New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced measures on Friday aimed at amplifying emergency responses such as alerts, travel bans, and evacuations during future storms after the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought devastating floodwaters to the city this week.
The number of fatalities from storms in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut throughout Wednesday and Thursday reached at least 49 on Friday as the New York City mayor vowed to update precautions for future weather events.
De Blasio emphasized the city will work on better evacuation plans for people who live in basement apartments, as videos uploaded to social media showcased the storm affecting people in areas prone to flooding.
“It’s not like the rain we used to know,” de Blasio said. “It’s a different reality, a speed and intensity that we now have to understand will be normal.”
BIDEN VISITS LOUISIANA TO SURVEY HURRICANE IDA DAMAGE
Water cascades onto a New York City subway train as remnants of Hurricane Ida bring flooding rain to the Northeast. https://t.co/pKqmXs6g8J pic.twitter.com/sYmzPSGb1I
— ABC News (@ABC) September 2, 2021
Officials in New York admitted they were not expecting remnants from Ida, which initially struck Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane, to cause such devastation as severe storms headed toward the Northeast.
“We did not know that between 8:50 and 9:50 p.m. last night, that the heavens would literally open up and bring Niagara Falls-level water to the streets of New York,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday.
The National Weather Service for New York said on Sept. 1 that it was only the second time “we’ve ever issued a Flash Flood Emergency (It’s the first one for NYC).”
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“The first time we’ve issued a Flash Flood Emergency was for Northeast New Jersey an hour ago,” the NWS wrote on Wednesday at around 9:43 p.m. ET, as the storms brought devastating floodwaters to the streets, low elevation zones, and subways of the city.
