Death toll rises in northeastern US 5:33
(CNN) -
The death toll from flooding after the remnants of Hurricane Ida hit cities in the eastern U.S. rose dramatically to 46 on Thursday after New Jersey announced that at least 23 people had died there.
Gov. Phil Murphy said most of the deaths were people trapped in their vehicles by the floods and "hit by the water."
Authorities said many people were missing.
"We are going to retain a full summary of the loss of life. They are spread over a handful of counties, largely concentrated, not quite, but largely concentrated in central Jersey and some in the north," Murphy said in an evening update.
Dozens have died in six eastern states - Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia - after the storm brought unprecedented rains to some areas.
What the next few weeks will be like for the victims of Hurricane Ida, without electricity and running water
The death toll included a Connecticut state trooper who was dragged away when responding to a missing person's call.
Vehicles in a flood in Philadelphia Thursday.
On Thursday, water rescues continued in some areas, and in New York City a new task force was going to the houses to make sure there were no more victims in the basements.
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In southern New Jersey, residents were cleaning up after a home tornado, one of eight tornadoes to hit the Northeast.
In the Philadelphia area, some streets were flooded, delaying the city's train and bus services, closing buildings and prompting leaders to urge people to work from home.
Rescuers sailed through flooded streets Thursday morning in and around Philadelphia, northern Delaware and parts of New York state, transporting people from flooded homes.
In Pennsylvania alone, thousands of rescues are believed to have occurred so far, said state emergency management director Randy Padfield.
Governor Hochul and Mayor de Blasio speak about the critical situation in New York due to the rains
Cars abandoned in a flood on the Major Deegan Freeway in the Bronx in New York.
(Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
"There is a lot of damage and I made it clear to the governors that my team at ... FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is on the ground and ready to provide whatever assistance is needed," said President Joe Biden.
In New York City, first responders rescued stopped subway passengers Wednesday night, while other commuters were stranded overnight in subway stations, some sleeping on benches with service suspended and shapeless. to reach their destinations.
New York Police Department Chief Rodney Harrison said Thursday that 835 people were rescued from the subway system.
Beverly Pryce, a nurse from Queens, was one of those who spent the night in a subway station in Manhattan, having left her home Wednesday night to go to work, but the floods brought everything to a standstill.
"(I have not seen) anything like this," he told CNN Thursday morning.
"I didn't expect it to be so extreme; I wouldn't have left my house."
Amrita Bhagwandin's home in Queens was flooded.
"I can't think anymore about how I feel right now because of the chaos outside, my neighbors, lives have been lost," he told CNN.
"I have lost everything here and especially the lives out there ... we need some support ... this is too much for us. There is no end in sight."
This was the experience of being stranded in New York's transportation system during the floods
Harrison said there were 18 water rescues at the US Open tennis site in Flushing.
Rescuers rescue residents in a boat Thursday in Mamaroneck, New York.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul told CNN that the state is used to disasters, but that it would be a massive cleanup.
"I urge people to stay home, watch out for their neighbors and make sure they are okay," he said.
Murphy called the flooding that hit New Jersey "historic by any standards."
"It's never been flooded like this, it's never rained like this," Murphy said, adding that state officials will investigate the storm and its response.
Murphy said storms like Ida reflect the reality of climate change and the need to address it.
"These storms come more often and with more intensity, so there is no denying it," Murphy said.
Emergencies have been declared for New York State, New York City and New Jersey.
In New York City alone, firefighters rescued hundreds from vehicles on flooded roads and hundreds more from the subway system, the city's fire department said Thursday.
It is not your imagination.
Weather and climate disasters have become more frequent since the 1970s
13 dead in New York, many in basements in Queens, authorities say
Of the 46 dead, 16 died in New York state.
Thirteen of them were in New York City and three people died in Westchester County after exiting their vehicles in a flash flood, authorities said.
Of those who died in New York City, at least eight died in flooded basements of houses in Queens, said municipal police commissioner Dermot Shea.
The Connecticut State Trooper who died was a sergeant who had been with the agency for 26 years.
Rising waters drove him ahead when he arrived at 4 a.m. to investigate a report of a person missing in Woodbury due to flooding.
Six of the 23 deaths in New Jersey were announced by local officials.
In Elizabeth, four residents drowned in an apartment complex along the Elizabeth River, Mayor Chris Bollwage said.
In Passaic, a man in his 70s was found dead after floodwaters hit the vehicle he was in, Mayor Hector Lora told CNN's Don Lemon.
A man in his 50s was washed away in floodwaters in Maplewood and later found dead in Millburn, a few miles west, according to Maplewood police.
In Pennsylvania, three storm-related deaths were reported in Montgomery County, said Dr. Val Arkoosh, chairman of the county board of commissioners.
And Bridgeport manager Keith S. Truman told CNN that one person died in the city due to the flooding.
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.
