New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, pictured here in March 2020, says indoor dining has been postponed due to a surge in coronavirus cases in the US
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, pictured here in March 2020, says indoor dining has been postponed due to a surge in coronavirus cases in the US AFP / Bryan R. Smith

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency on Thursday morning after flooding from Hurricane Ida killed nine people and brought the Big Apple to a standstill.

"We’re enduring an historic weather event tonight with record breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads," de Blasio wrote on Twitter. The mayor urged New Yorkers to stay indoors and avoid traveling by any means in the city.

Hurricane Ida, which severely impacted New Orleans on Sunday with flooding and power outages, blazed a trail northward before reaching the Big Apple late Wednesday. Flooding was so severe in New York that it prompted the city’s first-ever flash flood warning and left nine residents dead -- eight in the borough of Queens.

According to PowerOutage.us, which tracks power outages nationwide, thousands of customers have been left without power across the five boroughs.

Transporation has effectively ground to a halt. The Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) declared that nearly every subway line in the city has been closed until the weather situation improves. Only the 7 line and the Staten Island Railway are presently operational, grinding the world’s busiest metro system effectively to a halt.

Airports outside and within the New York metropolitan area are also being forced to limit their operations. The New York Post reported that Newark Liberty Airport had to delay up to 120 flights and cancel another 20. At Kennedy Airport, 108 flights were on hold and 18 were shelved while LaGuardia saw 13 delays and six cancellations.

Newark’s Liberty Airport had to temporarily evacuate the air traffic control tower due to winds Wednesday night, CNN reported. A sector of one of the airport’s terminals also suffered from flooding and passengers had to be moved to the upper levels.

Ida’s ferocity in the Northeast has not been confined to only New York. Both neighboring New Jersey and Pennsylvania experienced significant flooding, killing 15 people between the three states. Officials fear the death toll will rise once the waters recede and rescuers can access flooded areas.