More than a dozen people are dead after Hurricane Ida tore through New York and New Jersey late Wednesday night.
According to the Associated Press, police say four women, three men, and a 2-year-old boy died in Queens when the basement of their residential homes flooded.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke about how people were caught off guard by the flooding.
“This has been absolutely stunning in a scale of — people were just caught off guard, and so shocked. The residents who thought they would safely go down in their basements or take the trains and all of sudden, just unprecedented storm events changed everything," said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
In New Jersey, NBC reported that officials say four residents at the Oakwood Plaza Apartments complex in Elizabeth died from storm-related causes.
Officials say the victims included a 72-year-old wife, a 71-year-old husband, a 38-year-old son, and a 33-year-old female neighbor.
“In terms of what we're hearing on the ground, people are just shocked by this. This is an event that we start deploying resources to the region the night before and in the morning before, and we were preparing for this. But once that rain starts coming down, the skies open up, and it just was unrelenting,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul.
President Joe Biden said the federal government would provide aid to those impacted by Ida.
“We are here for you. And we’re making sure the response and recovery is equitable, so those hit hardest get the resources they need and are not left behind," said President Joe Biden.
