A night of dual disasters fueled by the remnants of Hurricane Ida crippled the Northeast and killed at least 17 people in New York City and New Jersey alone. Another four people were killed in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Historic and destructive rainfall and flooding hit New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York, and tornadoes tore across the Philadelphia suburbs.
Flooding in New York and New Jersey killed at least 17 people. Three deaths have been reported in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Another person was killed earlier Wednesday in Maryland when floodwaters filled the bottom floor of an apartment building.
The rain and flooding was so intense that it quickly overwhelmed major infrastructure. Thoroughfares turned to raging rivers that trapped drivers, subways gushed like geysers, water filled buses up to the seats and Newark Airport flooded.
(MORE: The Most Shocking Things We’ve Seen in Ida’s Historic Northeast Rainfall)
In neighborhoods and apartments, water quickly filled basement and ground levels and trapped people. Countless water rescues were needed in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Dozens of rivers are now swollen and bursting their banks. The Schuylkill River in Philadelphia reached levels not seen since 1902.
The weather was spawned by the remnants of what once was Hurricane Ida. Central Park got a record-setting 3.15″ of rain in just one hour. At least nine inches of rain fell in just hours in South Plainfield, New Jersey.
The system also fueled tornadoes that trapped people in their homes, knocked down trees and power lines and left tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power.
(MORE: The Latest Forecast for the Northeast)
We’re posting the latest updates below.
Tornado Devastated New Jersey’s Biggest Dairy Farm
The tornado that ravaged Mullica Hill ripped apart buildings housing 1,400 cows. About 150 cows were trapped in the debris and three were killed, Marianne Eachus, who owns Wellacrest Farm with her husband, Ward, told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The tornado toppled several large grain silos and tore through acres of corn that feeds the cows at the state’s largest dairy farm.
”The silos were gone. The buildings were ruined. Cows were running all over,” Eachus said.
Philadelphia Apartment Residents Told to Evacuate Immediately
Residents of the Park Towne Place apartments along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia have been told to leave the buildings because of “deteriorating conditions,” KYW News Radio reported.
“Please evacuate your home immediately; entrance doors will be locked at 12:45 p.m. EST due to deteriorating conditions. Re-entry will not be allowed until further notice,” building management told residents in an alert, according to WCAU.
The complex off the Ben Franklin Parkway in Center City has more than 900 apartments. Center City flooded Thursday morning when the river overflowed its banks.
Woman Describes Deadly Flooding at Queens Apartment
Deborah Torres and her 14-year-old daughter were in their pajamas when water started to flow into their first-floor apartment in Queens, New York.
“It was so fast,” Torres, 38, told the New York Daily News. “My daughter started to scream, ‘Mommy! Mommy! The water’s coming up!’ And when I came out from my room the water was already on my feet. And we didn’t have time, the water started to come, come, come.”
The apartment was underwater in eight minutes, Torres told the newspaper.
“My sofa was floating. This never happened before,” she said. “I wasn’t paying attention to my things — I was so worried about the family downstairs.”
Torres said the tenant in the basement apartment did not escape the floodwaters.
“I think the pressure of the water was too strong that they couldn’t open the door either side,” she recalled. “The (basement) was just like a pool with stairs.”
The 86-year-old woman who lived in the basement apartment was found dead by her son shortly before midnight, the Daily News reported.
3 Deaths in Montgomery County in Pennsylvania
Three storm-related deaths are being investigated by the Montgomery County coroner, Valerie A. Arkoosh, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, said during a briefing Thursday.
Arkoosh confirmed that one fatality was in Upper Dublin, where a woman was killed when a tree fell onto her home. She said the other two were drowning deaths, one in a home and the other in a car.
She said there had been more than 450 water rescues overnight in the county and compared that to a total of 135 during Hurricane Isaias last year.
Arkoosh also asked residents to “stay vigilant and stay off the roads if you can,” and she warned that the Schuylkill River had not yet crested.
Anyone needing a place to stay on Thursday night may go to the Red Cross Shelter at the Norristown Area High School at 1900 Eagle Drive in Norristown.
17 Deaths in New York and New Jersey
Nine deaths were reported in New York City and eight have been reported in New Jersey.
Four people were found dead at the Oakwood Apartment complex in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the city’s public information officer Kelly Martins confirmed to weather.com.
Three family members and a neighbor, were found at 430 Irvington Ave. They were a 72-year-old woman, her 71-year-old husband, and their 38-year-old son, Martins said. A 33-year-old female neighbor was also found with them. Names have not been released yet, she said.
Martins earlier had said five people had died at the complex, but she and the mayor later corrected that to say it was only four.
In Passaic, New Jersey, Mayor Hector C. Lora said at least one person was thought to have died after being trapped in a car in the rising floodwaters.
“His family was rescued, they were all in the same car. Unfortunately, the car was overtaken by the waters, and the firefighters who were being dragged down under the vehicle were unable to get him out,” Lora told WCBS-TV.
Lora said there was an unconfirmed report of another death in the city.
In Hillsborough Township, two people died after driving into floodwaters, Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Deputy Chief Frank Roman Jr. told nj.com.
A driver was found dead in his truck in a creek in Milford in Hunterdon County, Mayor Henri Schepens told nj.com.
“We don’t know where the vehicle came from,” Schepens said. “It could have gone through many bridges. It went for quite the distance. The whole roof was smashed in. Water is amazingly powerful.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said nine people died from the storm.
“Nine people who were alive at this exact moment yesterday, no idea that such a horrible thing could befall them,” he said at a briefing Thursday morning.
“Our hearts ache for the lives lost in last night’s storm. Please keep them and their loved ones in your thoughts today,” de Blasio said. “They were our fellow New Yorkers and to their families, your city will be there for you in the days ahead.”
The New York victims were in four different areas across the city, according to the New York Times. They died when they became trapped in flooded basements and ranged in age from 2 to 86, the New York Police Department said. They included a 50-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy who were found unconscious and unresponsive late Wednesday inside a home in Queens, according to the Associated Press. A New York City police spokesperson says a total of eight people died when they became trapped in flooded basements.
Official causes of death will be determined later by the city’s medical examiner, the department said.
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