The remnants of Hurricane Ida began a vicious battering of the East Coast yesterday, churning up seas and threatening coastal areas with some of the worst flooding in more than 15 years.
The storm has already been blamed for one New York City death — a surfer who was pounded by 8-foot waves after the leash tethering his board to his ankle got tangled on a wooden jetty just feet off the Rockaway shore yesterday.
It was expected to become even more ferocious last night and early this morning, hurling 50 mph winds at the city and putting New Jersey authorities on standby for sea surges of up to 12 feet, the biggest since March 1994, when the 15th storm of a brutal winter hit the region.
“It’s going to be pretty bad,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Eric Wilhelm.
A coastal flood watch was put in place along the Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island shores yesterday as forecasts called for 10-foot waves.
But the city was expected to be spared the worst of Ida’s wrath. A state of emergency was declared in Virginia when flooding, downed trees and power outages left a trail of chaos.
“New York will have nothing near as bad as that, thank God,” said National Weather Service forecaster Jeremy Schulz.
He said less than two inches of rain was expected in the city between yesterday and early tomorrow morning, when the storm is expected to pass.
“We’re going to see rain all day Friday and into Saturday morning, and we’re going to see gale conditions offshore,” he said. “Mainly, though, it’s going to be a constant but light rain.”
The city was also expected to escape the level of flooding predicted for New Jersey, he said.
The tragic surfer, Alessandro Barretto, 36, of Brooklyn, had suffered a heart attack by the time rescuers reached him at 9:25 a.m.
He had been knocked off his board by the massive waves and the board’s leash got snagged on a wooden sea barrier off 96th Street. The relentless waves kept him submerged, cops said.
It was the seventh death off the Rockaways this year.