The remnants of Hurricane Ida this morning caused historic rains and floods in New York and New Jersey that left at least 8 deaths.
Both cities declared a state of emergency after the northeastern United States registered the scourge of the remnants of the meteorological phenomenon, which made landfall last weekend as a powerful Category 4 hurricane and this night moved east.
"We are experiencing a historic meteorological event
with record-breaking rains throughout the city, with brutal flooding and dangerous road conditions," tweeted from the city's mayor, Bill de Blasio.
The Democratic president also banned non-emergency vehicles until 5 am after the National Weather Service in New York reported that it had received "many reports of rescues and motorists trapped by water."
In New York City, practically all the subway lines were suspended when flooded by floods and waterfalls that fell both from the stairs of the stations and from the roofs of the tunnels, once again highlighting the important deterioration of infrastructure.
More than 3 inches of rain fell over Central Park in an hour, according to the National Weather Service.
At least six deaths confirmed after Hurricane Ida passed through Louisiana
Sept.
2, 202100: 43
The New York City Fire Department was responding to rescue calls in all five boroughs, according to a department spokesman.
For these maneuvers they are using high-axle vehicles acquired after Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency, allowing for state aid, and the city's airports, LaGuardia and JFK, suffered flight disruptions.
The weather service retweeted a video from Brooklyn showing cars driving through water that resembled a river with an urgent warning: "This water is too deep to go through."
The governor of the neighboring state of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, also declared a state of emergency, while Newark International Airport canceled all its flights and the region's rail service suspended almost all of its services.
"Stay off the roads, stay home and stay safe," Gov. Phil Murphy asked.
Héctor C. Lora, mayor of Passaic, a city of about 70,000 New Jersey residents, confirmed to NBC New York, an affiliate of our sister network NBC News, that at least one person had drowned in the city and that there were between 4 and 5 feet of water flooding the streets.
The president also declared a state of emergency.
The other storm victim was reported in Queens, New York, when the city's Fire Department responded to a flood call shortly after 11 p.m. and a person was pulled from a building and pronounced dead.
Another person was taken to a hospital.
[Family displaced by Hurricane Ida in Louisiana seeks refuge amid COVID-19 spike]
Passaic Deputy Chief of Police Louis Gentile reported that all types of vehicles have been stuck in the floods and warned residents not to be fooled into thinking they have a powerful car.
A severe storm hits Times Square, New York, on September 1, 2021.Tayfun Coskun / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
"We have fire trucks and ambulances stuck and people who are still trapped and do not come out of the water. It is very serious," he said.
Torrential rains have left the remnants of Ida in the northeast of the country caused thousands of people were evacuated Wednesday in Pennsylvania, after the water reached dangerous levels in a dam near Johnstown, one nicknamed City
Flood City
(city flood ).
[Hurricanes Ida and Katrina have many similarities. But experts point to a key difference in its impact]
The National Weather Service confirmed that there was at least one tornado in southern New Jersey, just outside the city of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
Videos on social media showed debris everywhere in the streets and roofs completely ripped from houses.
While Pennsylvania suffered severe flooding, high tide forced thousands of people to flee their homes on the coasts of Maryland and Virginia.
A teenager died and two people disappeared in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, where there were also reports of a tornado.
Ida caused countless school and business closures in Pennsylvania.
About 150 state highways were closed and many smaller ones were impassable.
Some 18,000 homes were without power, including about 12,000 in the central state.
In some areas near Johnstown, a city with a history of fatal flooding, there was five inches (12.7 centimeters) or more of rain in the mid-afternoon, so evacuation was ordered for those downstream from Wilmore Dam.
[These figures illustrate the monstrous force with which Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana]
Art Martynuska, Cambria County emergency management director and head of the 911 center, explained that the water level at Wilmore Dam reached a dangerous height that required evacuation.
Although he later clarified that people could return to their homes tonight if levels continued to drop.
At least one tornado hit Mullica Hill, NJ, according to meteorologists and at least nine homes were destroyed, according to NBC Philadelphia.
With information from NBC News and EFE.
