Video shows police trying to save family killed by Storm Ida flooding in New York
Police in New York City have released footage showing officers trying to rescue a family, including a two-year-old, who was killed in floodwaters caused by Storm Ida.
Officers waded through black, chest-deep waters on Wednesday as they tried to get into a basement flat in the borough of Queens, where the family became trapped.
The video from one officer’s body camera shows another officer first reaching into the opaque water and then diving under the surface of personal belongings that included a teddy bear.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The human cost of Storm Ida
He is then quickly pulled back up by the other officer and appears to be frustrated.
The New York City Police Department said their efforts were hampered by locked doors, rising water and live electricity, which forced them to call the fire department for help.
“Without special equipment they made valiant efforts,” the force said on Twitter.
When specialised units arrived, they found three people who had drowned and pronounced them dead.
Those who died were later identified as 50-year-old Ang Gelu Lama, 48-year-old Mingma Sherpa and their son, two-year-old Lobsang Lama.
Police said an unconfirmed report of people in a flooded flat initially brought them to the home in the Woodside area.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Vehicles submerged in Ida flooding
“Upon arrival, police observed the water levels from the rain were approximately two feet above street level through the first floor of the location with the basement completely submerged,” an NYPD spokesperson told Fox News in a statement.
Last week’s flooding killed at least 11 people in New York City who were unable to escape rising water in basement flats.
At least 64 people across the US died after the country’s northeastern states were battered by record-breaking rainfall brought by Storm Ida.
Elon Musk says he has created a new political party – the America Party –
after asking his followers if he should do so in an online poll.
It follows his public falling out with Republican President Donald Trump.
On Friday, the billionaire had asked his followers on X whether a new US political party should be created.
On Saturday evening he wrote on the same platform: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.
“Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump threatens to ‘put DOGE’ on Musk
The world’s richest man made the announcement just one day after President Trump signed a tax-cut and spending bill into law on Friday, which Musk had fiercely opposed.
Musk had previously said we would form and fund a new political party to unseat lawmakers who supported the bill.
From bromance to bust-up
The Tesla boss backed Trump’s election campaign with more than a quarter of a billion dollars, later rewarded with a high profile role running the newly created department of government efficiency (DOGE).
But observers of the two men, both with huge wealth and reputations, wondered how long the bromance would last.
Donald Trump gave Musk a warm send-off in the Oval Office in May. Pic: Reuters
In May Musk left the role, still on good terms with Trump but criticising key parts of his legislative agenda.
After that, the attacks ramped up, with Musk slamming the sweeping tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination” and Trump hitting back in a barbed tit-for-tat.
Trump earlier this week threatened to cut off the billion-dollar federal subsidies that flow to Musk’s companies, and said he would even consider deporting him.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike