Hurricane Ida news: Biden OK’s emergency declaration for New York after storm kills 49 across four states

President Joe Biden is getting an up-close look at Hurricane Ida’s impact in hard-hit south Louisiana, where thousands of homes were damaged by massive floods and deadly-force winds.

The president warned that “the climate crisis is here” in the wake of the storm, which wreaked a path of destruction across the US and left dozens of people dead this week.

At least 49 people were killed when remnants of the hurricane struck New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut on Wednesday with catastrophic flooding, powerful winds and tornadoes.

Four nursing home patients died in Independence, Louisiana, where Hurricane Ida made landfall on Sunday as a Category 4 storm. The Louisiana Department of Health confirmed that three of the deaths were storm-related.

Some 15 people died in New York City, the majority after being trapped in submerged basement apartments. These homes are relatively cheap in a city with sky-high rents and, at times, not up to building codes. The death toll served as another brutal reminder that the climate crisis will affect poor and disenfranchised communities disproportionately.

In New Jersey, at least 23 people died with many drowning in cars that were caught in fast-moving floodwaters. A state police officer with 26 years service, was swept by floodwaters in Connecticut. Four others have been reported dead in Pennsylvania.

“Hurricane Ida didn’t care if you were a Democrat or Republican, rural or urban. This destruction is everywhere. And it’s a matter of life and death, and we’re all in this together,” the president said.

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