NYC to hire forecaster, beef up warnings after Ida flooding

NYC to hire forecaster, beef up warnings after Ida flooding

A person who eventually waded to a truck moves amongst cars and other trucks that are stranded by high water Thursday, Sept 2, 2021, on the Major Deegan Expressway in Bronx borough of New York as high water left behind by Hurricane Ida still stands on the highway hours later. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City is planning to hire a private weather forecaster, install more drainage features and issue earlier and more aggressive warnings to residents under a new plan to respond to heavy rainfall like the deadly deluge Hurricane Ida dropped on the city earlier this month. Officials reported 13 people died in New York City earlier this month when the remnants of Hurricane Ida inundated the Northeast with torrential rain. It trapped hundreds of cars on submerged waterways, deluged subway stations and stalled trains and flooded basement apartments, turning them into deadly traps. 

Photo: A person who eventually waded to a truck moves amongst cars and other trucks that are stranded by high water Thursday, Sept 2, 2021, on the Major Deegan Expressway in Bronx borough of New York as high water left behind by Hurricane Ida still stands on the highway hours later. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)