Topline
On Wednesday evening, New York City was hit hard by torrential rains and severe winds. Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state emergency as Hurricane Ida remnants swept through the city.
One person navigates through the raindrops left by Hurricane Ida's remnants on September 1, 2021 in the Bronx borough, New York City. Getty Images
The Key Facts
De Blasio declared an emergency at 11:30 p.m. E.T. De Blasio declared a state of emergency at 11:30 p.m. E.T. Twitter acknowledged that this was the first ever time such a warning had been issued for New York City. Newark Airport, in neighboring New Jersey, also tweeted that it was suffering severe flooding and had to suspend all flight activity. In response to Ida, Phil Murphy, the Governor of New Jersey declared a state emergency earlier in the evening. Strong wind gusts and heavy rain caused the delay of a U.S. Open tennis match at the Louis Armstrong Stadium roofed.
Big Number
3.15 inches. This is the total amount of rain that New York's Central Park recorded between 8:51 and 9:51 PM. It was the highest recorded rainfall in one hour in the region. This is the average monthly rainfall Chicago records, according to NBC News.
Tangent
According to PowerOutage.us, the severe weather conditions left nearly 240,000 homes without power in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as of Thursday morning. As of Wednesday morning, over a million Louisiana households were without power due to Ida's devastation. On Thursday, more than 930,000 southern homes were still without power.
Important Background
Ida, a Category 4 hurricane with wind speeds of 150 mph reported winds made landfall along the Louisiana coast on Sunday. It is the fifth-strongest hurricane ever to hit the U.S. mainland. On Sunday night, the hurricane was reduced to a Category 2 hurricane and then became a tropical storm Monday morning. Although it weakened as it moved further inland, the hurricane brought torrential rain to many neighboring states, prompting numerous flood warnings.
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New York City is pummeled by Idas wind-driven remnants (New York Times).
As meteorologists warn, flash floods from Ida have shut down NYC's subway system. (New York Daily News).
