Most of the basements where people died in New York were illegal dwellings

Storm Ida, which has so far left at least 64 dead, has not only exposed the climate crisis: it has also exposed the precarious infrastructure and housing in several states in the east of the country.

In New York, five of the six homes in which people died in Wednesday's flooding were

basements illegally converted

into apartments, the city's Department of Buildings said Friday.

Of the 13 people found dead in the Big Apple, at least 11 were in basements.

Among those who died trapped by the waters in Queens is

a 2-year-old boy

and his parents.

Four of the five illegal basements were in that district, as well as another located on Ridgewood Avenue in Brooklyn, where another person died.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Friday the launch of a

new response plan to torrential rains

that will give priority attention to those living in basements and that will include evacuations by emergency services, as well as the sending of alerts to the cellphones.

[Biden pledges $ 100 billion in direct aid from Hurricane Ida in Louisiana as death toll continues to rise]

"This is a very forceful measure. It is not simply telling people that they have to leave their apartment, it is going door to door [...] to get them out," said De Blasio, who insisted on the need for changes in the face of the increasing frequency of heavy rainfall.

The goal is, he explained, to anticipate fast-moving and potentially deadly storms before residents have a chance to escape.

Wednesday saw the largest waterfall in an hour for records in New York, breaking a record that had been set only days before.

Danny Hong shows where the water got to him while showing the damage to his basement apartment on 153rd Street in the Flushing neighborhood of New York's borough of Queens on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021.AP / Mary Altaffer

For city authorities, it is illegal to alter a building to create more apartments without obtaining official approval.

These are often considered unsafe due to the lack of an escape route for emergency situations, the poor quality of their construction, gas and electricity systems, as well as poor lighting and ventilation.

["We are left with nothing," says a woman affected by the Ida passage in the northeastern US]

Many people live in these basements because they cannot afford other more expensive options.

"They tend to be the most vulnerable New Yorkers

," Annetta Seecharran, executive director of the Chhaya Community Development Corporation, told CNN.

"Many times they

are immigrant families," he

said.

On Video: A Selfless New York Food Delivery Man Shakes The World During The Floods

Sept.

3, 202100: 39

According to The New York Times newspaper, the department received 11,781 complaints in 2020 related to units believed to be illegal conversions, down from 16,776 a year earlier.

So far this year, it has received 8,072 complaints.

Although the

city ​​estimates there are about 50,000 illegal basements,

according to CNN.

Likewise, images of waterfalls breaking into the rickety New York subway or of passengers being evacuated from trains went viral and have once again sparked the debate about the poor state of infrastructure in the area.

More than 1,000 damaged buildings were reported, according to Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani.

This Latina from Pennsylvania is still scared by Ida's fury and confesses that she can't "even sleep"

Sept.

3, 202101: 05

"I do not want to see Niagara Falls again down the stairs of a subway

in New York," stressed again on Friday the new governor of the state, Kathy Hochul, who promised new measures to improve flood prevention.

[This community was devastated by Ida, the majority are undocumented immigrants and fear to ask for federal aid]

The region expects to receive significant financial aid from the federal government to undertake reconstruction and support affected families and businesses, after the White House has approved an emergency declaration for New York and New Jersey.

"If you're in danger, call 911, and never wonder if they're going to ask for your documentation. They won't," De Blasio said.  

With information from AP, Efe, CNN and The New York Times.