At least 52 people have been confirmed dead after Hurricane Ida tore through the Northeast last week — as authorities in New Jersey on Monday resumed the search for two college students whose car was swept away in the flash floods.
New York had 18 confirmed deaths: Five in Westchester County and the rest in New York City where nearly all victims became trapped in basement apartments in Queens or Brooklyn.
In New Jersey, there were 27 confirmed storm deaths and four people still missing, according to Governor Phil Murphy’s office.
Among the missing are the two college students — Nidhi Rana, 18, and Ayush Rana, 21 –who were last seen in Passaic on Wednesday when their car was floating toward a section where the water flows underground toward the Passaic River.
A dozen search boats and a state police air unit were carrying out the latest search for the two friends on Sunday, Passaic Mayor Hector Lora told the Associated Press.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer announced a fifth confirmed death in his region during a press conference Monday.
Other storm deaths were reported in Connecticut where State Police Sgt. Brian Mohl was swept away in his vehicle, Pennsylvania with at least five dead and Maryland with at least one dead.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Manville, New Jersey and Queens on Tuesday to survey then storm damage.
Governor Kathy Hochul said the historic rainfall caused more than $50 million in damage after walls of water cascaded through businesses, public transport and 1,200 homes in her state.
“The human toll was tremendous,” Hochul said as she recalled last week’s visit to Queens to assess the devastation.
“One woman wept in my arms, an 89-year-old woman. She had nothing left after living in that home for over 40 years.”
Another 13 people have been confirmed dead in Louisiana, where Ida first made landfall Aug. 29.
With Post wires
