The National Weather Service office in New York declared its first-ever set of flash flood emergencies in the region Wednesday night, an alert reserved for “exceedingly rare situations when a severe threat to human life and catastrophic damage from a flash flood is happening or will happen soon.”
There are several casualties reported as rescue and recovery operations continue in flooded towns throughout the Northeast. The death toll expected to increase throughout Thursday and into the weekend as the scale of the destruction becomes clear.
The live updates for this blog have ended.
The NWS station in Mount Holly surveyed damage in Salem, Gloucester, Burlington, Mercer and Somerset counties in New Jersey and Chester, Montgomery and Bucks counties in Pennsylvania.
At this point, the NWS confirmed tornadoes in:
Mullica Hill, NJ in Gloucester County Oxford, PA in Chester County Edgewater Park, NJ in Burlington County to Bristol, PA in Bucks County Fort Washington/Upper Dublin Township to Horsham Township, PA in Montgomery County
The Vine Street Expressway was submerged underwater Thursday morning after the river flooded.
At least 12 people have died in New York City, most of whom were killed in flooded basement apartments, police officials told AP. Another man was found dead in a car on the flooded Grand Central Parkway in Queens.
A 19-year-old woman in Maryland died after floodwaters swept through her home in Rockville.
Officials in New Jersey and Pennsylvania also confirmed several deaths so far. This number is expected to increase as search and rescue operations continue.
The NWS station in Mount Holly reported an EF-2 tornado with peak winds up to 130 mph traveled from Fort Washington/ Upper Dublin Township to Horsham Township.
“Some homes are three-quarters, if not more, under water. It is unlike anything that I have ever seen Barbee said. He said he has lived in the borough for more than a decade.
Bridgeport lies along the Schuykill River, which rose two feet above a major flood stage and hit 15.88 feet Thursday morning.
Rescue efforts are still ongoing.
“It’s all hands on deck to do the work,” Barbee said. “We’re working with maybe 10 to 20 employees on the clock as well as volunteers. So it’s a very grassroots effort, but it’s been relatively successful and really brought us together.”
Out of all the outages in Mississippi and Louisiana, including the mass New Orleans outages, 18 percent were restored by Thursday morning, the company said.
Mickey Loomis, executive vice president and general manager for the Saints, said that the team was “extremely appreciative” to TCU for hosting them in their “time of need.”
“We look forward to hosting them on campus as a practice site and being of assistance during this most difficult time. Our hearts go out to all those impacted by Hurricane Ida,” TCU Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati said
A “wide swath” of the region saw three to seven inches of rain, while some saw seven to 10. Some scattered areas saw 12 or more inches of rain.
The weather comes as many parts of the U.S. see the after effects of Hurricane’s onslaught across the Gulf coast.
New York and New Jersey were hit especially hard in the past couple days, with 22 people confirmed dead across the two states so far.
Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Maine, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee received between 4 and 6 inches of rain.
In New York City, Brooklyn recorded 7.76 inches of rain, midtown Manhattan, 7.49 inches, the Bronx 7.38 inches and Central Park 7.19 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.
Elizabeth spokesperson Kelly Martins told the Associated Press that the victims include a 72-year-old woman and her 71-year-old husband along with their 38-year-old son. A 33-year-old woman who was their neighbor also perished. The names of the victims were not released at this time.
It was previously reported that five people died in the building.
“The filing of this declaration will help provide state and local emergency management officials with the necessary tools to aid the impacted areas in safely recovering from this record-breaking rainfall that we received overnight,” Governor Lamont said in a press release.
Biden said there are reports that some companies may deny coverage for temporary living expenses unless the homeowner was under a mandatory evacuation order. This would not cover people in parishes who issued voluntary evacuation orders.
“Nobody fled this killer storm because they were looking for a vacation,” Biden said. “They left their homes because they felt it was flee or risk death. There’s nothing voluntary about that.”
Biden told companies to do the right thing in the face of the devastation of Hurricane Ida.
“Don’t hide behind the fine print and technicality. Do your job. Keep your commitments to your communities that you insure. Do the right thing, and pay your policyholders what you owe them,” Biden said.
Biden said New York recorded more rain on the first day of September than it usually does in the entire month. He said Ida is the 5th biggest hurricane in U.S. history.
At least six people have died and a million people are without power in Louisiana and Mississippi, Biden said.
He ensured that FEMA is on the ground to provide assistance. Biden said FEMA provided 4.3 million meals and 3 million liters of water to the Gulf Coast before the hurricane hit. FEMA also provided more than 250 generators and the Department of Health and Human Services deployed a 258-bed shelter and five medical assistance teams in Louisiana.
Biden will meet with Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and local parish leaders.
“My message to everyone affected is — we’re all in this together,” Biden said. “The nation is here to help.”
The stadium is home to the minor league team the Somerset Patriots, the double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees.
At least 22 people have died in New York and New Jersey, NBC News reported.
Four women, three men and a 2-year-old boy died in five separate flooding incidents in New York City, police said.
