Category Archives: Hurricanes

Biden says ‘no question’ Delta variant behind poor August jobs report numbers – live

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A group of parents in Iowa are filing a lawsuit against the state for its ban on mask mandates, says the law discriminates against students with disabilities that make them more susceptible to Covid-19.

The plaintiffs in the case are asking the federal judge to block the ban on mask mandates and order to allow the states to allow mandates.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal published yesterday, Democratic senator Joe Manchin said that he will not pass the $3.5tn spending bill that progressive members of the party want to pass through reconciliation.

Manchin said that Democrats looking to pass the bill have “no regard to rising inflation, crippling debt or the inevitability of future crises.”

The Northeast is flooded after torrential rain.
The West Coast is on fire.
The Gulf is still reeling from the hurricane.

This is no time to pause or pull back. We need to pass the President's Build Back Better agenda and invest in urgent climate action NOW. Lives are at stake.

White House’s @KJP46 on the Manchin op-Ed: “Senator Manchin is an important partner to our administration. The president firmly believes that critical investment in our future should be paid for and if we do, economists tells us that they should not increase the inflation risk.”

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‘Climate crisis is here’ says Biden in week of storms, floods and wildfires

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The president warned that ‘we need to act now’ as trail of destruction blighted west, south and north-east

The widespread destruction caused by extreme weather coast to coast, with Hurricane Ida spreading devastation from Louisiana to New York while record wildfires scorch California, prompted Joe Biden to level with America this week, saying it was “yet another reminder that … the climate crisis is here”.

“We need to be much better prepared. We need to act,” Biden said in a speech on Thursday at the White House.

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Hurricane Ida: aerial footage shows flooding and destruction in Louisiana – video

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Nearly all of Louisiana lost electrical power on Monday after one of the strongest hurricanes to strike the region downed power lines, littered roads with debris and flooded isolated communities south of New Orleans in the US. After dumping a deluge of rain in Louisiana by late Monday afternoon and killing at least two people, Ida was downgraded to a tropical depression as its eye crawled through neighbouring Mississippi

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Hurricane Ida: more than 1m without power as New Orleans assesses damage

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Crews using airboats and helicopters conduct search and rescue missions after at least two people killed

More than 1 million homes and businesses remained without power in and around New Orleans on Monday as residents and authorities began to assess “catastrophic” damage from Hurricane Ida, a 150mph monster storm that was the most powerful ever to hit Louisiana.

Related: New Orleans battered by Hurricane Ida as storm claims first victim in Louisiana

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Hurricane Ida’s rampage through Louisiana – in pictures

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Up to 2 million people in and around New Orleans were without power after Hurricane Ida, a 150mph monster storm that was the most powerful ever to hit Louisiana. At least one person was killed, by a falling tree, but the governor, John Bel Edwards, warned that the death toll will probably rise

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New Orleans battered by Hurricane Ida as storm claims first victim in Louisiana

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A million households without power as governor says system of levees overhauled after Hurricane Katrina will face ‘most severe test’

One person has died as Hurricane Ida, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the US, knocked out power to all of New Orleans, reversed the flow of the Mississippi River and blew roofs off buildings across Louisiana.

Related: Hurricane Ida live updates: first death in Louisiana as New Orleans loses power

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Hurricane Ida: flooding and devastation as historically powerful storm makes landfall – video report

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One person has died as Hurricane Ida, one of the most powerful storms ever to hit the US, knocked out power to all of New Orleans, reversed the flow of the Mississippi River and blew roofs off buildings across Louisiana. Across the state, more than a million households were without power, and the outage in New Orleans had left the city more vulnerable to flooding – 16 years after Hurricane Katrina caused devastation.

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Hurricane Ida: New Orleans hunkers down beneath category 4 storm

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  • Storm hits land on 16th anniversary of Katrina
  • Louisiana governor confident levees will hold

Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday as a brutal category 4 storm, slamming the coast with 150mph sustained winds as it trudged towards New Orleans and Baton Rouge, threatening devastation.

Related: The Katrina survivors who fled devastation only to freeze in Texas

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Hurricane Ida barrels down on Louisiana amid warnings of ‘life-altering storm’

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Tens of thousands in US face evacuation orders as storm makes first landfall in Cuba, sparking fears of floods and mudslides

Hurricane Ida rapidly gained strength on Friday evening as communities in southern Louisiana braced for a major category 4 storm with sustained winds of about 140mph and tens of thousands of residents were placed under mandatory evacuation orders.

