Biden warns ‘climate crisis is here’ after 50 killed in Storm Ida flooding
The death and destruction caused by Storm Ida is a reminder that “the climate crisis is here” and “we must better prepare,” US President Joe Biden has said.
The flooding caused by the storm has killed at least 25 people in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including a two-year-old boy, NBC reports.
States of emergency were declared in New York and New Jersey as the remnants of a hurricane sparked flash floods that forced New York City to suspend its subway services.
Last night, the city suffered its wettest hour on record, with more than 80mm of rain falling in Central Park in the space of 60 minutes.
Storm Ida: New York flooding live updates
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Flash flooding hits New York City
That surpassed the previous record of 49mm that was set in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Henri just last month.
Ida was the fifth most powerful storm to hit the US when it made landfall in Louisiana on Sunday as a hurricane, bringing maximum winds of 150mph and causing tens of billions of dollars in damage.
Addressing the nation in a news conference on Thursday, Mr Biden said: “The past few days of Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in the west and the unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here.”
“We must better prepare. We need to act,” he said.
“It’s a matter of life and death, and we’re all in it together.”
It comes as eight people were killed in five separate incidents during flooding in New York City.
A ninth victim was confirmed by mayor Bill de Blasio he did not provide any further details.
In New Jersey, 13 people have died, while there have been three fatalities in Pennsylvania, according to NBC News.
The two-year-old boy, a 50-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman were found dead in Queens, New York, after their basement apartment flooded.
Police officers stand outside a home in the Queens, New York, where three people died including a two-year-old boy after their basement apartment flooded. Pic: AP
Felix Delapuente, pictured in his flooded basement. He lived near the home where three people died in Queens. Pic: AP
A 48-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man were also found at separate residences in the city and a 43-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man were discovered inside another home.
Meanwhile, New York’s fire department said it responded to a report of flooding in Queens shortly after 11pm and one person taken from the building was pronounced dead.
Another victim in Passaic, New Jersey, was found dead in a vehicle which became submerged when it was caught in flooding near the Passaic River, according to the town’s mayor.
New York City suffered its wettest hour on record last night
A further four people died in an apartment complex in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
The National Weather Service said Wednesday was the first time it had issued a “flash flood emergency” for New York City.
The term is used for exceedingly rare situations in which flash flooding poses a severe threat to human life and causes catastrophic damage – or will do so soon.
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Floodwater cascades into New York subway
“We’re enduring a historic weather event tonight with record breaking rain across the city, brutal flooding and dangerous conditions on our roads,” Mr de Blasio said late on Wednesday.
He urged people to stay off the streets, saying: “If you’re thinking of going outside, don’t. Stay off the subways. Stay off the roads. Don’t drive into these heavy waters. Stay inside.”
A travel ban that barred non-emergency vehicles from streets and highways was in place until 5am local time this morning (10am UK time).
New York City Subway tweeted that anyone trapped between stations should stay put as videos posted online showed passengers standing on seats and trains filled with water.
A flooded road in Williamsburg, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City
The city’s LaGuardia and JFK airports reported flight disruptions, while New Jersey’s Newark airport limited its operations after initially suspending all flights.
At least one tornado hit New Jersey, with posts on social media showing houses reduced to rubble by strong winds.
The extreme weather seemingly failed to deter some people from ordering food deliveries as video appeared to show a worker wading through knee-high waters on a bicycle.
The latest wave of devastation caused by the storm comes as the UN warned that weather disasters are striking the world four to five times more often and causing seven times more damage than in the 1970s.
Elon Musk has criticised US President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, calling it “outrageous” and a “disgusting abomination”.
The bill, which includes multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks, was passed by the House Republicans in May, and has been described by the president as a “big, beautiful bill”.
The tech billionaire hit out at the tax cuts on his platform X, writing: “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
“This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Elon Musk left his ‘special government employee’ role last week. Pic: AP.
In American politics, “pork” is a political metaphor used when government spending is allocated to local projects, usually to benefit politicians’ constituencies.
