A 25-year-old man from Hunterdon County and a 78-year-old woman from Hunterdon County died after Tropical Storm Ida caused flash floods to sweep through the Hopewell Valley area last week.

Yvonne Mahoney lived in Raritan Township. She was in her vehicle on Pennington-Titusville Road just east of Route 579 on Wednesday night, Sept. 1 when she was caught up in the floods. Police said they received a notification that there was a stranded motorist on Pennington-Titusville Road. They then notified the Mercer County Central Communication, which is responsible for the deployment of water-rescue crews.

The body of Shyam Patel, 25, of Monroe, was discovered on Thursday, Sept. 2. Police found his body near Route 518 just east of Route 31. He was not in his vehicle when it was discovered. Patel had been in his vehicle Wednesday night when the flooding began. His body was found in the area where three Hopewell police officers were trapped for about two hours Wednesday night. The officers survived by clinging to trees before firefighters rescued them. Rescuers were able to find the officers in the dark after they shot their guns to let people know where they were.

At least 27 people in New Jersey died as a result of flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ida.

Krystal Knapp

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Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.