The death toll from flooding after the remnants of Hurricane Ida pummelled cities in the East rose sharply to 46 on Thursday after New Jersey announced at least 23 people had died there.
Dozens have died in six Eastern states — Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia — after the storm brought unprecedented rainfall to some areas. The death toll included a state trooper in Connecticut who was swept away as he responded to a missing person’s call.
"I'm 50 years old and I've never seen that much rain ever," said Metodija Mihajlov whose basement of his Manhattan restaurant was flooded with three inches of water.
"It was like living in the jungle, like tropical rain. Unbelievable. Everything is so strange this year," he said.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled at LaGuardia and JFK airports, as well as at Newark, where video showed a terminal inundated by rainwater.
"We're all in this together. The nation is ready to help," President Joe Biden said ahead of a trip Friday to the southern state of Louisiana, where Ida earlier destroyed buildings and left more than a million homes without power.
- 'Historic weather event' -
Flooding closed major roads across New Jersey and New York boroughs including Manhattan, The Bronx and Queens, submerging cars and forcing the fire department to rescue hundreds of people.
At least 13 people lost their lives in New York City, along with three in suburban Westchester County, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said in a tweet at least 23 people from that state had perished in the storm.
The National Weather Service confirmed two tree-snapping tornadoes also struck Maryland on Wednesday, one in Annapolis and another Baltimore. A 19-year-old was reported to have died after trying to rescue his mother from a flooded apartment in Rockville, Maryland, according to the Washington Post.
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The damage came three days after Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the U.S. Gulf Coast, made landfall on Sunday in Louisiana, destroying entire communities.
But the loss of life in the Northeast dwarfed the confirmed storm-related death toll of nine in Louisiana.