Thousands without power across NY, NJ after Ida remnants hit Northeast

NEW YORK - Thousands of customers were without power Thursday morning in New York and New Jersey after torrential rain from remnants of Hurricane Ida hit the region, causing deadly flooding and halted transit systems.

The New York City area, Long Island and areas in the Hudson Valley north of the city saw more than 36,000 customers without power as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.US, which tracks outages among various utility companies.

In New Jersey, some 60,000 outages were reported.

Ida’s remnants dumped historic rain on New York City, with at least nine deaths linked to flooding across both New York and New Jersey. A New York City police spokesperson said a total of eight people died when they became trapped in flooded basements.

Flooding also swamped subway cars and submerged vehicles and homes.

Video captured by New York City residents showed floodwaters pouring into the city’s underground subway system. Streets in Brooklyn resembled waterways in a video shared late Wednesday, which shows vehicles attempting to drive through deep floodwaters and people wading through it.

Brooklyn streets submerged as New York hit by severe floods

Streets in New York’s Brooklyn borough resembled waterways on Sept. 1, 2021, as remnants of Hurricane Ida brought severe flooding to the area. Credit - John Miller via Storyful

A state of emergency was declared late Wednesday evening in New York City and the rest of the state. Ida’s remnants were exiting the country, but not without tornadoes in other parts of the Northeast.

"We’re enduring an historic weather event tonight with record-breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads," De Blasio wrote on Twitter.

The National Weather Service confirmed at least one tornado and social media posts showed homes reduced to rubble in Mullica Hill, a southern New Jersey county just outside Philadelphia. Another video showed water rushing through Newark Liberty International Airport as the storm moved into the area.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. It was reported from Cincinnati and Los Angeles.