A toddler was one of nearly two dozen people killed amid the tornadoes and heavy rain storms in the Tri-State area on Wednesday (Sept. 1). According to NBC News, about 25 people passed away in flooding incidents that took place after Hurricane Ida remnants swamped New York and New Jersey. The Big Apple saw multiples deaths, including that of four women, three men and one two-year-old, while several individuals — five whom lived in Elizabeth’s Oakwood Plaza Apartments complex — died in Jersey.
The storm, which previously devastated the state of Louisiana, made its way to the city and Jersey yesterday (Sept. 1), resulting in tornadoes, heavy rain and severe flooding that submerged subway stations, streets and homes.
In one hour, New York’s Central Park and Newark saw more than three of inches rain. By the end of the showers, between six and ten inches of rain fell, eventually breaking rainfall records.
After 94 years, for example, the Central Park storm shattered its previous record of 3.84 inches of rain with 7.13 inches, per the National Weather Service. On the contrary, Newark had 8.41 inches of rain, 6 inches more than its preceding top record of 2.22 inches in 1959.
To explain the severity of the Hurricane Ida, Cardi B and other social media users uploaded videos documenting the flood’s impact, and government officials in both states declared a state of emergency. Subsequently, multiple schools in Jersey and N.Y.C. were closed, alternate side parking was suspended, and flights were delayed. Train services were also limited as work is done to prepare the damage caused in the natural disaster.
Though a state of emergency allows for state assistance, Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN that the agency was assessing the “widespread damage that we’re seeing from Ida in the Northeast” to determine the need for long-term recovery aid.