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Furious New Yorkers slammed Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday for not giving more warning for the catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Ida and only declaring a state of emergency after the bodies of seven residents – including a two-year-old boy – were found in flooded basement homes.
Ida tormented the South earlier this week as a hurricane then was downgraded to a tropical storm. Meteorologists predicted that it would shower the northeast on Thursday and Friday before moving off-coast, but the amount of rain that fell was beyond anything any residents had anticipated, and tornadoes that ripped up New Jersey had not been expected.
At least 26 people have been found dead across the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland on Thursday, and the death toll is expected to rise.
New Yorkers were largely unaware of what was in store for them last night and many found themselves stuck on trains when the storm hit. The National Weather Service prediction center blasted a tweet at 2.40pm that a severe rainstorm was on the way, but nothing came from de Blasio’s office until around 7.20pm.
Between then and 9pm, the warnings were for flash flood warnings, which are routine amber alerts often blasted across the city when there is heavy rain.
It wasn’t until 8.50pm that the peak rainfall was reached, and it wasn’t until nearly 9.30pm that the National Weather Service declared a Flash Flood Emergency – the first ever in NYC.
The City of NYC didn’t send out the alert of the Flash Flood Emergency until 10.25pm, and the subway was not suspended until 10.48pm. People who were were stuck on trains had to be rescued by bus drivers.
The Governors of New Jersey and Pennsylvania gave earlier warnings but New York Governor Kathy Hochul didn’t declare a state of emergency until after midnight, and de Blasio only declared a state of emergency at 11.26pm.
By then, the NYPD had recovered the bodies of seven people who drowned in basement apartments across Brooklyn and Queens. They found the eighth – an 86-year-old woman – just before midnight.
At a press briefing on Thursday morning, de Blasio admitted that he – and weather experts – underestimated how much rain would fall.
He said he was expecting between 3 and 6 inches across the entire day, but 3.5 inches fell in a single hour last night – the highest amount ever on record.
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A city underwater: 145th Street station on Wednesday night after Hurricane Ida brought nearly 6 inches of rain to New York City – 3.5inches in an hour – the single highest rainfall ever recorded. Nine people in the city died
The scenes on the subway last night which remained open until 11pm – after bodies had been found in Brooklyn and Queens
QUEENS, NEW YORK CITY: The inside of an MTA bus was submerged as a driver ploughed through 3-4 feet of rain
Jefferson Street subway in Brooklyn floods on Wednesday night while an L train approaches with passengers on board
Floodwater rises up around cars in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on Thursday after Hurricane Ida tore through the city unexpectedly
A surreal video of Bushwick, Brooklyn, shows cars and trucks submerged in water from Hurricane Ida on Wednesday night
Governor Kathy Hochul, who was with him at the press conference, said she was going to investigate whether more could have been done sooner to anticipate the devastation and give people a chance to escape before it was too late.
‘We didn’t know the heavens would open with Niagara Falls levels of water. Could that have been anticipated? I want to find out.
‘We did shut down the subways, why didn’t we do that sooner?
‘You’d have people trapped under ground.
‘I want to assess why we didn’t stop passengers from going down the stairs and getting on trains.
‘There were storm warnings, tornado warnings throughout the evening but I’ll see whether or not more could have been done,’ Hochul, who recently took over from disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo, said.
De Blasio said his advice now to New Yorkers in storms would be to ‘expect the very, very worse’ and that it may sound ‘alarmist’.
Senator Chuck Schumer, who was also at the press conference, blamed the ferocity of the storm on climate change.
He and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spent Thursday demanding more environmental commitment from the White House.
The MTA is now running an extremely limited subway lines.
The city suspended the subway and banned all non-emergency vehicles from the roads until 5am, after 3.15 inches of rain were recorded at Central Park in just one hour.
‘These numbers are climbing. Charge your devices and if you experience an outage – call it in immediately,’ Murphy tweeted.
The National Weather Service predicted a severe rain event at 2.40pm EST but NYC officials didn’t send out any alerts until the night
9.01pm: A flash flood warning was issued across NYC. 9:09m: A tornado warning is issued across NYC
9.28pm: The National Weather Service issues a Flash Flooding Emergency – the first of its kind – across NYC
11.26pm: De Blasio didn’t declare a state of emergency until 11.26pm – after the bodies of at least seven people were found
Police outside the home of a two-year-old boy in Woodside, Queens, who died alongside a 48-year-old woman and 50-year-old man last night when their basement apartment flooded
Mayor Bill de Blasio spoke at a press conference on Thursday morning with Governor Kathy Hochul and Senator Chuck Schumer where they blamed the storm on climate change and said they had no idea what was coming
Furious New Yorkers inundated de Blasio on Twitter when he tweeted his condolences for the New Yorkers who were killed.
They include a two-year-old boy who drowned in a basement home in Woodside, Queens, along with a 48-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Thursday morning that a ninth victim was found in the backseat of a car that had floated from the Grand Central Parkway.
He fears more victims will be found like that as the day goes on.
‘The latest victim that we have is an individual that passed away in a vehicle accident on the grand central parkway that individual was discovered in the backseat of a car in the last hour.’
In New Jersey, at least 14 people were killed. Five of them were at the Oakwood Plaza apartment complex, on Irvington Avenue.
