Guwahati News Desk: The remnants of the terrifying Hurricane Ida has dumped ‘historic rain’over New York City, with several people dying due to the ongoing floods.
At least nine deaths have been linked to flooding in the region, as basement apartments suddenly filled with water and freeways and boulevards turned into rivers, submerging the cars.
In addition, five more people were found dead in New Jersey, bringing the death toll in the region from Wednesday’s floods to fourteen.
The Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, described the flooding and weather on Wednesday night as a “historic weather event,” and the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency in the city for the first time.
Making an announcement through a post on Twitter, Blasio said, “I’m declaring a state of emergency in New York City tonight. We’re enduring an historic weather event tonight with record breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads.”
His tweet further read, “Please stay off the streets tonight and let our first responders and emergency services get their work done. If you’re thinking of going outside, don’t. Stay off the subways. Stay off the roads. Don’t drive into these heavy waters. Stay inside. “We’re keeping our eyes on our power grid. We’ve seen about 5,300 customers without power. We expect the rain to stop in the next few hours.”
Even several photos and videos surfaced on social media, showing the water gush out of New York City subway and city streets. Other videos showed vehicles submerged up to their windows on major roadways in and around the city and garbage bobbing down the streets.
As announced by the authorities, all non-emergency vehicles were banned temporarily from New York City’s streets and nearly all New York City subway lines were suspended due to the drenching rains, the threat of flash floods and tornadoes.
Meanwhile, recovery efforts are still underway, with the aim of bringing back transportation systems serving millions of residents in the densely populated metropolitan area.
