(NEW YORK) — Authorities said Thursday that at least 12 people have died in New York City as the remnants of Hurricane Ida caused an unexpected deluge of devastating floodwater to inundate the city.
Videos and images posted to social media amid the storm captured scenes of chaos and despair as roads turned to waterways and subway stations flooded due to the record-shattering rainfall. Authorities said hundreds of people were rescued from flooded cars and transit stations.
“The price paid by some New Yorkers is horrible and tragic,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a Thursday news conference, lamenting how the New Yorkers who died in the storm “were alive at this exact moment yesterday, no idea that such a horrible fate could befall them.”
The borough of Queens, home to many lower- and middle-class New Yorkers and one of the most racially diverse areas in the nation, bore the brunt of storm-related deaths in the city.
Here is what we know about the New York City flooding victims so far.
The identities of the victims have yet to be released pending family notifications, police have said.
Two people died after the floodwaters caused a partial building collapse in Queens, according to the New York Police Department. Officers responded to a 911 call of a flooding condition in the Jamaica neighborhood of the borough at approximately 11:15 p.m. local time Wednesday, where they said they found a 43-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man unconscious and unresponsive within a residence. The woman was taken to Queens General Hospital where she was pronounced dead, and the man was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Three people — including a toddler — were also found dead in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens when police officers responded to a 911 call of a flooding condition at approximately 10 p.m. local time. A 50-year-old man, 48-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy were found unconscious and unresponsive within the residence, and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the NYPD.
A 48-year-old woman was also found unconscious and unresponsive at her home near the Corona neighborhood of Queens, police said. She was taken by responders to Forest Hills Hospital late Wednesday, where she was pronounced dead.
Meanwhile in Brooklyn, a 66-year-old man was found unconscious and unresponsive on Wednesday evening at a residence after police responded to a 911 call reporting flooding. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Thursday, firefighters on discovered three more bodies after a landlord — also in Flushing — called 911 to report that there were three bodies submerged in a flooded basement, according to the Fire Department New York. Further details about the victims was not immediately available.
President Joe Biden gave his “heartfelt thanks” to first responders in the New York City region during remarks on Thursday, noting the record hourly rainfall total in the city’s famous Central Park.
“We saw more than 3 inches of rain per hour fall in Central Park,” the president said. “The United States National Weather Service issued a flood emergency in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island and parts of Long Island last night.”
“This is the first time that such a warning has ever been issued for the city,” Biden said. “People were trapped in the subways.”
Much of the country is still reeling from Ida’s fury on Thursday. All told, there have been at least 40 deaths across eight states related to the storm.
ABC News’ Alex Faul and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
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