Hurricane Ida death toll climbs to 50 in US as recovery efforts continue

In the northeastern part of the United States, at least 50 people have died as a result of the disastrous Hurricane Ida, whereas, the officials in the southern state of Louisiana, in which the massive storm initially touched down, are working to restore electricity to hundreds of thousands of residents. On Saturday, the governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy confirmed to Fox News in the US that two more deaths, totalling 27 fatalities were reported in the state, with four persons remain unaccounted for in the state.

More about Hurricane Ida's death toll in the US

Almost all of the casualties are from New York City, this is because the city was badly impacted as Ida's remnants caused flash floods and torrential rains last week. People were seen stuck in unauthorised basement apartments, which were some of the few cheap alternatives available for low-income people to save themselves from Hurricane Ida. According to New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, the record-breaking downpour of the storm brought a huge amount of water crashing into shops, public transit systems, and 1,200 houses, costing over $50 million worth of damage. 

As per Fox News, Mississippi and Alabama each recorded two storm-related fatalities, while New York reported nearly 16 deaths, Pennsylvania confirmed at least five, whereas Maryland and Connecticut each reported one death. On August 29, Ida hit the coast in Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane, generating strong winds that damaged big trees and electric poles and knocked out electricity to over one million citizens throughout the state. 

Evaluation of the destruction caused by Hurricane Ida

On Sunday, the number of deaths related to hurricanes in Louisiana climbed to 13. As per the state Public Service Commission, over 630,000 households and businesses institutions in southeast Louisiana were still lacking electricity on Sunday. Even after a week of Hurricane Ida struck, several Louisiana residents are still facing food, freshwater, and gas shortages, as well as high temperatures and humidity.  

The Entergy Corporation Louisiana, which serves over 1 million customers with electricity, estimates that fully restoring power supply to certain southeastern states of Louisiana might take till the end of this month. Ida severely damaged or destroyed approximately 22,000 electricity poles, which is way more than the total damage caused by Katrina, Zeta, and Delta. Over 5,200 transformers collapsed, and over 26,000 spans of wire were completely damaged. 

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell stated that the city will provide transportation to any citizen who wants to leave the city and seek refuge in a public camp. While governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy will survey the damage caused by Hurricane Ida on Tuesday. 

(Image Credit: AP)