(CNN) — New York State declared a state of emergency early Thursday when the northeastern United States was hit by torrential rains from the remnants of Ida, leading to heavy flooding and reports of numerous water rescues.
In New York City, nearly all of the city’s subway lines were suspended due to flooding. The Metropolitan Transit Authority’s website said that only line “7” and the Staten Island Railroad were operating with delays.
“We are enduring a historic weather event tonight with record city-wide rainfall, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Twitter.
“We will have a difficult few hours until the rain comes out of here,” de Blasio told CNN affiliate WCBS. “I’ve never seen so much rain so fast. It’s absolutely amazing … We’re talking about three inches, four inches in an hour. Incredible accumulation.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul told CNN that the rain was “much more than anyone expected” and left the region in “a very dire situation.”
“We can take all precautions up front, and we do deploy our assets to be on the ground early, but Mother Nature will do whatever she wants and she’s really mad tonight,” Hochul told CNN’s Don Lemon.
The New York National Weather Service urged people to stay off the roads. “We’re seeing too many reports of water rescue and stranded motorists. Don’t drive on flooded roads. You don’t know how deep the water is and it’s too dangerous,” the weather service said.
The National Weather Service issued at least five flash flood emergencies Wednesday night, from western Philadelphia to northern New Jersey. Dozens of water rescues were underway and numerous roads were closed.
In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy also declared a state of emergency, urging residents to “stay off the roads, stay home and stay safe.”
People were being pulled from cars trapped underwater in Passaic, New Jersey, according to Mayor Hector Lora. “We are at a point where there are certain areas of the city where we cannot even send emergency personnel due to the potential danger,” Lora said in a video posted on Facebook.
The latest flash flood emergency included Newark, the largest city in the state. Precipitation estimates for parts of central and eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey ranged up to 8 inches of water, with some isolated locations approaching 10 inches. Some parts saw as much as 4 inches of rain per hour overnight on Wednesday.
“Five inches of rain just doesn’t happen in this region very often,” said CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller. “We could easily see some deadly flash floods like we saw in Tennessee last week.”
A flash flood emergency was also issued for New York City and lasted until 3 a.m. ET, according to the weather service, which covers Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx and areas as far north as White Plains. The area has already seen up to 3 inches of rain in just a few hours and rainfall rates are expected to hit 5 inches per hour for the rest of Wednesday.
Heavy rains will also continue in northern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania for the remainder of Wednesday night, while nighttime impacts will continue in southern New York, spreading into Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
One person died due to flooding in the Guesses Fork area of Hurley, Virginia, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office said. People were asked to stay away from the area, according to the sheriff’s office, and only residents who showed proof of identification and authorized personnel were allowed to enter Wednesday night.
In Maryland, one person died and another is missing after remnants of Ida flooded an apartment complex Wednesday, Montgomery County officials said. The 19-year-old man was found dead, but the cause has not been confirmed, Montgomery County Police spokesman Casandra Durham told CNN.
Fire and rescue personnel evacuated dozens of people from the Rock Creek Woods apartment complex in Rockville, authorities said. About 150 residents were displaced after 50 apartments were affected and 12 were flooded, police said.
A tornado made landfall in a primarily commercial area of Annapolis Wednesday afternoon, fire department spokesman Bud Zapata said. No injuries have been reported, but some private residences were damaged and there is an active gas leak in the area, Zapata said. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said on Twitter that his office was working with city and county officials to assess the damage.
Power outages were reported throughout the region as severe weather progressed. More than 114,000 customers in Pennsylvania were in the dark Wednesday night, according to PowerOutage.us. More than 78,000 outages were reported in New Jersey and nearly 30,000 in New York.
Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane and, although it has weakened significantly since then, heavy rains have still fallen in the southeast on its way north. More than 60 million people are under flash flood watch in parts of the central Appalachians, the mid-Atlantic, and southern New York and southern New England.
Amanda Jackson, Raja Razek, Christina Maxouris, Monica Garrett, Judson Jones, Colin McCullough, Taylor Ward, Tanika Gray, Patrick Cornell, Kiely Westhoff, Mirna Alsharif, Kristina Sgueglia y Eric Levenson contribuyeron a este reporte.
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