Hurricane Ida aftermath delivers deadly lesson on climate change

As Ida’s deadly waters receded from subway stations and roads, playgrounds and apartments, stunned residents of New York and New Jersey confronted their vulnerability as the old norms of weather no longer apply.

Early Friday, the Northeast was still recovering from a storm that killed at least 40 people as it tore through the region. The remnants of a hurricane that first hammered distant New Orleans had temporarily paralyzed the nation’s largest and wealthiest city, halted its lifeblood transit system and conjured a future where residents and economy are constrained by recurrent disasters.

New York City and its suburbs, which rebuilt power grids, subways and tunnels after 2012’s Hurricane Sandy flooded lower Manhattan, again saw similar scenes. Roads were closed, commuter rail was hobbled and hundreds of flights were canceled. But lasting damage to infrastructure appeared far less this time.

NYC rain weather ida GETTY subPeople visit the flooded Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.

About 49,000 homes and businesses across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut remained without electricity by 5:15 a.m. local time Friday, according to PowerOutage.us. Consolidated Edison Inc., which provides power to the New York City region, said it plans to restore service to 95% of its customers by Friday night.

Transit authorities in New York and New Jersey said late Thursday that they were working around the clock to resume service, though they warned to expect delays and cancellations.

The storm and its death toll served as grim reminders that as the climate changes, weather once considered freakish strikes with regularity, threatening the viability of all coastal economic centers.

“Climate change is happening right now,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said via Twitter. “It is not a future threat. It is a current threat.” She formally requested a federal emergency management declaration for 14 counties to help them recover.