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National

Portions of the Carolinas have been inundated by the heaviest amount of rain on record for this region, and torrential rain is still falling. Parts of southern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina could see another foot or more of rain through the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. 

The big picture: Flood levels could hit record highs at multiple locations during the next week. For example, the Cape Fear River near Fayetteville is projected to rise nearly 45 feet, to near 62.4 feet by Tuesday. Homes within 1 mile of the river were evacuated on Saturday.

30.58 inches: In Swansboro, North Carolina, 30.58 inches of rain has accumulated, setting all-time state records for the most rainfall from any tropical storm or hurricane, as well as the highest 2-day and 3-day rainfall totals on record. North Carolina is now the third state in the country to set all-time state rainfall records in the past year, with Hawaii (Hurricane Lane) and Texas (Hurricane Harvey, 2017) being the others.

25.77 inches: The ammount of rain that has fallen so far in Hoffman Raws, North Carolina. 

18 trillion gallons: Projected total rainfall that meteorologist Ryan Maue calculated, enough to put all of Texas under 4 inches of water. 

10 to 20 inches: Amount of rain still to come in parts of the Carolinas as Florence ambles west-northwestward. Heavy rain falling in higher terrain will raise the prospect of landslides.

2 mph: The storm's forward speed, as of 5 p.m. ET on Saturday. 

Between the lines: The storm's slow forward speed and proximity to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream sitting just off the coast has allowed tropical feeder bands of moisture, punctuated by lightning and occasional tornadoes, to rotate onshore, pummeling the same areas for hours with rainfall rates above 4 inches per hour. While the rain may stop in many areas by early next week, it will take days, or longer, for rivers to crest at record high levels, and weeks for that water to subside.

Nine people have been confirmed dead from incidents related to Hurricane Florence between North and South Carolina, CBS reports. The storm knocked out power to nearly 800,000 homes and businesses in the area. 

Governor Roy Cooper has warned residents and travelers not to drive throughout the state, as most roads are at risk of major flooding as the rain continues to pour.  

With more rain left to fall, flooding throughout the state will continue — specifically near rivers, where residents have been told to evacuate, CNN reports. 

Rescues in New Bern, a town with 30,000 people, are complete. The town saw more than 10 feet of storm surge and more than 10 inches of rainfall. 

What's next: The storm is not over yet. It will continue to dump heavy rains on the Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic and eventually, the Northeast during the upcoming week, with potentially deadly flash flooding and mudslides as a result.

Record rainfall from Tropical Storm Florence plagues Carolinas

Yet another new state rainfall record has fallen.

Mike Pollack searches for a drain in the yard of his flooded waterfront home a day after Hurricane Florence hit the area. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Science

hurricanes

Extreme weather

News and analysis of the scientific advances fueling AI and quantum computing, revolutionizing biology and medicine, and tackling climate change. Science is changing the world and colliding with the global politics that shape it.

Breaking climate science and policy coverage as extreme weather events reshape communities. Keep tabs on the race to a low carbon economy, which may be bumpy as governments, climate tech startups and major oil and gas companies race to find their niche amid the changing energy landscape.

Energy & Climate

President Trump is expected to announce new tariffs of likely 10% on $200 billion in Chinese goods after final details are ironed out over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

The details: The tariff level expected is well below the initial 25% rate proposed by Trump earlier this year. The president is aiming to keep the level low ahead of midterm elections and holiday shopping season, but could potentially increase the rate at a later date, per WSJ. The announcement comes just before a high-level meeting with Chinese and U.S. officials to discuss trade tensions. 

U.S. to hit China with new tariffs on $200 billion in goods

The tariff rate will likely be set at 10%.

Politics

Donald Trump

World

2024 will be an election year like no other, as President Biden seeks re-election amid economic uncertainty, two wars and questions about his age. His likely foe, former President Trump, faces felony charges and vows revenge on his political enemies. Meanwhile, Americans generally are dissatisfied with those choices and are divided over immigration, race, education and more.

Politics & Policy

Super typhoon Mangkhut is making its way out of the Philippines and is now moving west toward China, reports BBC, after killing at least 14 people.

Why it matters: Mangkhut was one of the strongest storms on in the past two decades to strike northern Luzon, explains Axios Science Editor Andrew Freedman. It’s now a weaker system, but threatens to bring heavy rain, flooding, and damaging winds to China, including Hong Kong, during the next few days.

The damage: The storm left severe damage in surrounding communities, tearing roofs off of homes and bringing massive floods with its downpours. It also triggered 42 landslides.

Despite the damage, there was relief that the storm didn't cause more loss. The initial casualty toll is "far lower" than what officials expected before the storm made landfall. 

More than 105,000 people were shifted to temporary shelters before the typhoon hit, per the New York Times, avoiding a repeat of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 where more than 7,000 people were killed. 

The storm was billed as the strongest cyclone the world has seen this year by the World Meteorological Organization. 

Yes, but: A full damage assessment has yet to be completed, and damage tolls are likely to rise. 

Super typhoon Mangkhut turns deadly as it slams into Philippines

Damage done by Super Typhoon Mangkhut. Photo: Jes Aznar/Getty Images

Philippines

North and South Carolina were hammered by Hurricane Florence after it made landfall on Friday. As of Saturday morning, at least seven have been killed as the storm continues its crawl along the coast.

The big picture: Axios' Andrew Freedman explains that the danger of Florence lies in "the surge and inland flooding from what is likely to be the worst tropical cyclone-related rainstorm in North Carolina history." 

A volunteer carries a child through the water.