A man allegedly died after an alligator attacked him while walking in floodwaters in Louisiana
In Virginia, investigators found a body in the Guesses Fork area of Hurley, according to the Buchanan County Sheriff's Office.
The Northeast is shocked by the ferocity and speed of the floods
The rate of rainfall was impressive and at times unprecedented.
New York's Central Park recorded its wettest hour on record, with 80 millimeters falling from 8:51 to 9:51 pm.
The park's total rainfall, 181 millimeters, was its fifth highest total in one day.
Newark, NJ, received the highest total recorded in one day: 214 millimeters.
A man takes a selfie at a gas station devastated by torrential rains and high winds in Queens.
(Photo: Scott Heins / Getty Images)
The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas were under flash flood watch early Wednesday as the remnants of Ida approached, which made landfall in Louisiana Sunday as a major hurricane and devastated parts of the state.
Ida went from a tropical depression to a post-tropical cyclone over the Appalachians as it moved northeast.
Heavy rains were expected, but precisely where the heaviest rain would fall was unknown until shortly before it happened, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN on Thursday.
"People are shocked by this," said New York Governor Hochul.
"I mean, this is an event that we plan: we started deploying resources in the region the night before and the morning before."
"But once the rain starts to fall and it's relentless, there's nothing people can do but look up with their mouths open and say, 'What's going on here?'" Hochul said.
After the storm, New York's subway system was temporarily stopped, with the exception of two lines, due to flooding, leaving many people stranded and not knowing how they would get home.
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Some were idle in a subway near Times Square around 1:20 a.m. after traveling from the US Open.
Videos from the station showed a waterfall flowing from the roof of the train car towards people trying to get out, as well as a drinks kiosk spinning in the wind.
While part of the metro service was resumed, commuter train lines were expected to offer only extremely limited service due to power issues and debris, authorities said.
New Jersey: Tornado in the south, floods in the north
In southern New Jersey, an EF-3 tornado with 150 mph winds swept through.
It destroyed or severely damaged 25 houses in Mullica Hill, about 25 miles from Philadelphia, said Police Lt. David Marrow.
The tornado toppled hundreds of trees and cut power to a third of the township, Marrow said.
No deaths were reported there, Governor Murphy said.
"This is going to take some time to get out, there's no question about it," Murphy said, standing in front of one of the smashed houses.
Kristi Johnson was on the phone with her husband and in a parked vehicle when she saw the tornado and debris.
An abandoned car in the floods of Passaic, NJ.
"I rolled down the window and it sounded like a train was coming. I hung up on my husband and started walking away from there," Johnson told CNN.
"It was extremely scary."
Many cities in northern New Jersey reported widespread flooding that damaged homes and businesses and forced drivers to abandon their cars.
In Clifton, a fire ambulance was seen submerged in the floodwaters along with several other submerged vehicles.
Look at the damage a tornado caused in Maryland: it left a jumble of cables, cars and downed signs
Floods in Philadelphia;
41 rescued from Pennsylvania school bus
Parts of the Philadelphia area were flooded, leaving some vehicles still underwater on streets and highways Thursday morning.
The Schuylkill River was more than 60 centimeters above the major flood level at one point in the morning.
At least 100 people were rescued from the floods in Philadelphia alone as of noon Thursday.
Pennsylvania is slowly moving into "recovery mode" and there is "a long way to go," Gov. Tom Wolf said.
"I know a lot of people in Pennsylvania are hurting," Wolf said, adding that the southeastern part of the state appears to have suffered the most damage.
At least 500 rescue calls were received in Montgomery County north of Philadelphia, said Padfield, the state's emergency management director.
That includes Bridgeport, where rescue teams used boats to reach people stranded in flooded apartments, a video from CNN affiliate WPVI showed.
Biden, on flooding by Ida: I extend my sincere thanks to all the first responders
Elsewhere in Pennsylvania, the storm caught a school bus in floodwaters Wednesday in Shaler Township.
The school district and the local volunteer fire company confirmed that 41 passengers were rescued from the bus.
The video shows a team of at least four wading through waist-deep water to help passengers onto a small boat.
The rescued students were later transported safely to the high school, the Shaler Area School District said.
They pump water from the basement of a business on Noblestown Road in Oakdale, Pennsylvania.
(AP Photo / Gene J. Puskar)
In Maryland, Ida's downpour flooded at least 12 apartments in the Rock Creek Woods complex in Rockville, where a 19-year-old man was found dead.
Rescue personnel evacuated dozens of people there, authorities said Wednesday.
Three people and a firefighter were taken to hospitals for non-life threatening injuries.
Evan McMorris-Santoro, Shimon Prokupecz, Michael Guy, Mark Morales, Kristina Sgueglia, Lauren del Valle, Laura Ly, Keith Allen, Rob Frehse, Dave Alsup, Liam Reilly, Mirna Alsharif, Alta Spells, Kiely Westhoff, Paul Murphy and Colin McCullough contributed to this report.
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