Searches, sorrow after Ida’s destructive floods
Northeast death toll rises to at least 49
ELIZABETH, N.J. — Police went door to door in search of possible victims and drew up lists of the missing as the death toll rose Friday to 49 in the catastrophic flooding set off across the Northeast by the remnants of Hurricane Ida.
The disaster underscored 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 remains hit the Northeast with stunning fury 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 in New York with a record 3 inches of rain in just an hour. Seven rivers in the Northeast reached their highest levels on record, Dartmouth College researcher Evan Dethier said.
On Friday, communities worked to haul away ruined vehicles, pump out homes and highways, clear away muck and other debris, and restore mass transit.
Even after blue skies returned, 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 … and we can go back to business as usual, and we’re not there yet,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy warned. As many as six people remain missing in the state, he said.
At least 25 people died 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 12-14 feet of water filled their apartments in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Across the street, Jennifer Vilchez said she could hear people crying for help.
In New York City, 11 died when they were unable to escape rising water in their low-lying apartments. A man, woman and 2-yearold boy perished as their Queens street turned into a raging gully, hemmed in by a concrete wall.
Officials said Friday that five of the six apartments where people died were illegal conversions.
New Yorks subway service was running sporadically Friday with frequent delays. North of the city, commuter train service was still suspended or severely curtailed. In the Hudson Valley, where several feet of mud covered tracks, service is not expected 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 power grid in Louisiana and Mississippi, leaving more than 800,000 people without power as of Friday, it proved more lethal over 1,000 miles away, where the Northeast death toll outstripped by far the 14 lives reported lost so far in the Deep South.
Ida is the deadliest hurricane in the U.S. in four years.