© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: New York Metropolis Mayor Invoice de Blasio offers remarks to the media in New York Metropolis, New York, U.S., August 3, 2021. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Picture
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By Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) -The governors of New York and New Jersey declared a state of emergency late on Wednesday as record-breaking rains from tropical storm Ida led to flooding and dangerous circumstances on the roads, with media reporting a minimum of 9 deaths.
“I’m declaring a state of emergency to assist New Yorkers affected by tonight’s storm,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul mentioned on Twitter (NYSE:).
New York Metropolis Mayor Invoice de Blasio described the flooding and climate on Wednesday evening as a “historic climate occasion”. The Nationwide Climate Service issued a flash flood emergency in New York Metropolis for the primary time.
At the very least one particular person was killed because the flooding inundated the New Jersey metropolis of Passaic, Mayor Hector Lora instructed CNN.
NBC New York reported that yet one more particular person had died in New Jersey and 7 had died in New York Metropolis, together with a 2-year-old boy. Native media reported that individuals had been trapped of their basements because the storm despatched water surging by the town.
Lora mentioned the physique of a person in his seventies was retrieved from floodwaters. The car the person was using in was swept away by the water and firefighters had been swept beneath the car, stopping them reaching him, CNN reported.
Almost all New York Metropolis subway strains had been suspended late on Wednesday because the remnants of Ida introduced torrential rain and the specter of flash floods and tornadoes to components of the northern mid-Atlantic, CNN reported earlier.
All non-emergency autos had been banned from New York Metropolis’s streets till 5 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Thursday as a result of climate, metropolis authorities mentioned on Twitter.
At the very least 5 flash flood emergencies had been issued on Wednesday night by the Nationwide Climate Service, stretching from west of Philadelphia by northern New Jersey.
Earlier within the evening, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy additionally declared a state of emergency. He wrote on Twitter that 81,740 energy outages had been reported late on Wednesday.
A twister swept by New Jersey’s Gloucester County, damaging a number of properties, in accordance with CNN affiliate WPVI.
All New Jersey Transit rail providers aside from the Atlantic Metropolis Rail Line had been suspended as a result of excessive climate, the service mentioned on its web site.
The storm injury from Ida had astounded officers on Wednesday, three days after the highly effective hurricane pounded southern Louisiana, and reconnaissance flights revealed complete communities devastated by wind and floods.
Tornadoes spawned by the storm ripped by components of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, photos on social media confirmed.
New Jersey’s Newark Liberty Airport mentioned on Twitter it was experiencing “extreme flooding”. It mentioned it resumed “restricted flight operations” near midnight in spite of everything flight exercise was suspended late on Wednesday.
Social media photos confirmed water gushing over New York Metropolis’s subway platforms and trains. Subway service was “extraordinarily restricted” as a result of flooding, the Metropolitan Transit Authority mentioned.
First responders evacuated individuals from the subway system, the appearing chair and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Janno Lieber, mentioned in an announcement.
De Blasio urged individuals to remain residence.
“Please keep off the streets tonight and let our first responders and emergency providers get their work achieved. Should you’re pondering of going outdoors, do not. Keep off the subways. Keep off the roads. Do not drive into these heavy waters. Keep inside”, he wrote on Twitter.
