Death toll exceeds 60 as states react to Hurricane Ida’s destruction

Much of America is still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Ida last week.

With a trail of destruction extending from the Gulf Coast and the northeastern United States, the latest death toll associated with the massive storm has exceeded 60.

Staggering statistics

The majority of those victims reportedly died as a result of widespread flooding that left parts of New York and New Jersey unrecognizable.

At least 13 people died in New York City alone, most of whom were living in basement apartments in Queens and Brooklyn where they drowned. Five more died in Westchester County, north of the nation’s most populous city.

The rainfall alone reportedly caused $50 million in damage across the state.

In New Jersey, 27 people reportedly died and four more were still missing as of the latest updates available. Five more died in Pennsylvania while Connecticut and Maryland have reported one death each.

More than 500,000 people were still without power in Louisiana one week after the storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. Thirteen people in that state reportedly died as a result of the extreme weather event.

Fierce flooding

Although the storm fell short of the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, it dumped historic levels of rain in the northeast, particularly the New York City metropolitan area.

The flooding caused subway system shutdowns and left drivers stranded. Images of flooded homes and cars floating in the street left many across the region and beyond horrified.

New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland experienced tornadoes that added to the natural disaster. In total, the hurricane is believed to have caused $60 billion in damage throughout its path of destruction.

For his part, President Joe Biden attempted to use the opportunity to tout his climate change agenda, as he explained during a tour of New York and New Jersey on Tuesday. He also capitalized on the situation by pushing an infrastructure proposal despite criticism that its contents would have done little if anything to mitigate the impact of Hurricane Ida.

“Every part of the country is getting hit by extreme weather, and we’re not living in real time what the country’s going to look like,” he said. “And if we don’t do something — we can’t turn it back very much, but we can prevent it from getting worse.”

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