Search on for two missing Indian Americans in New Jersey
Four Indian Americans have been killed in New York and New Jersey in massive floods caused by Hurricane Ida even as search continued Sunday for two other missing residents, but produced the same frustrating results.
A small fleet of boats took to the river but did not locate Passaic, New Jersey, residents Nidhi Rana, 18, and Ayush Rana, 21, who were last seen Wednesday evening in Ayush’s car, northjersey.com reported.
“We’re doing everything humanly possible for the family and to recover these kids,” Passaic Fire Chief Pat Trentacost was cited as saying.
The boats set out in a light rain Sunday with crews from Passaic, Clifton, Hawthorne and Paterson searching the Passaic River for a third straight day. Water levels were still high from the heavy rain brought by Ida that day.
Read: Indian American Malathi Kanche missing in New Jersey flash floods (September 3, 2021)
“Safety is a big concern,” Passaic Fire Battalion Chief Kevin Colavitti said of the search. “There’s a lot of debris in the water.”
The searchers planned to expand the search from the Gsurvaregory Avenue Bridge in Passaic to the Belleville border, Passaic Mayor Hector Lora said Sunday.
The scope of the search has expanded each day since it started. On Saturday, the search extended south, down to Hudson County through the Newark Bay.
“We’ll go north a bit more and we’ll go south, we’re opening up to about 3.5 miles to 4 miles, possibly 5 miles,” Trentacost said before the boats launched. “Again, everything is based on the water conditions.”
Meanwhile, another report said four Indian Americans died in New York from the flooding caused by Hurricane Ida.
Phamatee Ramskriet, 43, and her son Krishah, 22, drowned when their basement flat flooded in New York City on Sept. 1.
In neighboring New Jersey, Malathi Kanche, 46, drowned after she was swept away when her car stalled on a flooded road.
Also in New Jersey, Danush Reddy, 31, was sucked into a 36-inch sewer pipe by the floods.
New York Post reported that as floodwaters crashed through the basement flat of the Ramskriets, their landlord Ragendra Shivprasad tried to warn them of the impending danger and asked them to get out.
“As I see the water raising I go back, I tell them, ‘You guys gotta be careful, you guys gotta move’,” Shivprasad told the Post but the waters had already engulfed the flat and Phamatee and Krishah drowned.
Phamatee’s husband Dameshwar and another son Dylan survived.
Raritan Mayor Zachary Bray announced the death of Kanche on Facebook, writing: “It is with a heavy heart that I have to report the loss of one of our own citizens due to Hurricane Ida.”
Patch, an online news outlet reported that according to a relative her car stalled in the floodwaters in Bridgewater and she was swept away while her 15-year-old daughter was able to swim to a car dealership and was rescued.
The body of Malathi Kanche, a software engineer, was found about five miles away in Boundbrook, according to TapInto another local news site.
South Plainfield Mayor Matthew Anesh, who announced the death of Reddy said that police heard a woman’s cry for help about a man being swept away by floods.
He said that the police who responded found that two men were missing and were able to rescue one of them.
But Reddy, who was sucked into the sewer pipe, could not be located then but the next morning, his body was found swept up to a wooded area in neighbouring Piscataway, about five miles away, Anesh said.
“We are heartbroken by this tragic loss of life and pray for Mr. Reddy and his family,” he said.
President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the New York City county where the Indian Americans died and the New Jersey areas affected by the floods on Tuesday.
At least 42 people have been killed — 25 in New Jersey, 16 in New York City and one in Connecticut — in New York region by Hurricane Ida.
Of the total rainfall that day of 20.5 cm, more than 7.5 cm fell within an hour and New York Governor Kathy Hochul likened it to “Niagara Falls-level” of water falling on the city.
Biden has declared a state of emergency for the two states to enable them to get federal aid rapidly.