Ida Caused More Immediate Deaths Than Sandy: Rutgers Prof

NEW JERSEY — While more New Jersey residents died in Superstorm Sandy in 2012, tropical storm Ida actually caused more immediate flooding deaths in the height of the storm.

In October 2012, 40 New Jersey residents total died in Sandy. However, many of those deaths happened in the days and weeks afterward, caused by carbon monoxide poisoning from generator misuse, at least two cases of fatal hypothermia, house fires and multiple incidences of senior citizens falling down stairs in the dark. (Sandy knocked out electricity for weeks in some parts of New Jersey.)

One of the Sandy deaths included a man killed in a chainsaw mishap removing fallen tree limbs. Another was a 4-year-old boy hit and killed by a car while crossing a darkened Jersey City street when the traffic lights were out.

But tropical storm Ida actually caused 28 flash flooding deaths the night it hit, Sept. 1, said Dr. David Robinson, a climatologist professor at Rutgers University. Ida also caused two deaths by electrocution, a Woodbridge woman and a Bloomfield man.

According to the most up-to-date numbers from Gov. Murphy this week, a total of 30 New Jersey residents died in the Ida-related floods. New Jersey suffered the most deaths in Ida out of any state in the U.S.

Nearly every Ida death involved people overcome by flash flooding — and people usually died as they were desperately trying to get safely home from work or school.

Some of the deaths included a pair of 18- and 21-year-old North Jersey college students. A physically active Piscataway 40-year-old who loved to snowboard, and surf on the Jersey Shore. A Maplewood flag football coach who may have been attempting to remove debris from drains when he was sucked under.

The historic flooding unleashed by tropical storm Ida on New Jersey Sept. 1 and 2 showed that no matter how young or physically fit one is, no human being can match the strength of Mother Nature, said the professor.

"I really think had this event happened in the daylight we would have had more survivors. It was very dark out, and people couldn't see how deep the water was and they thought they could drive or walk through it," he said. "I also think if we hadn't had so many rescues — many of which were outright heroic — there would have been many more fatalities."

In one night, more than a month's worth of rain coming down on New Jersey, which caused unprecedented flash flooding in New Jersey creeks, streams and tributaries, said Robinson.

"We had three inches of rain in one hour in some places. That's just too much rain in too short a time for the Raritan basin," said Robinson. "It caused all the creeks and streams that drain into the Raritan River to overflow. I would contend being caught in a flash flood is even worse than being in a rip current The danger is much greater."

The day after the storm, Thursday, that intense amount of rainfall caused the Raritan River to rise 24 feet, cresting at 42 feet on Sept. 2, said Robinson. However, nobody was killed when the Raritan River rose the day after the storm.

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