TROUBLE IN RIVER CITIES
Surging New Jersey fear of new flooding
About 4.5 million people remained under flood warnings Friday after the remnants of Hurricane Ida ravaged the Northeast and left rivers surging — as police went door to door in search of potential victims and the cleanup continued.
The death toll from the storm across five Northeastern states has increased to 49 people.
As the scope of devastation continued to emerge, millions of people, mostly in New Jersey, braced for more floods with rivers and streams still rising in the wake of record rainfall.
The swollen Passaic River in the state’s north 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 said.
The National Weather Service warned there could be major flooding Friday in some northern New Jersey rivers and officials were monitoring closely the Passaic, Hackensack, Pequannock and Rockaway rivers.
At least 49 people died across five states when the storm wreaked havoc and left a trail of destruction from Maryland to New York late Wednesday and into Thursday.
Many of the victims died when water cascaded into basement apartments in New York City and dozens drowned in New Jersey when their cars were caught up in flash floods.
New Jersey had the highest death toll with at least 25 dead and six people still missing, including a first-year Seton Hall student, Nidhi Rana, who was possibly last seen with friend Ayush Rana in Passaic, the university said in a statement.
Most victims in the Garden State died in their submerged cars or were swept away getting out of them.
Thirteen people were killed in New York City, with the majority drowning in their flooded basement apartments.
The NYPD made 69 water rescues and pulled 90 people from stranded cars, and another 97 people had to be saved by cops during the storm, according to police.
Thirty of those rescues were at the US Open tournament in
Flushing Meadows, Queens, cops said. Nearly 600 vehicles were abandoned on city streets and highways and were either towed or moved by authorities.
In Westchester County, four people died, including two computer science professors at Iona College, a 69-year-old Mount Kisco rabbi, and a Bronx man who was initially rescued Wednesday but went back out to try to get into his car. One person in the county is still missing and presumed dead, officials said.
A 19-year-old man in Maryland was found dead in a flooded apartment, a Connecticut State Police trooper was swept away in his car and at least five people were killed in Pennsylvania.
Authorities across various states continue to search for possible victims and identify the dead.
In New York City, cops were reviewing 911 calls from when the storm hit to pinpoint if people were in harm’s way and then check on them.
The cleanup also continued with people working to clear debris, haul away previously submerged vehicles, restore transportation services and survey the flood — and in some cases tornado — damage.