Weather Outside Your Window: Deadly disaster in NYC as Ida's heavy rains deluge metro area

By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer

Updated Sep. 2, 2021 9:51 AM EDT

Having traveled over 1,200 miles from its spot of initial landfall, Ida showed it could still pack a devastating punch on Wednesday night, proving deadly and rewriting record books in the process.

From the mid-Atlantic to New England, Ida lived up to its billing as a dangerous tropical rainstorm. AccuWeather forecasters had been shouting from the rooftops about the threat it posed as it charged toward the Northeast. Dangerous flash flood conditions required the rescuing of dozens of people in Pennsylvania, while historically intense rain in New York and New Jersey claimed the lives of at least eight residents.

That deluge spelled tragedy throughout the tri-state region. At least seven people perished from the flooding in New York City, with another fatality coming in New Jersey. As New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told ABC7 in a late-night interview on Wednesday, this was a dire situation for all five boroughs.

“We’re enduring an historic weather event tonight with record-breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said while declaring a state of emergency in New York City late Wednesday.

Three of the deaths came from the same residency in Flushing, Queens, when a 50-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman and a 2-year-old young boy drowned. Elsewhere in the borough, two people in Jamaica, Queens, were killed when flooding collapsed the wall of their home.

The city also saw multiple fatalities of people in cars, a tragic fate that also accounted for the death of at least one driver in Passaic, New Jersey. As floodwaters rushed through streets in the city, a 70-year-old motorist was swept away after his family was rescued.

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Passengers on a bus in Queens, New York, stood on their seats as the bus drove through floodwaters on Aug. 31. The flooding was caused by Tropical Rainstorm Ida, which quickly dropped several inches of rain on the area.

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"Unfortunately, the car was overtaken by the waters, and the firefighters who were being dragged down under the vehicle were unable to get him out,” Passaic Mayor Hector Lora told WCBS-TV. Lora added there was another unconfirmed report of a separate death in the city.

The calendar had just flipped to September hours earlier, but it didn't take long for residents in New York City to see more than their average monthly rainfall. In a staggering 60-minute span, from 8:51 p.m. to 9:51 p.m., the Big Apple's Central Park recorded 3.15 inches of precipitation, shattering the one-hour rainfall record that had just been set two weeks ago amid Tropical Storm Henri.

On the opposite side of the country, the National Weather Service (NWS) office in San Fransico noted that the city has recorded only 5.38 in. of rain since Jan. 1, "meaning Central Park observed over half of all the rainfall the [observation site] has gotten in 1 hour."

South of New York City, the numbers were even more immense in New Jersey. In Newark, a daily total of 7.2 inches of rain obliterated the 24-hour record for the city, in what was described by some to be a type of rain event that occurs every 200 to 500 years.

As Ida shifted east, it carried its hobby of rewriting records with it to Hartford, Connecticut, and to Worcester, Massachusetts. In Hartford, the city recorded its first-ever day with more than 1 inch of recorded rainfall – by a lot. According to the NWS, the city saw over 4 inches.

And in central Massachusetts, Worcester also demolished its daily maximum rainfall record on Wednesday, recorded 2.46 inches, breaking a 94-year-old record.

In Pennsylvania, Ida's wrath also proved deadly. A woman was killed in Upper Dublin Township, Pennsylvania, Wednesday when a tree toppled onto a home, WPVI in Philadelphia reported. Devastating destruction also spanned across the length of the state from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.

Earlier Wednesday, emergency rescue efforts were required to save 40 students and the driver of a school bus in Pittsburgh. The bus was trapped in floodwaters on a road in Shaler Township, requiring rescuers from the Cherry City Volunteer Fire Co. to use emergency rafts and evacuate students from the vehicle's backdoor emergency exit.

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Vehicles are under water during flooding in Philadelphia, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 in the aftermath of downpours and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that hit the area. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

In the eastern portion of the state, similarly intense scenes of flooding unfolded in the areas surrounding Philadelphia, with another severe twist: tornadoes.

Along with a dangerously high swelling of the Delaware River, which left parts of Philadelphia underwater, the Neshaminy Creek also rose past its previous record-high flood stage, impacting areas such as Bensalem. For the second time this summer, that area also faced the worry of another round of twisters.

Multiple large and dangerous tornadoes were reported in the Philadelphia area Wednesday evening. Devastating damage was seen in one neighborhood in the community of Mullica Hill, New Jersey. Some homes were completely obliterated and parts of other homes were ripped off due to the powerful twister's winds.

“I could see through the corner window…kind of like a whirlwind,” a homeowner in Mullica Hills, who was running with his wife and son to shelter in the basement at the time, told NJ Advance Media. “As (my wife) was … trying to close the door, the door came off."

Gloucester County, New Jersey, officials reported Wednesday that there were no fatalities due to the tornado, but at least two people suffered injuries. Mullica Hill is located about 23 miles south of Philadelphia.

Within Gloucester County, Harrison Township Mayor Louis Manzo said dozens of homes were "flattened."

"Just spoke with Harrison Township Mayor Lou Manzo about the devastating tornado that ripped through the Mullica Hill community and surrounding area tonight," New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said on Twitter Wednesday night. "We’re closely monitoring the situation and will do whatever is needed to support the response and recovery in the days ahead."