New York City has reported at least 12 deaths, including a 2-year-old boy, and another 14 people were found dead in the state of New Jersey. The Philadelphia suburb of Montgomery County also confirmed at least three deaths, NBC News reported.
Citing the town's mayor, the outlet reported that in Passaic, New Jersey, one body was recovered from a vehicle that went underwater near the Passaic River.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency on Wednesday night, which was followed by a travel ban issued overnight urging all non-emergency vehicles to stay off-roads on Thursday.
Ida, now reduced to cyclone level, hit New York City on Wednesday and inundated some areas with heavy rainfall. The downpour gained such an intensity that subway stations were forced to be suspended.
Hurricane Ida came ashore in south Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of up to 150 miles per hour. The devastating cyclone effectively caused what Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards called a catastrophic collapse of the state’s electric power grid. Ida weakened into a tropical storm as it made its way northeast.