Two people in New Jersey were killed after their vehicle was swept up in floodwaters during a storm that moved across the U.S. Northeast overnight, authorities said Tuesday, July 15.
Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, noted the de@ths occurred in the northern New Jersey city of Plainfield, where there were two storm-related de@ths on July 3. A third person was killed in North Plainfield during that previous storm.
“We’re not unique, but we’re in one of these sorts of high humidity, high temperature, high storm intensity patterns right now,” Murphy told reporters after touring storm damage in Berkeley Heights. “Everybody needs to stay alert.”
The names of the two latest victims were not immediately released Tuesday.
Local officials said the vehicle they were riding in was swept into a brook during the height of the storm.
“Emergency personnel responded quickly, but tragically, both individuals were pronounced dead at the scene,” according to a statement the city posted online.
The heavy rains also caused flash floods in New York and south-central Pennsylvania on Monday night into early Tuesday, prompting road closures and snarling some service on the New York City subway.
It was the second-highest one-hour rainfall ever recorded in Central Park at more than 2 inches (5 centimeters), surpassed only by the remnants of Hurricane Ida in 2021, according to local officials.