At least 14 dead as Hurricane Ida began her journey. Staring in Lousiana and making a powerful beeline of fury up to the most populated corner of our nation.
NWP has assembled many of the most dramatic photos and videos on the web.
Historic 2021 hurricane – Unparalleled photos and vidoes of Ida and the impact she has made on the United States
The following written content from Madeline Holcombe and Jason Hanna
Ida’s remnants unleash massive, swift flooding in East and leave at least 11 dead
Remnants of Hurricane Ida unleashed deadly and paralyzing flooding at shocking speed across the New York City and Philadelphia areas and elsewhere in the East — and residents Thursday are only now catching up with the scope and scale of the damage.
Cars are abandoned on Northeast streets after drivers fled roads that transformed into swift rivers, and southern New Jersey is cleaning up from a tornado that flattened homes.
In Philadelphia the area, the Schuylkill River was almost 2 feet above major flood stage Thursday morning, swamping city streets, prompting water rescues, delaying the city’s rail and bus services, closing city buildings and prompting city leaders to urge people to work from home.
In New York City, first responders rescued commuters from halted subway trains, while other travelers were stranded overnight in subway stations, some sleeping on benches with service suspended and no way to get to their destinations.
“New York is used to disasters, but you cannot imagine how much rain fell out of the heavens last night,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told CNN Thursday morning.
“There’s going to be a massive cleanup. I would urge people to stay home, check on your neighbors, make sure they’re OK. “Beverly Pryce, a nurse from Queens, was among those who stayed overnight in a Manhattan subway station, having left her home Wednesday night to get to work, only for the flooding to bring everything to a standstill.
“(I’ve seen) nothing like this,” she told CNN Thursday morning. “I didn’t expect it to be this severe; I would not have left my house.
“Emergencies were declared for New York state, New York City and New Jersey. In New York City alone, firefighters rescued hundreds of people from vehicles on flooded roads and hundreds more from the subway system, the city fire department said Thursday.
Nine of the deaths were reported in New York City — most of them in Queens — officials said. One each was reported in New Jersey and Maryland.
Most of those killed were found dead in their flooded homes. Three people — a 2-year-old, a man and a woman — were found dead in their flooded basement in Queens, the city fire department said.
In Passaic, New Jersey, a man in his 70s was found dead after floodwaters overtook the vehicle he was in, Mayor Hector Lora told CNN’s Don Lemon.
In Maryland’s Montgomery County, a 19-year-old was found dead Wednesday in a flooded apartment complex, and his death is preliminarily attributed to the storm, police said. Read more from Cable News
Subscribe here
The following written content from Will Feuer and Jorge Fitz-Gibbon
The storm dumped rain at sometimes unprecedented rates Wednesday night — several inches per hour — bringing flooding that killed at least 11 people in New York, New Jersey and Maryland, with waters rushing into homes and vehicles.
Louisiana remained crippled in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida on Wednesday, as thousands remained stranded amid widespread flooding and power outages — along with crucial shortages of food, water and gas.
And the storm, which hit the Bayou State with 150-mph winds on Sunday, wasn’t done yet — flooding large swaths of the Southeastern US as it makes a bee-line for New York and the East Coast.
“I’ve ridden out other hurricanes — Hurricane Isaac, Katrina, Gustav, Ike — and this is no comparison whatsoever,” Grand Isle Police Chief Scooter Resweber told the Associated Press.
“This is the worst,” he said. “It’s just amazing hat no one (here) was killed or seriously injured.”
Officials said six people have been confirmed dead in Louisiana, Mississippi and Maryland — with search and rescue efforts continuing.
One private insurance firm said in a preliminary estimate on Wednesday that the damage from Ida could surpass $50 billion.
Despite some progress, Entergy Louisiana said nearly 1 million Louisiana customers remained without power amid sweltering temperatures.
More than 30,000 customers in Mississippi were also in the dark.
The Louisiana National Guard said it had set up nine locations across three parishes to distribute food, water, ice and tarps for storm victims.
The storm also knocked out Gulf Coast oil refineries, making for severe gas shortages that had customers waiting for hours for quickly dwindling supplies of gasoline.
As of about 2 p.m. Wednesday, more than 60 percent of gas stations in New Orleans had run out of fuel, with more than 56 percent in Baton Rouge also running dry, data from the site GasBuddy reported.
Those numbers don’t include gas stations that can’t serve customers because they lost power in the storm.
“It would appear that with power coming back online the next major challenge for refiners is crude oil supply to refine,” GasBuddy owner Patrick De Haan said on Twitter Wednesday.
The impact of the storm on fuel transportation and oil production is expected to send prices higher in some parts of the country.
Gas prices have ticked up slightly since Sunday from $2.81 to $2.84, according to prices tracked by the American Automobile Association.
That’s likely due to panic buying from before the storm, according to AAA, which said that as demand drops amid road closures and power outages, prices will drop. Read more from NYPost
Subscribe here
