gentleman that owns that darker sedan you see in the distance. now he has to find a way to get that car home obviously since it didn t start. you didn t have to be driving these vehicles to be affected. the big rig you see there is blocked in. the driver telling us a little while ago he picked up his cargo just down the road here yesterday and when all of these vehicles began to basically remain in place here, then that s when he got stuck in place. and now he can t move. so this just gives you a snapshot of what people, not just here in this particular part of new jersey, but throughout the tri-state area are having to deal with. again, just down the highway here is newark s airport. the airport tweeting a little while ago they have 370 flights that have been canceled. they are trying to get operations back up there, kaitlan and john. it s certainly going to take awhile given the drenching downpours the facilities experienced yesterday and you don t have to hear it from me.
jersey, one of the many communities facing the results of this storm right now. i should note that rescue is in bridgeport, pennsylvania. it s not mullica hills, new jersey. it s bridgeport, pennsylvania. looks like they discovered someone in the household, they re going to get them out. paolo sandoval is live in new jersey this morning. paolo, tell us where you are and what you re seeing. reporter: jim, there are so many faces you re seeing, life and death unfolding in the states. you heard the mayor describe in newark, there are serious efforts to get that infrastructure back online. the mayor touched about clearing those roadways, those crucial roadways. that s this is actually mccarter highway. for those unfamiliar with this, this is basically a stretch of highway that connects downtown newark with the airport, newark s international airport that s down that road. they re finally getting into the
from its hub in newark. that has tremendous repercussions for travelers across the country. all of this is caused by remnants of hurricane ida which, of course, first pummelled louisiana this week. it s been moving up towards the northeast. the damage so severe in some of those coastal communities in louisiana. they ve almost been wiped off the map. these are new pictures that you re seeing here from new jersey. we also have new pictures this morning from louisiana that shows the devastation there. but joining me now, we want to begin in newark, new jersey, on the phone is the mayor of newark, ross baraka. mayor, thanks so much for taking the time this morning because you we know you and your community facing so much. the first question is as we watch live rescues underway, do you know how many lives are at risk at this point? well, i think right now the potential for life risk is low. i mean, last night it was pretty
city. tow trucks are trying to clear this out. these vehicles were scattered all over this highway maybe 30, 45 minutes ago. they actually came out here, moved them with the tow truck over a couple of lanes. you see some folks that have actually been trying to scoop out from inside their vehicles. but these cars ain t going anywhere any time soon. they re in the process of hopefully getting help to get these out. that s what it is in newark, to clear the roadways, even get some goods moving. a tractor-trailer rig, the gentleman could have gone through the water, but those stalled out vehicles blocked his path. he still has that cargo he has to deliver and he s anxious to get that out as soon as they can clear some of the roads. again, this really speaks to more of the infrastructure side of things. you don t necessarily have to be in new jersey to be affected. some of the goods maybe heading your way are potentially stuck
about with this, it takes time for those river gauges to come down. in some cases it can be days. and you had dozens of these river gauges that are moderate or major flood stage and they re not likely to get back to normal levels for several days. it could even be monday or tuesday of next week for some of these rivers, creeks and streams to get back to normal levels. and that s a concern because you want these communities to be able to start rebuilding. they want to be able to start getting back to normal, and to know you may have to wait several more days before you can even really begin that process has to be extremely stressful. when we talk about a lot of the water, we set numerous records. newark, new jersey, having their wettest day on record. new york city having one of its top five wettest days on record. and again, keeping in mind the vast majority of that water was set in such a short period of time in new york, for example, in three hours or less. in fact, they had their we