In New Jersey, 14 others were killed, officials said. Among them, five residents at the Oakwood Plaza Apartments complex in Elizabeth and one person whose body was recovered from a vehicle that went underwater in Passaic.
The death toll is expected to rise as damage is surveyed.
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office is investigating three storm-related deaths, Chair of Montgomery County Board of Commissioners Dr. Val Arkoosh said during a press briefing Thursday.
Two people are believed to have drowned and a woman was killed when a tree crashed onto her house in Upper Dublin Township.
Arkoosh did not know the location of the two drowning deaths.
More than 450 water rescues have already taken place in Montgomery County, and there are still rescues taking place, Arkoosh said.
That is more than twice as many water rescues as the previous record for a single storm.
“Nine people who were alive at this exact moment yesterday, no idea that such a horrible thing could befall them,” he said during a press conference in Queens Thursday. “Families in mourning right now.”
He added that the city police and fire departments rescued “hundreds” of people in flooded cars and subway stations.
De Blasio said Ida was “a horrifying storm unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”
“What we’ve got to recognize is the suddenness, the brutality of storms now, it is different,” he said.
After two record-setting storms within three weeks, de Blasio said this is “the biggest wake-up call we could ever get. We’re going to do a lot things differently and quickly.”
New York Senator Chuck Schumer joined de Blasio at the press briefing. He noted that “global warming is upon us” and it “will just keep getting worse and worse.”
“Woe is us if we don’t recognize these changes are due to climate change,” he said. “Woe is us if we don’t do something about it quickly. both in building resilient infra or going to clean power…to stop global warming or at least reduce its awful effects on our country.”
“This is an unspeakable, extraordinary event,” Governor Murphy said. “This was a sadly tragic, historic 24 hours in New Jersey.”
Governor Murphy said the southern part of the state was hit with tornados while the central and north parts of the state are dealing with “overwhelming flooding.”
He was thankful that there were no casualties and injuries in the south, but said “sadly more than a few folks passed away” in north and central New Jersey. He would not go into the details of the numbers of fatalities at this time.
Governor Murphy said he will “stay here and be by the side of residents and small business” while recovery efforts continue.
“Businesses are barely getting your feet back from the pandemic and now get whacked with this [tornado and flooding],” he said.
Governor Murphy will send an emergency declaration request to FEMA and President Joe Biden.
“That will be a game-changer if it is accorded in terms of getting infrastructure and clean up back up and running,” he said.
Murphy added that in the face of climate change, more funds will be invested into building up “resilient infrastructure.”
“The world is changing. These storms are coming more frequently and more intensely,” he said. “We have to change our infrastructure and our mindset to leap forward and get ahead of this.”
Residents trapped in their homes are being rescued from their roofs or top-floor windows by crews on boats while their homes and yards remain underwater.
“Rail service will remain suspended until a full assessment of damages is completed and necessary inspections have been made,” NJ Transit said in a tweet.
Busses will continue to operate but state-wide delays, cancellations and detours are expected due to flooding and blocked roadways.
The river is approaching record levels of flooding. As of Thursday morning, the waters hit about 15.97 feet, the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management reported. The previous record of 17.2 feet was set in 1896, according to AccuWeather.
Local news reports share footage of the river water engulfing the river banks and pushing into the streets of the city.
“This has been absolutely stunning on a scale, people were just caught off guard and so shocked,” she told CNN Thursday. “The residents who thought they would safely be able to go down to their basements or take the trains that all of a sudden just, this absolutely unprecedented storm event changed everything. And New York City literally has been paralyzed.”
Here are the total number of customers with outages in the Northeast according to PowerOutage.us as of 8:30 a.m. The figures are updated every 10 minutes.
Pennsylvania: 97, 840 New Jersey: 60,362 New York: 40,551 Connecticut: 17,302 Massachusetts: 8,193 Maryland: 5,744 Delaware: 431 Rhode Island: 634
A New York City police spokesperson told the AP a total of eight people died when they became trapped in flooded basements.
At least one death was reported in New Jersey. Passaic Mayor Hector Lora said a 70-year-old man was swept away in the flooding.
“His family was rescued, they were all in the same car. Unfortunately, the car was overtaken by the waters, and the firefighters who were being dragged down under the vehicle were unable to get him out,” Lora told WCBS-TV.
It far surpasses the 1.94 inches (4.92 centimeters) that fell in one hour during Tropical Storm Henri on the night of August 21, which was believed at the time to be the most ever recorded in the park.
The Wallkill River is expected to overflow and flood significant parts of the counties in the coming hours, with a warning in place until 11.20pm ET tonight.
Ida is now the fifth most powerful storm to strike the U.S. and has likely already caused tens of billions of dollars in flood, wind, and other damage, including to the electrical grid.
A state of emergency and a ban on non-emergency travel remains in place.
They are in place until 11am ET.
Follow Newsweek’s liveblog throughout Thursday for all the latest.
