No fewer than eight people were killed on Thursday when the remnants of Hurricane Ida triggered spectacular flash flooding and a rare state of emergency in New York City.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that streets turned into rivers while water surged down subway platforms, flooding tracks, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority effectively shut down services.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled at LaGuardia and JFK airports, as well as at Newark, where video showed a terminal inundated by rainwater.
Flooding closed major roads across multiple boroughs including Manhattan, The Bronx, and Queens.
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Ida slammed into the southern state of Louisiana over the weekend, bringing severe flooding and tornadoes as it blazed a trail of destruction north.
New York state governor Kathy Hochul declared an emergency as the remnants of the storm caused massive flooding in the country’s financial and cultural capital, leaving the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens badly hit.
The New York City victims ranged from the ages of 2 to 86, police said. They were found at various homes in Queens and Brooklyn.
State governor Phil Murphy also declared a state of emergency in neighboring New Jersey, where it was reported at least one person was killed in the city of Passaic, bringing the confirmed death toll from Ida to 16.
‘We’re enduring an historic weather event tonight with record-breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding, and dangerous conditions on our roads,’ New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a tweet as he declared a state of emergency in the city.
The city earlier issued a rare flash flood emergency warning urging residents to move to higher ground.
As footage showed cars submerged on streets across the city, authorities urged residents not to drive on flooded roads.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK