Dozens dead as flash floods hit US northeast

Flash flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida killed at least 44 people in four northeastern U.S. states overnight into Sept. 2, including several who perished in basements during the "historic" weather event officials blamed on climate change.

class='cf'>

Record rainfall, which prompted an unprecedented flash flood emergency warning for New York City, turned streets into rivers and shut down subway services as water cascaded down platforms onto tracks.

"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 told AFP.

Hundreds of flights were canceled at LaGuardia and JFK airports, as well as at Newark, where video showed a terminal inundated by rainwater.

President Joe Biden declared emergencies in the states of New York and New Jersey on Sept. 2, ordering federal disaster management agencies to coordinate relief efforts and provide emergency support.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency was mandated "to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency," the White House said in a statement.

class='cf'>

Ahead of a visit to the southern state of Louisiana, where Ida earlier destroyed buildings and left more than a million homes without power, Biden said "we're all in this together. The nation is ready to help".

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.

Continue reading on: