Axios

Hospitals in New Orleans near capacity from a surge in coronavirus cases are bracing for Hurricane Ida, which is expected to hit Louisiana on Sunday.

The big picture: New Orleans is currently experiencing a severe virus outbreak, according to city data. About 68% of all hospital beds and 84% of all ICU beds in Louisiana are filled as Ida is approaching, Business Insider reports.

With no time left to properly evacuate, New Orleans residents should prepare to ride out Hurricane Ida at home, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Friday.

Why it matters: The hurricane is forecast to hit the central Louisiana coast as a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection started detaining solar panel imports from Chinese companies that allegedly source products from Xinjiang forced labor, Washington Post reports.

Why it matters: China is the supply chain leader for solar energy equipment, but concerns over human rights violations led the Biden administration to order a ban in June.

A dangerous scenario is taking shape across the Gulf Coast as Hurricane Ida, currently a Category 1 storm, is poised to intensify and hit coastal Louisiana on Sunday night or early Monday as a major hurricane of Category 4 intensity.

Driving the news: Ida made landfall on the Isle of Youth after rapidly strengthening over a span of several hours from a tropical storm into a Category 1 hurricane Friday afternoon. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, with higher gusts, as it approached western Cuba.

Rivian, the well-financed electric vehicle startup, on Friday said it had filed plans to go public with securities regulators.

Driving the news: The plans for a public listing come as the company prepares to launch deliveries of its pickup truck next month, with plans to start delivering its SUV this fall.

President Biden has approved a state of emergency for Louisiana as Hurricane Ida approaches landfall following Gov. John Bel Edwards' previous declaration.

The latest: FEMA will now dispatched as part of the request to "coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures," said Biden in a statement.

Firemaps, a San Francisco-based startup that uses satellites and drones to defend homes from wildfires, raised $5.5 million in seed funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Why it matters: The world is burning more regularly and with more intensity. As of today, 88 large fires are burning just within the U.S., covering 2.4 million acres, per the National Interagency Fire Center, with nearly 27,000 wildland firefighters and support personnel assigned to incidents. In California, nine of the 10 largest fires on record have occurred since 2010.

Americans have become more likely to want to live in areas where "houses are larger and farther apart, but schools, stores and restaurants are several miles away," a new Pew Research Center poll finds.

The intrigue: Correlation isn't causation. But the change between 2019 and this year occurred during the COVID pandemic and "the accompanying period of telework, remote schooling and pandemic-related restrictions on indoor dining and other indoor activities," Pew notes.

The electric mobility company Revel is installing battery storage at a New York City charging hub in a partnership that represents a growing and evolving trend in the industry.

Driving the news: Revel is adding storage from the firm Electric Era to help power its large charging "superhub" in Brooklyn that offers public access and charging for Revel's ride-hailing vehicles.