Stunned By Ida, The Northeast Begins To Recover And Worry About The Next Storm

Enlarge this image

Sam Catrambone clears debris away from a friend’s home that was damaged by a tornado in Mullica Hill, N.J., on Thursday after record-breaking rainfall brought by the remnants of Hurricane Ida that swept through the area.

hide caption

toggle caption

Branden Eastwood/AFP via Getty Images

Enlarge this image

A street in Newark, N.J., is flooded on Thursday in Newark, N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency after Tropical Storm Ida caused flooding and power outages throughout the state.

hide caption

toggle caption

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

National
Why Ida Hit The Northeast So Hard, 1,000 Miles Away From Its Landfall

Annetta Seecharran, of the Chhaya Community Development Corporation in Queens, says the city needs to make it easier for landlords to make their basement apartments safer.

«It is absolutely urgent, and I think the storm has proven that we need to address this issue and we need to address it now,» Seecharran said. «Another storm could come next week. Are we going to risk more lives?»

New York City officials say they’re going to try to evacuate residents into emergency shelters before the next storm. They also say they may impose travel bans ahead of future weather events, so drivers don’t get stranded in floodwaters.

Biden will visit New Jersey and New York

The president plans to travel to Manville, N.J., and Queens, N.Y., on Tuesday to survey the storm damage, the White House said Saturday. He made a similar visit to the Gulf Coast on Friday.

Federal disaster declarations are in effect for all of New Jersey and parts of New York.

Enlarge this image

A teenager dumps out water from a car in a flooded Queens neighborhood on Friday. Across the Northeast, people are cleaning up from Ira’s wrath.

hide caption

toggle caption

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Enlarge this image

In Grand Isle, La., Ida, which struck as a hurricane over last weekend, destroyed homes and left an automobile submerged on Thursday.

hide caption

toggle caption

Win McNamee/Getty Images

In Grand Isle, La., Ida, which struck as a hurricane over last weekend, destroyed homes and left an automobile submerged on Thursday.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Officials now say the supply of gasoline is critically low, leaving some to scramble to find open gas stations, often driving three hours round trip to fill up their cars and get supplies for their electric generators.

«We got hit with a double whammy. We got hit at our refineries, eight refineries that represent two-thirds of the refinery capability for Louisiana and 13% of the refining capabilities for the United States,» said Cynthia Lee Sheng, president of Jefferson Parish.

Biden, who visited storm-ravaged communities in Louisiana this week, has ordered officials to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help reduce fuel shortages.

• hurricane ida