Ida triggers massive flooding across Northeast

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards called for an investigation into the deaths of four nursing home residents, who were evacuated to a facility in Tangipahoa Parish ahead of Hurricane Ida.

Edwards said three of the four deaths were classified as storm-related by the coroner, including a 59-year-old female from Jefferson Parish, a 52-year-old male from Orleans Parish, and a 77-year-old male from Terrebonne Parish.

“I would point out that, unless there's a mandatory evacuation order, nursing homes make the decisions about when and where to evacuate. And obviously, they have an obligation legal, moral and otherwise, to always provide safe and adequate conditions for their residents as best they are able to do,” the governor added.

The governor said the 843 nursing home residents were moved to a number of other nursing homes, 12 were moved to a hospital, and others to special needs shelters across Louisiana.

“We're going to do a full investigation into whether these facilities, the owner of the facilities failed to keep residents safe, and whether he intentionally obstructed efforts to check in on them, and determine what the conditions were in the shelter,” Edwards said. “If warranted, we will take aggressive legal action against any responsible parties. Our top priority now is making sure that the vulnerable residents are safe and well cared for.”

Con Edison says it plans to finish 95% of power restoration by Friday night after the brutal weather from Hurricane Ida.

There were 32,000 customers that lost power after the storm Wednesday and a total of 13,216 are still without power, according to Con Edison. 

The company said they brought in about 500 outside contractors to help with power restoration efforts.

Con Edison provides energy for 10 million people who live in New York City and Westchester County, according to their website.

There were at least eight confirmed tornadoes in the Northeast on Wednesday, according to storm surveys conducted by the National Weather Service. 

Four tornadoes have been reported in Pennsylvania, including an EF-2 in Fort Washington, with winds up to 130 mph. 

Three tornadoes were confirmed in New Jersey, including one in Mullica Hill, although no other details were available yet. One tornado was also confirmed in southeast Massachusetts – an EF-0 with 75 mph winds in Dennis.

Some context: Some of the tornadoes have been confirmed, but details on the size and strength are not available yet. Other areas, like Maryland, have several preliminary tornado reports, but damage surveys have not been conducted.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy described a “historic” disaster in his state today and pleaded with residents not to aggravate the situation by furthering endangering themselves in the receding floodwaters.

Murphy said first responders rescued a second round of people today after they made their way through the standing water. 

“It will be our long road, but we will get back on our feet together,” he added.

Murphy also clarified that none of the state’s 23 storm-related deaths were related to tornado warnings, saying he thinks some state residents might have taken the flood warnings less seriously than the tornado warnings.

“The tornado warnings came out just as the flood warnings came out,” Murphy said. “Everybody, when they got the tornado warning, went into their basement and I think there were too many people who thought that they could deal with flooding and sadly, some of them either in their homes or in their cars, lost their lives.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he spoke with President Biden and the Federal Emergency Management Agency's administrator, Deanne Criswell, Thursday about the storm damage in his state in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

Murphy said he also toured the storm-damaged Mullica Hill neighborhood of Harrison, “where a devastating tornado tore through multiple houses, leveling some down to their foundation.” He said he plans to tour more storm-damaged neighborhoods later on Thursday and Friday. 

Murphy said that at the height of the storm, 93,000 customers were without power. As of Thursday evening, about 44,000 customers are still without power, he said.

The deaths of three Jefferson Parish residents as a result of carbon monoxide-related exposure in a home have been linked to Hurricane Ida, the Louisiana Department of Health said Thursday.

A 65-year-old woman from the same parish also drowned in floodwaters, the department said in tweets Thursday. CNN reported the Jefferson Parish drowning death on Tuesday.

According to CNN’s reporting, there are now 13 fatalities connected to Hurricane Ida in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Correction: An earlier version of this post included the wrong number of deaths connected to the storm. There are now 13 fatalities.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has more than 1,100 employees currently supporting the response to Hurricane Ida in Louisiana and Mississippi, officials said on a call with reporters Thursday afternoon. 

When asked about the agency's ability to support both Louisiana and the northeastern states battered by rainfall, Matthew Payne, acting deputy assistant administrator for FEMA's response operations division, said, "we leaned very far forward in our preparations prior to the storm making landfall."

Payne said FEMA is "actively working to meet the needs" of people across multiple states amid several challenging situations, confirming that the agency is also prepared to support states impacted by the remnants of Hurricane Ida in the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast.

More support: There are also more than 2,000 Red Cross volunteers active today across the country, including those that are sheltering over 500 people in the Northeast across seven states, Brad Kieserman, vice president of operations and logistics at the American Red Cross, said on the call.

Its efforts include sheltering nearly 3,500 people in Louisiana and providing support in multiple parishes.

As of Thursday morning, 13 hospitals were evacuated in Louisiana, according to Payne. Six were fully evacuated and five were previously evacuated but are open, he said, adding that they were still waiting for updates on two hospitals. All of the hospitals that were evacuated were evacuated to locations within the state.

FEMA is also providing several ambulances to Mississippi, along with Louisiana. There is also a 250-bed federal medical shelter in Alexandria, Louisiana.

As of Thursday afternoon, FEMA had 240,000 applicants for disaster assistance from the state of Louisiana, FEMA director of the Individual Assistance Division Chris Smith said. 

FEMA has awarded nearly $93 million in individual assistance in Louisiana.

At least 23 New Jersey residents died in the storm, Gov. Phil Murphy said Thursday.

Murphy said the majority of the storm-related deaths were people who were caught in their vehicles by flooding and were “overtaken by the water.”

A state trooper died after being swept away by floodwaters in Woodbury, Connecticut, has died, said Col. Stavros Mellekas of the Connecticut State Police.

The trooper who has not been identified responded to reports of a missing person due to the flooding in Woodbury, Connecticut, at 4 a.m. ET. He was carried away by the rising waters when he arrived on the scene.  

After a search and rescue, he was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital via helicopter and died en route. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

He was a member of the Connecticut State Police for more than 26 years, according to Mellekas.