The death toll from flooding after the remnants of Hurricane Ida pummeled cities in the East rose sharply to 46 on Thursday after New Jersey announced at least 23 people had died there.Gov. Phil Murphy said most of the deaths were people caught in their vehicles by flooding and were "overtaken by the water." Officials said many people were unaccounted for.

"We're going to withhold a complete rundown of the blessed losses of life. They are spread across a handful of counties, largely concentrated not entirely but largely concentrated in central Jersey and a few in the north," Murphy said in an evening update. After the storm brought unprecedented rainfall to some areas, dozens have died in six Eastern states, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The death toll included a state trooper in Connecticut who has swept away as he responded to a missing person's call. On Thursday, water rescues continued in some areas, and in New York City, a new task force was going to homes to make sure there weren't more victims in basements. In southern New Jersey, residents were cleaning up from a tornado that flattened homes, one of eight twisters that hit the Northeast.

Rescuers navigated boats through flooded streets Thursday morning in and around Philadelphia, northern Delaware and parts of New York state, ferrying people from flooded homes. In Pennsylvania alone, state emergency management Director Randy Padfield said that thousands of rescues are believed to have happened so far.

"There's a lot of damage, and I made clear to the governors that my team at ... FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is on the ground and ready to provide all the assistance that is needed," President Joe Biden said.

In New York City, first responders rescued commuters from halted subway trains Wednesday night. At the same time, other travellers were stranded overnight in subway stations, some sleeping on benches with service suspended and no way to get to their destinations.

NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said Thursday that 835 people were rescued from the subway system."(I've seen) nothing like this," on Thursday morning. "I didn't expect it to be this severe; I would not have left my house."Amrita Bhagwandin's home in Queens flooded.

"I can't think any more about how I feel at this point because of the chaos outside, my neighbours; there's loss of life," she said. "I've lost everything in here and mostly the lives out there... we need some support ... this is too much for us. There is no end in sight."

Harrison said there were 18 water rescues at the US Open tennis site in Flushing. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that the state is used to disasters, but this would be a massive cleanup." I would urge people to stay home, check on your neighbours, make sure they're OK," she said.

Murphy called the flooding that impacted New Jersey "historic by any measure."It's never flooded like this; it's never rained like this," Murphy said, adding that state officials will make an investigation into the storm and their response.