- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Authorities in New Jersey, the United States, continued the search with the help of drones and boats for two young Indian-origin persons who went missing in the massive floods caused by Hurricane Ida, official sources said.
More than 40 people have been killed in the country in the hurricane. Ida made landfall in Port Fourchon in the state of Louisiana on August 29 and is the second-most destructive storm to hit the southeastern American state on record after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
ALSO READ: Hurricane Ida kills Indian-American in New Jersey
The two missing persons – Nidhi Rana, 18, and Ayush Rana, 21, “were last seen Wednesday evening when Ayush’s car was caught in the floodwaters,” a report in northjersey.com said.
Search for the duo continued on Sunday (5) as Passaic firefighters carried on the operation along the Passaic River.
“We are currently operating with two boats on the water and three drones operating from state police,” Passaic Fire Chief Pat Trentacost was quoted as saying in the report.
The report added that on Friday, “rescue workers searched the culvert where McDonald’s Brook leads toward the Passaic River and where witnesses said the pair were swept into the waterways under the city.”
Four persons of Indian origin had drowned as the massive flooding ravaged New York and New Jersey following Hurricane Ida. A report in patch.com said that 31-year-old Dhanush Reddy from Edison was killed last week after being swept into a 36-inch storm sewer pipe in South Plainfield.
The report added that South Plainfield Police, Middlesex County Water Rescue Team and Piscataway Police arrived at the scene where police were assisting motorists in the area of Hadley and Stelton Road and heard cries for help.
According to the officials, two men were swept into the pipe, which goes from South Plainfield to Piscataway. While one of the men was rescued, the other could not be located and authorities found Reddy’s body in a wooded area a few miles away the day after he drowned.
“Many of the flood’s victims lived in basement apartments, some of which were subterranean dwellings carved out illegally from larger homes and may have lacked the emergency egress required of legitimate apartments. Comparatively low-cost living spaces, they are a refuge of thousands of the city’s poor, even as they are known to be firetraps,” a report in The New York Times said.
