Ida death toll rises after storm hammers US Northeast

The hurricane’s remnants dropped devastating rainfall in four US states killing at least 18 people and causing major flooding.

A stunned US East Coast has awoken on Thursday to a rising death toll, surging rivers and destruction from the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which walloped the region with record-breaking rain days after hitting the Gulf Coast as one of the strongest hurricanes on record to strike the US. In a region that had not expected a serious blow from the no-longer-hurricane, the storm killed at least 18 people from Maryland to New York on Wednesday night as basement apartments suddenly filled with water, rivers and creeks swelled to record levels and roadways turned into car-swallowing canals. Nine people died in New York City, many when they became trapped in flooded basements, police and Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Four people were found dead in an apartment complex in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the city’s mayor and spokesperson told local media, correcting an earlier report of five.