Human Interest

Person Who Filmed Worker Delivering Food in Ida Floods Wants to Give Them Money from Footage

Hurricane Ida barreled the East Coast earlier this week, bringing heavy rainfall, flooding, tornados and strong winds

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Published on September 3, 2021 11:37 AM

The person who filmed a delivery worker biking through the rain and floods of Hurricane Ida in Brooklyn, New York to deliver a food order is searching for the employee to pay forward the money they earned from the video.

Earlier this week, Twitter user @UnequalScenes posted video of a delivery person maneuvering the flooded streets as they attempted to make a food delivery during the storm.

"And through it all! @Grubhub delivery still out there bringing your dinner #ida #flooding #brooklyn," the user tweeted of the quick clip, which has since been viewed over 10 million times.

Many social media users were shocked with the footage, sympathizing with the delivery worker while calling out GrubHub for sending out orders during the storm. In a statement to Insider, however, a GrubHub spokesperson claimed the company has not been able to confirm the cyclist works for their company.

A day after the video went viral, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared the footage on her own account, where she revealed that the person who filmed the video wanted to identify the delivery man and pay him with the money they had received for the footage from various news outlets.

"This is a huge long shot, but the person who filmed this deliverista last night received $1,700+ from media outlets who wanted to license the footage," Ocasio-Cortez, 31, tweeted Thursday.

"They want to give all of it to the worker, but need [help] finding him. Any tips?" she added, adding that the delivery in the wild weather took place near Roebling and 11th Street in the borough around 10:10 p.m.

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The video of the delivery person trekking through the floodwaters in New York wasn't the only clip that went viral amid Hurricane Ida's touchdown on the East Coast, however. On TikTok, a video from New Jersey features an Amazon Prime truck delivering packages in a flooded neighborhood.

Speaking with Insider, Amazon told the outlet that employees in the areas affected by the storm had been sent home.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we've closed several Amazon facilities and delivery stations along the path of Hurricane Ida," a spokesperson said. "We will resume operations at these sites only when it's safe to do so."

RELATED VIDEO: 2-Year-Old Boy Among 22 People Dead After Ida Batters the Northeast with Record Rain and Tornadoes

At least 29 people have died after the remnants of Hurricane Ida came barreling up the East Coast on Wednesday, causing damage and destruction in the tri-state area.

The massive storm — which brought heavy rainfall, flooding, tornadoes and strong winds — killed 12 people in New York City, 13 people in New Jersey, three in Pennsylvania and one in Maryland, officials said.

The historic rainfall and flooding led New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to declare a state of emergency.

Before hitting the East Coast earlier this week, Hurricane Ida previously touched down in Louisiana when it was elevated to a category 4 storm after being previously classified as category 1. Ida was then downgraded to a tropical storm after it left a million without electricity and caused six deaths in the southern state.