Shocking Footage Shows Water Cascading Through New York Subway Amid Hurricane Ida

Water from record rainfall cascaded into New York City subway tunnels, trapping at least 17 trains and forcing the cancellation of services throughout last night (Wednesday 1 September) and early this morning.

Videos show water gushing through platforms and passengers standing on seats in carriages filled with water.

Police said nine people in the city have died, one of them in a car and eight in flooded basement apartments.

Officials said at least eight died in New Jersey and three in Pennsylvania's suburban Montgomery County, where one was killed by a falling tree, one drowned in a car and another in a home.

In total, at least 22 people have been killed in flooding from New York to Maryland.

The National Weather Service recorded 3.15 inches of rain in Central Park in one hour last night, far surpassing the previous recorded high of 1.94 inches that fell in an hour during Hurricane Henri on 21 August.

The nation's largest city is slowly recovering from catastrophic flooding that was reminiscent of Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

Declaring a state of emergency last night, New York mayor Bill de Blasio said: "We're enduring an historic weather event tonight with record breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads."

He subsequently said the extreme weather was a consequence of climate change and called for action to be taken.

The storm also spawned tornadoes, including one that ripped apart homes and toppled silos in Mullica Hill, New Jersey.

Major flooding along the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania swamped highways, submerged cars and disrupted rail services in the Philadelphia area.

In a tweet, city officials predicted 'historic flooding' on Thursday as river levels continued to rise, and the riverside community of Manayunk remained largely under water.

The rain ended by daybreak today as rescuers searched for stranded people and braced for potentially finding more bodies.