More than 25 people were killed in New York and the wider US north-east as the remnants of Hurricane Ida brought unexpected heavy rain and flooding.
Deaths and damage were reported in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Maryland. Officials said many of those killed were trapped in basement apartments that filled with water.
Rivers and creeks swelled to record levels, roads flooded and transportation systems were badly impaired.
The ferocious storm, downgraded from the hurricane that hit Louisiana last week, also spawned tornadoes, including one that ripped apart homes and toppled silos in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia.
“These extreme storms, and the climate crisis, are here,” Joe Biden said in a White House speech. “We must be better prepared. We need to act.”
Videos shared on social media showed subway platforms in Manhattan and Brooklyn submerged with floodwater and cars in the city struggling to pass flooded streets.
At least 25 people were killed, according to the Associated Press. Reports included:
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At least 12 people died in New York City, most when they became trapped in flooded basements, and one who drowned in a car in Queens, according to police. Officers said they found three bodies around noon in a flooded basement near Kissena Park in Queens. Three other people, including two women and a man, were found dead on Thursday morning in a basement apartment in another section of Queens.
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At least eight people were killed in New Jersey, officials said. They included four people found dead in an apartment complex in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the city’s mayor and spokesperson said. In Passaic, a 70-year-old man was swept away after his family was rescued from their car. He was reported to have drowned.
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Three people were killed in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania; one was killed by a falling tree, one drowned in a car and another in a home.
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Outside Philadelphia, officials reported “multiple fatalities”, saying no additional details were immediately available.
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A 19-year-old man was killed in flooding at an apartment complex in Rockville, Maryland, police said.
Rescuers were searching for more stranded people and potentially more bodies. In Connecticut, a state trooper and his cruiser were swept away on Thursday morning in Woodbury. The trooper was taken to hospital, police and local authorities said. In Plainville, authorities said they used boats to rescue 18 people from a flooded neighborhood.
The deaths in New York city included a 50-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman and a two-year-old boy who were found late on Wednesday inside a home.
“We’re enduring an historic weather event tonight with record-breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads,” said the mayor, Bill de Blasio, while declaring a state of emergency in New York City.
The mayor’s warning came as the National Weather Service (NWS) office in New York issued its first set of flash flood emergencies in the region on Wednesday night, alerts sent only in the most dangerous conditions.
City officials banned travel for all but emergency vehicles until early Thursday and warned against unnecessary travel into the morning. Subway and rail service resumed on Thursday morning.
On Thursday afternoon Kathy Hochul, the New York governor, requested a federal emergency declaration for 14 counties including all of New York City.
In New Jersey, Newark international airport shut down on Wednesday night as videos showed water rushing through a terminal. The airport was allowing limited flights on Thursday. Officials said 370 flights had been canceled.
“There’s a lot of hurt in New Jersey,” the governor, Phil Murphy, told ABC on Thursday as he discussed damage caused by flooding in the north of the state and tornadoes in the south.
Amtrak service was canceled between Philadelphia and Boston, resuming in limited capacity on Thursday morning. New Jersey Transit train service remained suspended with the exception of the Atlantic City line. Buses were running with cancelations and delays. Transit officials cautioned against travel unless “absolutely essential”.
Major flooding along the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania swamped highways, submerged cars and disrupted rail service in the Philadelphia area.
At least 220,000 customers were without power, with most of the outages in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. More than 35,000 were without power on Thursday morning in New York City, Long Island and its northern suburbs.
The devastation came after Hurricane Ida struck Louisiana on Sunday as the fifth-strongest storm to ever hit the US mainland, leaving 1 million people without power, maybe for weeks.
New York’s resilience to flooding was under scrutiny. This is the second time in recent weeks subway stations and streets have been submerged. Early on Thursday in Central Park, about 10 trees were upended and there was some localized flooding.
The NWS recorded 3.15in (8.9cm) of rain in the park in one hour on Wednesday night, far surpassing the previous recorded high of 1.94in (4.9cm) that fell in one hour during a major storm, Henri, on 21 August. Scientists have warned such weather extremes will be more common with manmade global heating.
The Biden administration has pledged to tackle climate change but this week it was being criticized by environmental groups after resuming drilling auctions for oil and gas exploration.