Over the past few weeks, several severe storms have struck southern states, such as Louisiana and Mississippi, directly.  One such storm, Hurricane Ida, caused immense damage to many coastal areas in the north, hitting local areas such as New York and New Jersey. 

Hurricane Ida was classified as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds reaching a maximum speed of approximately 150 miles per hour.  The storm brought a significant amount of rainfall, which led to flooding in many areas.  In the south, millions of homes lost power, and places  such as hospitals were affected because they could no longer operate properly.  One hospital close to the city of New Orleans lost power and was forced to use manual aid in order to assist patients who needed respirators to breathe until they could be moved to a different floor.  Obviously, this posed a serious problem, because manual aid is far less reliable than a respirator.  President Biden passed various measures to help countless Americans who were affected by the storm by providing federal assistance. 

“The effects that the hurricane had were astounding.  I saw pictures in the news of giant floods in places such as the subway, and it shocked me because I had never seen such an enormous amount of water pouring into the subway station,” said junior Sean Mondschein. 

The hurricane created a plethora of problems for these southern states, but it also had a great impact on northern states such as New Jersey and New York.  According to USA Today, over 25 people died in New Jersey because of the hurricane, and 11 died in New York City. Drowning accounted for most of these deaths.  In addition to deaths, the storm led to serious floods.

The city spent an exorbitant sum of money to design defenses that could reduce the effects of a flood, such as permeable roofs and improved pipes and drainage.  However, it seems as though these defenses were useless in preventing serious flooding. Images taken after the storm passed reveal flooded streets, subway stations, basements, New York Governor , Kathy Hochul, estimated that Hurricane Ida inflicted about $50 million worth of damages.  Engineers and other workers have been trying to create a more ideal solution that would provide greater protection from flooding, but most of their solutions require immense funding, so some cannot be employed at the current time.

While the area of New York City was hit the hardest by Hurricane Ida compared to the rest of the state, Port Washington residents certainly felt and witnessed the effects of the hurricane. 

“The water tore through my house.  Every small spot and corner that was not completely covered had water pouring in.  My parents, my grandparents, and I were pacing around the house trying to stop whatever further damage we could, but it was simply too much, ” said junior Jack Marcus.

Many Schreiber students and Long Island residents experienced flood damage as a result of the storm.  The rainfall caused damage to many people’s houses, among other issues.  For example, the Long Island Railroad was forced to discontinue service to all  trains leaving the Port Washington station because of the rain, preventing those who would ordinarily commute to the city from reaching their jobs on time.  Eventually, the tracks  cleared up and the trains began to run again, but the stoppage produced a major issue for those trying to commute into the city. 

Hurricane Ida had a vast array of effects ranging, from the loss of power, to flooding, to the most serious of all, people drowning.  The high-speed winds and tremendous  rainfall were the chief causes of the damage, as winds broke structures and rain flooded areas such as the subway.  Scientists are hoping that in the future, there can be work done to better minimize the damage caused by these storms, which seem to be connected to global warming. 

Climate change has been linked to storms such as Hurricane Ida, and it seems as if as the climate continues to get warmer, the storms get stronger, causing an increase in damage and deaths.