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.
The dad of a missing Hawaiian woman who vanished took his own life after he flew to LA to try to find her.
Ryan Kobayashi had travelled from Hawaii to LA, retracing the steps his daughter Hannah Kobayashi took earlier this month before she went missing.
On 8 November, the 31-year-old Ms Kobayashi travelled from Hawaii to LA, on her way to New York, but missed her connecting flight.
Hannah Kobayashi. Pic: Instagram/Hannah Kobayashi
The 30-year-old budding photographer. Pic: Missing Persons of America
Her family initially thought she would catch another one but she told them she had begun to explore the area.
Then, on 11 November, the family began receiving “strange and cryptic, just alarming” text messages from her phone.
They referenced her being “intercepted” as she got on a train and being scared someone was trying to steal her identity.
“Once the family started pressing, she went dark,” her aunt Larie Pidgeon said.
Sky News US partner network NBC News reported that one of the texts received by Ms Kobayashi’s family read: “I got tricked pretty much into giving away all my funds for someone I thought I loved.”
Mr Kobayashi flew out to LA to try and find her, searching with other family members and volunteers.
However, he was found dead on Sunday in a car park near the LA International Airport having taken his own life, police and his family said.
In a statement, the family said: “After tirelessly searching throughout Los Angeles for 13 days, Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, tragically took his own life.
“This loss has compounded the family’s suffering immeasurably.”
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They asked for privacy as they grieved and requested the public “maintain focus on the search for her. Hannah IS still actively missing and is believed to be in imminent danger. It is crucial for everyone to remain vigilant in their efforts to locate Hannah.”
Ms Kobayashi is a budding photographer from Maui and had been heading to New York for a new job and to visit relatives.
The RAD Movement, a network aimed at helping missing and exploited people, said in an appeal that in footage, Ms Kobayashi “does not appear to be in good condition and she is not alone”.
Ms Pidgeon added that the search effort has been focused in the downtown area of LA.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
A motion has been filed to drop the charges against Donald Trump of plotting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result.
Mr Trump was first indicted on four felonies in August 2023: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and an attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.
The president-elect pleaded not guilty to all charges and the case was then put on hold for months as Mr Trump’s team argued he could not be prosecuted.
Special Counsel Jack Smith. Pic: Reuters
Donald Trump supporters storm the US Capitol
On Monday, prosecutors working with special counsel Jack Smith, who had led the investigation, asked a federal judge to dismiss the case over long-standing US justice department policy, dating back to the 1970s, that presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.
It marks the end of the department’s landmark effort to hold Mr Trump accountable for the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 when thousands of Trump supporters assaulted police, broke through barricades, and swarmed the Capitol in a bid to prevent the US Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Mr Smith’s team had been assessing how to wind down both the election interference case and the separate classified documents case in the wake of Mr Trump’s election victory over vice president Kamala Harris earlier this month, effectively killing any chance of success for the case.
In court papers, prosecutors said “the [US] Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated”.
They said the ban [on prosecuting sitting presidents] “is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind”.
Mr Trump, who has said he would sack Mr Smith as soon as he takes office in January, and promised to pardon some convicted rioters, has long dismissed both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case as politically motivated.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. Pic: AP
He was accused of illegally keeping classified papers after leaving office in 2021, some of which were allegedly found in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
The election interference case stalled after the US Supreme Court ruled in July that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution, which Mr Trump’s lawyers exploited to demand the charges against him be dismissed.
Mr Smith’s request to drop the case still needs to be approved by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
No date had been set for a trial.
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At least 1,500 cases have been brought against those accused of trying to overthrow the election result on 6 January 2021, resulting in more than 1,100 convictions, the Associated Press said.
More than 950 defendants have been sentenced and 600 of them jailed for terms ranging from a few days to 22 years.
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