Musk left the administration abruptly last week after working to cut costs with his team, the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency – known as DOGE – with the ambition of sacking federal workers and cutting red tape.
The White House brushed Musk’s comments aside, claiming they did not surprise the president.
In a press conference on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill”.
She added: “This is one, big, beautiful bill.
“And he’s sticking to it.”
The White House on Tuesday asked Congress to cut back $9.4bn in already approved spending, taking money away from DOGE.
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What did Musk achieve at DOGE?
The billionaire tweeted: “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”
He also suggested voting out politicians who advanced the president’s tax bill.
“In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” Musk wrote in another X post.
How Musk’s mission to cut government spending fell flat
Last Thursday, Musk revealed on X that his scheduled time as a “special government employee” was coming to an end.
Before the news broke, Musk’s father told Sky News his son was “not a very good politician”.
But speaking to Gillian Joseph on The World, Errol Musk insisted there was “no rift between Elon and Donald Trump”.
Musk’s time at DOGE was controversial, with drastic cuts to America’s humanitarian efforts sparking particular criticism.
Questions have also been raised about whether the department has actually saved taxpayers as much money as suggested.
Musk initially had ambitions to slash government spending by $2trn (£1.5trn) – but this was dramatically reduced to $1trn (£750bn) and then to just $150bn (£111bn).
Elon Musk brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office during a press conference earlier this year. Pic: Reuters.
The 53-year-old, who famously brought his son X Æ A-12 to the Oval Office, also expressed frustration about resistance to his ideas and clashed with other senior members of the Trump administration.
He recently told The Washington Post: “The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realised. I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in DC to say the least.”
By law, status as a “special government employee” means he could only serve for a maximum of 130 days, which would have ended around 30 May.
The family of the man accused of throwing petrol bombs at a pro-Israel group in Colorado have been taken into custody.
Immigration officers detained Mohamed Soliman’s relatives, believed to be his wife and five children.
Soliman, an Egyptian national, moved to the US three years ago and lived in Colorado Springs but was there illegally after his visa and work authorisation expired. He reportedly has two teenage children and three younger children.
“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” said homeland security secretary Kristi Noem on X.
Soliman, 45, is being held after Molotov cocktails were thrown at a group doing a walk for Israeli hostages in Boulder on Sunday.
The attacker allegedly yelled “Free Palestine” and had a total of 18 petrol bombs – but police said he “got scared” and only tossed a couple.
Soliman also had a makeshift flamethrower in the form of gas in a backpack sprayer, according to a FBI statement, but told investigators he did not use it.
Twelve people were injured, authorities said. The victims were aged between 52 and 88 and three of them were still being treated in hospital on Tuesday.
Mohamed Soliman appeared with a bandaged ear in a mugshot. Pic: Boulder Police Dept.
Soliman was allegedly dressed as a gardener to get as close as he could to the small group. Authorities said he told them he had no regrets.
He has been charged with a hate crime and 16 counts of attempted murder in federal and state cases.
Court papers said he planned the attack for a year and told authorities that no one, including his family, was aware of the plot.
Video showed Soliman being arrested at the scene and an apparent burn mark on the ground
An FBI statement said Soliman left an iPhone hidden in a drawer at his home with messages for his family but that his wife handed it to police.
The family are said to be cooperating with investigators.
Soliman admitted taking gun training to try to get a permit but was denied as he wasn’t a US citizen, according to police and the FBI.
Barred from buying a firearm, he allegedly used YouTube to learn how to make petrol bombs.
Read more from Sky News:
Musk calls Trump-backed tax bill ‘disgusting abomination’
King Of The Hill actor shot dead
Law enforcement searched for bombs after the attack. Pic: AP
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Boulder attack was “aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews”.
The incident follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC last month.
Tensions are simmering in the US over Israel’s war in Gaza.
There has been an increase in antisemitic hate crime, as well as moves by some supporters of Israel to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic.
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