The resident in this footage is reportedly safe and well, reports Eyewitness News 2, but the terrifying video shows why Hurricane Ida's overwhelming rainfall caused so many deaths in east-coast basement apartments (many illegally converted) this week.
"The water just came in and, like, lifted me off my feet. I just remember being to the ceiling," Janice Valle said. "I can't swim, so I was afraid to leave that spot that I knew I had a little bit of air to breathe."
Fortunately, other family members heard her screaming and rushed downstairs to help.
Part of the horror of the video is the apparent flimsiness of the basement's construction (as if the house was one in a long row perched atop load-bearing drywall), but I think it's a a detached residence built on a slope and we're looking at an above-grade wall. The steel lally columns bear the weight of the building.
