12 Dead in NYC After Hurricane Ida Floods Streets and Basements

By AMBERLEY CANEGITTA

At least 12 people have been found dead due to the torrential downpour from Hurricane Ida in New York City, with ten of these deaths being caused by basement flooding.

In Woodside, Queens, a family of three, a 40-year-old man, 48-year-old woman and 2-year-old boy are among the victims of basements flooding in New York City along with a 48-year-old woman in Forest Hills, and a 66-year-old man in Cypress Hills. There were all either pronounced dead at the scene or at the hospital.

This Thursday morning, New York Governor Cathy Hochul, along with Mayor Bill De Blasio and Senator Chuck Schumer gave a press conference in Jamaica, Queens, in front of the house of another family that had lost their lives to basement flooding.

A 43-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man were stuck inside their basement apartment when the side of the wall had been destroyed by the hurricane, causing an intense rush of flooded water to fall into the basement and trap them inside. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman was pronounced dead at the hospital.

“We saw a horrifying storm last night,” said de Blasio, “unlike anything we have seen before, and this is a reality we have to face. Unfortunately, the price paid by some New Yorkers was horrible and tragic. We have now lost nine New Yorkers to this storm. Nine people who were alive at this exact moment yesterday…Families in mourning right now; we need to be there for them and for all the New Yorkers who right now are dealing with the results of this horrifying storm.”

Among those found dead in flooded basements was also an 84-year-old woman found dead on a flooded street in Jackson Heights, Queens, as well as an unidentified person in the back seat of a vehicle on the Grand Central Parkway.

“Right now . . . we pray that the number does not go up further,” said New York City Police Commissioner Demot Shea. Unfortunately, as the press conference was taking place, three more people were found dead in a basement in Flushing, Queens: Two females and one male, bringing the death toll to twelve.

To New Yorkers this is like a repeat of Hurricane Sandy, in which 43 people died. Infrastructure damage from Hurricane Sandy still exists. In effect, there has been a continuous cycle of flooding in some New York City neighborhoods. “We are not out of the woods,” said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.  “Queens needs to see more infrastructure investment. We cannot wait until tomorrow. We need it today. These lives could have been saved if we had investment that we sorely needed a long time ago.”