The hurricane is due to make landfall in the US on Sunday, with officials warning of a “life-altering storm”. The cities of New Orleans and Lafayette, as well as the state capital, Baton Rouge, are under threat from Ida, which is forecast to reach the US somewhere between the parishes of Terrebone and St Mary, slightly west of New Orleans.

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Henri makes landfall in Rhode Island, packing high winds and heavy rain

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  • Biden says storm has ‘potential for widespread consequences’
  • Inland rainfall seen as major threat in north-east states

Tropical Storm Henri made landfall in Rhode Island on Sunday, packing high winds and heavy rains that were projected to leave devastation from New Jersey and New York up to Massachusetts.

Related: The show did not go on: storm thwarts Central Park concert celebrating city’s Covid comeback

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Henri becomes hurricane as it heads for Long Island and New England

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  • Forecasters predict landfall in New York or Connecticut
  • New England has not been hit by hurricane since 1991

Preparations for a monster storm forecast to hit parts of the US north-east were stepped up on Saturday after Henri was promoted to a hurricane as it moved closer to land.

In New York, Andrew Cuomo used his last hours as governor to direct the state response, declaring a state of emergency in some areas and telling residents: “If you have to get to higher ground, it has to be today.”

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Tropical Storm Elsa to make landfall in Cuba after 180,000 evacuated

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Florida governor declares state of emergency in 15 counties, including site of collapsed condo

Tropical Storm Elsa was expected to make landfall in Cuba on Monday afternoon, after 180,000 people were evacuated from southern regions amid fears of heavy flooding.

Elsa is expected to bring tropical storm conditions to Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including Miami-Dade county, where the partially-collapsed Champlain Towers condominium was demolished with explosives on Sunday night.

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Cuba evacuates 70,000 as Tropical Storm Elsa threatens heavy flooding

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  • Storm leaves three dead after battering Caribbean
  • State of emergency declared in Florida

Cuba evacuated 70,000 people in its southern region on Sunday, amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands and killing at least three people.

Related: Miami condo collapse: death toll at 24 as search pauses for demolition

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Three people dead as Tropical Storm Elsa nears Cuba

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Storm kills one person in St Lucia and a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman in the Dominican Republic

Cuba prepared to evacuate people along the island’s southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.

The government on Sunday opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm, whose next target was Florida, where governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.

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Among the storm chasers: witnessing the terrifying power of tornadoes

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Witnessing the destructive power of a tornado can be exhilarating. Now some amateur enthusiasts are helping scientists predict these awesome weather events

Eight years ago on 20 May – a Monday afternoon – the most destructive category of tornado, known as an EF5, touched down just outside the town of Newcastle, Oklahoma. For 37 minutes, with winds estimated at 210mph, it snaked its way northeast towards the city of Moore, forging a catastrophic path. More than 1,000 homes were destroyed, 24 people were killed and 377 were injured. The damage was estimated at $2bn.

Late that same night I drove from my then-home in Austin, Texas, the five-and-a-half hours to Moore to report on the aftermath. On the way into town the following morning, I passed abandoned cars that told their own story of panic and terror. I saw houses that had been ripped from their foundations.

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‘This was worse than Eta’: Hurricane Iota brings repeat destruction to Honduras

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Second devastating hurricane in two weeks lashes fragile nation and leaves villages submerged

Nery Benitez was working shifts as a baggage handler at San Pedro Sula’s airport when it got flooded by Hurricane Eta. This week it was inundated again as Hurricane Iota struck.

“I had gone seven months without work and three days after I got called back this flooding happened,” the 50-year-old said. “We have family and children. How are we going to feed them?”

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Hurricane Iota lashes Central America – video

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Hurricane Iota has made landfall on Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast, threatening catastrophic damage. Huge waves crashed into the Colombian island of San Andrés as the storm churned through the region, lashing Nicaragua with winds of up to 155mph (250kmh). 

The latest storm hit just two weeks after Hurricane Eta, which caused havoc across the same parts of Central America. The presidents of Honduras and Guatemala have called on wealthier countries to help deal with the cost of the climate crisis

• This video was amended on 17 November 2020 to remove unrelated footage that had been mistakenly included in a report by the Associated Press

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Tropical Storm Iota may bring more damage to Caribbean after Eta

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Storm may bring dangerous winds, storm surge and as much as 30in of rain to Nicaragua and Honduras

Tropical Storm Iota was brewing in the Caribbean early on Saturday, threatening a second tropical strike for Nicaragua and Honduras, countries recently ransacked by Eta, a category 4 hurricane.

Related: Devastating 2020 Atlantic hurricane season breaks all records

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