A 19-year-old man died in Maryland when the Rock Creek River burst its banks and flooded nearby homes, and one person died in Upper Dublin Township near Philadelphia, the town’s mayor announced on Thursday without giving further details.
More people have now been found dead in New York City from Ida than in Louisiana, which had days to prepare for the storm.
The National Weather Service’s office in New York issued a Flash Flood Emergency for New York City for the first time ever – warning people to seek high ground immediately.
The ‘Emergency’ warning is the highest level of flood alert – indicating immediate and significant threats to life and property.
‘This particular warning for NYC is the second time we’ve ever issued a Flash Flood Emergency. (It’s the first one for NYC).
‘The first time we’ve issued a Flash Flood Emergency was for Northeast New Jersey an hour ago,’ the agency tweeted.
Across New York and New Jersey, there are now 85,000 people without power, including 25,000 in New York City.
Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla told CNN the destruction is on par with Hurricane Irene which killed 12 New Jersey residents in 2011.
She said: ‘We experienced 6.5 inches of rain in an eight-hour period.
A video of a man smoking a bomb on an inflatable, dangerously riding through the storm water, last night
CitiField in New York City on Wednesday night was waterlogged after the storm hit
Homes damaged from the remnants of Hurricane Ida on Josephine Lane in Mullica Hill, New Jersey
Rescue teams were going to people’s homes in dinghies on Thursday morning in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania
‘Unfortunately, the number of calls for service has been overwhelming — people with alarms activated, downed wires, abandoned vehicles.’
Daily rainfall in Central Park and Newark, New Jersey smashed records on Wednesday.
In New York’s iconic park, 7.13 inches fell, breaking the record of 3.84 inches in 1927.
Meanwhile, 8.41 inches fell in Newark, where airport operations were hampered, breaking record 1959 record of 2.22 inches.
Passaic, New Jersey, Mayor Hector Lora said the town saw up to 8 feet of water.
‘In the area where we unfortunately experienced a loss of life — I must say our prayers and support go out to the family of this individual — that area had over six feet of water.
The NYC Office of Emergency Management (OEM) issued a travel ban around 12:50 am preventing all non-emergency vehicles from travelling on city streets and highways until 5am.
Queens Boulevard in the neighborhoods of Maspeth and Corona was described as ‘a literal river’ and shocking video shows water flooding a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) bus while multiple cars were stuck in the water.
‘Hero bus driver managed to get us safely through the 3-4 feet of rain coursing down the boulevard, but only seemed to be getting worse,’ tweeted Joe English, who works in the press office for UNICEF.
‘Finally made it through to higher ground and a fellow passenger exclaims ‘oh no I missed my stop’.’
The MTA noted on its website that nearly all train lines have been suspended, except for the 7 train and the Staten Island Railway – which have been delayed.
‘Train service may be extremely limited tonight because of heavy rainfall and flooding across the region.
‘We strongly recommend you avoid traveling at this time, if you can,’ the agency said.
The agency tweeted: ‘If you’re on a train that’s stuck, stay on that train; the safest place to be is on the train unless you hear otherwise from the conductor.’
‘The fire department and police had to call off efforts because our fire truck literally got stuck in the road. We had ambulances stuck on the road.
‘There were areas in our city where we saw up to eight feet of water,’ he said.
All New York City subway lines were suspended on Wednesday night and non-emergency vehicles were banned until 5am Thursday.
The MTA is now running an extremely limited subway lines.
The city suspended the subway and banned all non-emergency vehicles from the roads until 5am, after 3.15 inches of rain were recorded at Central Park in just one hour.
‘These numbers are climbing. Charge your devices and if you experience an outage – call it in immediately,’ Murphy tweeted.
Having tracked up the east coast of the United States leaving a trail of devastation in her wake, Ida is now whipping towards the city of Boston.
A man looks at a car in flood waters after remnants of Ida brought drenching rain, flash floods and tornadoes to parts of the Northeast in Mamaroneck, New York
Vehicles are under water during flooding in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021
A home in Rahway, New Jersey, exploded last night after being evacuated while the storm ravaged the area with tornadoes
A surreal video of Bushwick, Brooklyn, shows cars and trucks submerged in water from Hurricane Ida on Wednesday night
Train tracks are flooded in the Bronx following a night of heavy wind and rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida on September 2, 2021 in New York City. Multiple fatalities have been reported in the region after the storm passed through, causing massive flooding and a widespread disruption of subway service
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK CITY: A basement floods during the aftermath of Ida as it dumps two inches of rain in the area
QUEENS, NEW YORK CITY: Members of the FDNY are pictured in waist-high water as they rescue a woman from her car
First responders pull local residents in a boat as they perform rescues of people trapped by floodwaters after the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida brought drenching rain, flash floods and tornadoes to parts of the northeast in Mamaroneck, New York,
Vehicles are under water during flooding in Philadelphia, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida
Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, on Thursday morning as the region woke up to catastrophic floods brought on by Ida
The Bronx River Parkway overflowed its banks in Westchester and The Bronx. Shown above, White Plaints on Thursday
Central Park Lake flooded into Bethesda Terrace on Wednesday night. This was the view at the iconic fountain on Thursday morning
A man rides a bicycle through floodwaters as residents escape their homes after the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida brought drenching rain, flash floods and tornadoes to parts of the northeast in Mamaroneck, New York, U.S
People view a flooded street in Philadelphia, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 in the aftermath
