President Biden is set to visit the hardest hit parts of New York and New Jersey to survey the damage from Hurricane Ida after the category four hurricane left 35 dead across the two states.
The White House announced on Saturday that Biden will visit Queens, the borough hardest hit by Ida and Manville, New Jersey to assess the damages of the storm which left serious damage and killed dozens after it trashed the Big Apple and tri-state area on Wednesday night.
Hurricane Ida pummeled Louisiana last Sunday, before making its way through a swath of the country to cause massive flooding in the Northeast, causing further mayhem and killing dozens.
The severe flooding caught residents of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York off guard – and could draw national attention away from hard hit coastal areas that took the initial brunt of the storm.
A man sorts through belongings from their flooded home in a Queens on Friday following the storm
A resident clears waterlogged electric appliance outside a house in the Queens neighborhood of Flushing after flash-flooding wrecked many homes in the borough
A volunteer works inside the heavily damaged home of the Hossain-Miu family in Millburn on Saturday
Biden’s visit to New York and New Jersey will come two days after his visit to Louisiana, where he met with elected officials and residents whose homes were ravaged by the storm.
On his stop, Biden visited some of the hardest hit areas south of LaFourche, Louisiana where the Category 4 Hurricane made landfall and ripped through structures and devastated entire communities.
In a speech to residents, Biden rattled off the list of things the federal government was doing, including bringing in more generators to help those with power, opening up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and working with cell phone companies to get service restored.
‘We’re working around the clock, with the governor and the elected officials here until we can meet every need you all,’ he said.
He placed a reassuring on the arm of one woman and even leaned on a bent stop sign during a neighborhood conversation, where he vowed to help residents rebuild, arguing his ‘Build Back Better’ agenda and his $3.5 trillion budget plan would help make it possible.
President Joe Biden comforts a resident of the Cambridge neighborhood affected by Hurricane Ida during his visit to Louisiana on Friday
President Joe Biden looks on as he receives a briefing from local leaders on the impacts of Hurricane Ida at the St. John Parish’s Emergency Operations Center on Friday
President Joe Biden talks to Louisiana residents as he tours a neighborhood impacted by Hurricane Ida
The New York City borough of Queens, where many residents live in basement apartments prone to flooding, was particularly hard-hit by Ida.
Among the casualties was a family-of-three who all drowned after becoming trapped in their basement apartment during flash flooding .
Ang Lama, 50, Mingma Sherpa, 48, and their two-year-old son, Ang (full name Lobsang), were found dead inside the Woodside, Queens property on Thursday morning.
Water from the flash flood – caused by remnants of Hurricane Ida – began pouring into the family’s basement apartment around 9.30pm Wednesday, as Sherpa frantically dialed her upstairs neighbor for help.
What remains of a heavily damaged flooded basement level apartment in Queens, New York
Young volunteers remove damaged toys from the Hossain-Miu home in Millburn on Saturday
Their basement apartment featured just one door, and occupants can only leave by climbing an external flight of stairs.
Deborah Torres, who lives on the first floor of the complex, says she believes the staircase would have been cascading with rushing water, making it impossible for the family to escape.
‘I think the pressure of the water was too strong that they couldn’t open the door [to get out and up the stairs] ‘ Torres told The New York Daily News. ‘The [basement] was just like a pool with stairs.’
The windows of the property are barred, meaning it was also unfeasible to escape through them.
Lama and Sherpa were both immigrants from Nepal.
The Sherpa-Lama family are among at least 41 people who were killed across the Northeast on Wednesday night as remnants of Hurricane Ida battered the region.
Twelve people were killed in New York City, including others who also drowned inside their basement apartments
Other New York City victims include Roberto Bravo, 66; Phamatee Ramskriet, 43 and her son, Khrishah Ramskriet, 22, 86-year-old Yue Lian Chen and Darlene Hsu, 48.
The bodies of Ramskriet mother and son were retrieved by NYPD divers.
Meanwhile, 23 people died in New Jersey – nine were swept away in cars that became submerged in the water and five died in an apartment complex in Elizabeth. Three people from one family – a 72-year-old woman, her 71-year-old husband and their 38-year-old son – died along with their 33-year-old female neighbor in the Oakwood Plaza Apartments in New Jersey.