in the park.
Heavy winds, drenching rains and at least one tornado also battered Pennsylvania and New Jersey, collapsing the roof of a US Postal Service building and threatening to overrun a dam on the way, The Guardian reported.
States reported the following death tolls:
• 23 deaths in New Jersey
• 16 deaths in New York
• 11 deaths in Louisiana
• Two deaths in Mississippi
• Two deaths in Alabama
• Two deaths in Pennsylvania
• One death in Maryland
• One death in Connecticut
