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NEW YORK: Three days after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana, its weakened remnants tore into the United States’ northeast and claimed at least 45 lives across New York, New Jersey and two other states in an onslaught that ended on Thursday and served as an ominous sign of climate change’s capacity to wreak new kinds of havoc. The last storm this deadly in the region, 2012’s Sandy, did its damage mostly through tidal surges. But most of this storm’s toll — both in human life and property damage — reflected the extent to which the sheer volume of rain simply overwhelmed the infrastructure of a region built for a different meteorological era.
The rain was shocking in its intensity. More than 3 inches fell in a single hour in Central Park on Wednesday night, shattering a record that had been set just days before by Tropical Storm Henri. Across the region, more than half a foot of rain fell within a few hours and several places in New York and New Jersey reported over 9 inches. The deluge turned streets into rivers and trapped people in flooded basement apartments.
Twenty-five people died in New Jersey, including three people submerged in their cars. In New York, at least 15 were dead,13 in New York City, many of them submerged in ground-level apartments that they may have sought out for their affordability. Four people died in Pennsylvania, at least three by drowning. US President Biden on Thursday said the federal government stood ready to provide “all the assistance that’s needed.”
The governors of New York and New Jersey urged residents to stay home as crews worked to clear roadways and restore services.
(NYT and Reuters)
The rain was shocking in its intensity. More than 3 inches fell in a single hour in Central Park on Wednesday night, shattering a record that had been set just days before by Tropical Storm Henri. Across the region, more than half a foot of rain fell within a few hours and several places in New York and New Jersey reported over 9 inches. The deluge turned streets into rivers and trapped people in flooded basement apartments.
Twenty-five people died in New Jersey, including three people submerged in their cars. In New York, at least 15 were dead,13 in New York City, many of them submerged in ground-level apartments that they may have sought out for their affordability. Four people died in Pennsylvania, at least three by drowning. US President Biden on Thursday said the federal government stood ready to provide “all the assistance that’s needed.”
The governors of New York and New Jersey urged residents to stay home as crews worked to clear roadways and restore services.
(NYT and Reuters)
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