Of the 42 deaths, 36 have been registered in New York and New Jersey as a result of the waterspouts
Biden approves the declaration of a state of emergency in both territories
At least 42 people have died in the United States as a result of the passage of cyclone ‘Ida’, which after degrading to a tropical storm, has wreaked havoc on the east coast of the United States, where it has caused unprecedented rainfall and severe flooding.
At least 36 people have died in New York and New Jersey due to the heavy rains that have fallen in recent hours in the northeastern United States, as far as the effects of cyclone ‘Ida’ that entered last week through Louisiana and which has caused unprecedented rainfall.
The New York authorities have confirmed 13 fatalities in this city, including a two-year-old boy, while the state of New Jersey has mourned another 23 deaths, according to the television network NBC, including four residents of a complex of apartments. On the other hand, Philadelphia authorities have confirmed that they are investigating the deaths of three people as possibly related to the storm.
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, has approved the declaration of a state of emergency in New York and New Jersey, and has ordered that local officials receive federal aid.
“A record rain has fallen in these states. New York had more rain yesterday, the first day of September, than it normally does in the whole month,” he stressed.
To face the consequences of ‘Ida’, the US Department of Energy has announced that it will release 1.5 million barrels of crude oil from the country’s federal emergency reserves, to provide service, among others, to two-thirds of the gas stations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, which have run out of supplies after the cyclone.
Biden himself will travel to Louisiana this Friday to “inspect the damage caused by the hurricane’s storms,” ​​said the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, and where they will meet with the authorities to evaluate the emergency response.
The governor of the state of New York, Kathy Hochul, has declared a state of emergency in the face of the sudden floods derived from ‘Ida’, while the mayor of the city, Bill de Blasio, also declared an emergency. In Central Park, the recorded rainfall has broken the previous record, dating from 1927, and several areas of the city have been submerged under water.
In subsequent statements, De Blasio lamented that the public “is going through hell” after the passage of the storm. In the same way, he has considered ‘Ida’ as a “wake-up call” and has indicated that the authorities have to modify the way they approach “the abruptness, the brutality” of the current storms.
De Blasio has insisted that ‘Ida’ is “a terrible storm, unlike anything we have seen before” and has thanked the rescue personnel for their work.
Transportation services have been practically paralyzed in some areas of the Northeast. At Newark airport alone, more than 300 flights have been canceled, with massive cancellations also in the case of JFK and La Guardia airfields in New York.
Similarly, Connecticut has declared a state of emergency in order to respond to the floods caused by ‘Ida’. The governor of the state, Ned Lamont, has signed a declaration to provide emergency management services with “the necessary tools to help in the affected areas,” he said in a statement.
The havoc in New York and New Jersey has led United Nations Secretary General António Guterres to be “deeply saddened by the lives lost and the damage caused by the devastating and unprecedented climatic events.”
