Gov. Murphy Tours Piscataway; Biden Will Be In Manville Tuesday

PISCATAWAY, NJ — On Saturday, Gov. Phil Murphy toured the damage from flood-ravaged Piscataway.

Murphy also told Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler he's working with the Biden administration to get increased federal aid for the areas of New Jersey hardest hit by flooding from tropical depression Ida: In New Jersey, those include towns along the Passaic River, Piscataway, New Brunswick, Manville and part of Somerset county.

President Biden is set to tour Manville on Tuesday: Ida In NJ: Biden Set To Tour Flooding Devastation On Tuesday

In Manville, a home exploded and another burned down Thursday because firefighters were unable to reach the home due to the flooding. Ida sparked three confirmed tornadoes in Gloucester and Burlington counties in South Jersey.

Across New Jersey, the death toll from the flooding stands at 27 as of Sunday, and four people still missing.

Biden declares New Jersey a major disaster area: What this means

On Sunday, President Biden approved that a major disaster exists in the state of New Jersey and ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by the remnants of Hurricane Ida from September 1 to September 3. Biden's action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Bergen, Gloucester, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Passaic and Somerset. Learn more about how you can apply: President Biden Approves New Jersey Disaster Declaration

Both Piscataway and New Brunswick were badly hit when the Raritan River flooded last Thursday, after 8 to 8.4 inches of rain that fell on the area.

Families who live in the Birchview Garden Apartments in Piscataway told CBS 2 they were asleep when the Raritan River and surrounding creeks and tributaries rose Thursday morning, flooding the streets where their cars were parked and even coming waist-deep into their homes.

Mimi Arias-Caraga awoke the morning after the storm to find her back stairs under water.

“We went out on the other side because and the flood was already here at my waist,” she told CBS.

“To watch my car float away before my eyes, it just was very traumatizing. It’s over there in the woods,” said another Piscataway resident, Yasmin Hernandez.

New Brunswick police also rescued 50 stranded motorists from cars trapped in floodwater. And more than 1,000 New Brunswick residents were evacuated from their homes, with 164 people and 24 pets housed in emergency shelter facilities. Rt. 18 was covered in flood water from the Raritan.

There were no fatalities in Piscataway/New Brunswick due to the flooding, but an Edison man, 31, drowned in South Plainfield Wednesday night: He and another man were swept into a 36-inch storm sewer pipe. Police were helping drivers in the area of Hadley and Stelton Road when they heard cries for help. One of the men was rescued, while the other could not be located. On Thursday, authorities discovered his body in a wooded area behind 1380 Centennial Avenue in Piscataway. Read that story on the Edison Patch.

Among those missing are a pair of college students who are believed to have been swept away in flood waters.

Dive teams were searching for the pair, Nidhi Rana, a Seton Hall student, and Ayush Rana, a Montclair State student, who were last seen about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday getting out of their car near a storm drain that empties into the Passaic River.

On Saturday, those teams called off the search for the two, CBS New York reported.

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