Days after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana, many of the state’s Latino residents are awaiting aid amidst sweltering heat and lack of power, food and drinking water.
Details: The category 4 storm left many houses and apartments unlivable and their residents stranded in the swath between the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain, where many of the state’s Latinos reside.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida brought a tropical deluge of unprecedented proportions to the New York City metro area on Wednesday night into Thursday.
Driving the news: The flooding that resulted from the heavy rainfall shut down Newark Airport, and turned city and country roads in all five boroughs and surrounding areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania into rivers.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it is investigating Virgin Galactic's recent flight into suborbital space after the company's Unity space plane veered off course and flew outside its designated airspace during the flight.
The latest: FAA spokesperson Steve Kulm said Virgin Galactic's space plane is grounded and will not be able to fly again until the administration "approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety."
Power and oil-and-gas production are starting to revive after Hurricane Ida, but there's a long way to go for Louisiana's sweltering residents and industrial damage assessments are ongoing.
Driving the news: The Interior Department reports that roughly 80% of Gulf of Mexico crude oil production and 83% of gas production was shut-in as of yesterday.
Private missions to orbit like the all-civilian Inspiration4 launching later this month are opening access to space to people who historically haven't gone there.
Why it matters: Fewer than 600 people have flown to space, and most of them have been white men. But with the rise of commercial spaceflight that's expected to change.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida combined with other storm systems to lash the Northeastern U.S. with heavy rains overnight. It left at least one person dead and triggered the first-ever flash flood emergency declaration for New York City.
The big picture: As widespread power outages hit the Northeast, nearly 1 million people in Louisiana still had no electricity — four days after Ida made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in the state.
Weather-related disasters have become more common and more costly over the past 50 years but so far have killed fewer people than catastrophes in the past, according to a new report from the United Nations' weather agency.
Why it matters: The World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) report, which includes the most comprehensive reviews of mortality and economic losses from weather disasters to date, found the increase in extreme events has been driven by climate change and improved reporting.
Power company Entergy on Wednesday announced that its crews turned on power for some customers in eastern New Orleans after Hurricane Ida tore through Louisiana and left approximately 1 million customers without electricity.
Why it matters: While outages still persist throughout much of the state, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, Wednesday's announcement offers a sign of hope for the region's recovery in the aftermath of the storm, AP notes.
This year’s extreme weather, caused by climate change, is impacting crops to extremes that farmers haven't seen in their lifetimes.
Catch up quick: Prolonged heat waves and droughts have caused this year's corn, soybean, almond, honey, citrus and avocado production to crash and prices to skyrocket.