Volunteer Amber Hersel from the Civilian Crisis Response Team helps rescue 7-year-old Keiyana Cromartie and her family. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

An abandoned mini van in North Carolina. Photo: Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images

The Neuse River floods a street in North Carolina. Photo: Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images

A father and daughter after learning friends were injured and later died when a tree fell on their house. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Neighborhoods are flooded by Hurricane Florence. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Fire rescue workers wading through water.

Members of the Boone County Fire Rescue team check for occupants in a home surrounded by flood waters. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In photos: Hurricane Florence hammers the Carolinas

The storm is expected to continue through Saturday.

A sign for New Bern, North Carolina, almost under water.

It was an exciting week on all things Apple and Jeff Bezos, but here are some tech stories that might have slipped under your radar. 

Catch up quick: Zuckerberg: How Facebook is now better prepared to fight election interference; Google’s location privacy practices are under investigation in Arizona; Walmart relaunches Jet with three-hour deliveries; Uber axed its logo; Seven Google employees quit over secretive search project in China.

Zuckerberg: How Facebook is now better prepared to fight election interference

Why it matters: After initially denying Facebook's role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Facebook's CEO outlined on Wednesday night how the company has learned from its mistakes, adding it's already stopped meddling attempts in a number of elections.  

Google's search engine for China: Seven employees quit; Google built a prototype

Why it matters: The departures follow the controversial revelation of Google’s work on Project Dragonfly, a censored search engine that would let it serve China again. The former employees cite a lack of transparency from the company as the reason for leaving. Meanwhile, Google has reportedly built a prototype that links a user's searches to their phone number, which could make them a target of the government.

Walmart relaunches Jet with three-hour deliveries

Why it matters: Walmart continues to battle rival Amazon, this time with a new version of Jet.com, which it bought in 2016. The new Jet.com is aimed at shoppers in large urban cities, letting them order via voice commands with Siri and offering three-hour delivery. Walmart also announced this week its acquisition of Cornershop, an on-demand grocery delivery service in Mexico and Chile. 

Why it matters: The rebranding, which includes new colors, typeface and app layout, is to better match the company's expanding transportation options, it says. Uber is also still working to redeem its public image. 

Google’s location privacy practices are under investigation in Arizona

Why it matters: Google mobile services reportedly continue to track users when they think they've turned location tracking off, causing new privacy concerns about the company.

To stay up to date on tech news, sign up for our Login newsletter and follow along via our daily tech coverage.

Tech news you may have missed this week

Technology

Facebook

Big Tech

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Axios AM

The most telling split among 2020 Democratic hopefuls won’t be over policy, but whether to match President Trump's scorched-earth tactics, top Democrats tell Jonathan Swan and me.

"The key question is: How crazy will Trump make us?" asked a veteran of Democratic presidential campaigns. "How far out there will you go to be like Trump?"

The "responsible restorationists" will say: As soon as Trump’s gone, we should go back to the way things were. Their campaign style will reflect Michelle Obama's famous line: "When they go low, we go high."

Instead, the "ruthless radicals" will say: Screw the old rules. When they go low, "hit harder," as Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti put it during his 2020 water-testing appearances.

Avenatti, and senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, are in the more aggressive camp:

Avenatti says Democratic candidates for 2020 must commit to expanding the Supreme Court bench to 11 seats to pack the court with Democrats.

Booker had his “I am Spartacus” moment at the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing.

And Warren recently told CNN the 25th amendment should be used to remove Trump from office if his senior officials don't think he can do his job.

The restorationists could include candidates like Michael Bloomberg, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, former New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Joe Biden is a traditionalist but has flirted with Trumpian language, saying in 2016 that if they were in high school, he would’ve taken Trump “behind the gym and beat the hell out of him” for demeaning women.

Scott Pastrick — president of Prime Policy Group, former DNC treasurer under Bill Clinton, and longtime adviser to Democratic presidential candidates — said : “You’ve got this divide between people who want to govern and be more measured, ... and another side that’s hellbent on breaking china."

"It’s the activist base, the screamers, looking to do whatever they can to push back on Trump and demonstrate that they are ideologically pure. And I’m afraid that this is going to drive us right into extinction.”

A strategist for one of the 2020 candidate told me this calibration will be tough: Primary voters hunger for "someone to descend to Trump's tactics." But general-election voters are more likely to prefer "a hopeful message about making government boring again."

Be smart: Whichever course a candidate favors, it has to be genuine. As a longtime Democratic operative told me: "Hillary tried to go high but then went low, and no one bought it."

2020 Dems: Rebels v. restorationists

Whichever course a candidate favors, it has to be genuine.

Democrats

Despite President Trump's crackdown on immigration, there were more than 44.5 million people living in the U.S. last year who had been born in foreign countries — the highest share of the population since 1910, according to new data released by the Census Bureau. 

Data: U.S. Census Bureau; CHART: Naema Ahmed/Axios

Two noteworthy trends: 1) Of the immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in the past 8 years, 41% were born in Asia and 39% in Latin America — a dramatic shift as more than half of those who arrived in the U.S. before 2010 had been born in Latin America. 2) A higher share of this population had at least a bachelor's degree in 2017 than in 2016.  

U.S. has highest share of foreign born in more than 100 years

According to the newest numbers from the Census Bureau.

Demographics

Over the past seven decades, 3,677 children were sexually abused by around 1,670 Catholic church workers in Germany, the New York Times reports.

Why it matters: It's safe to assume that there are scandals like this around the world that have yet to be discovered, after taking into account the recent bombshell report in Pennsylvania that detailed horrifying abuse of more than 1,000 child victims. And the report in Germany, the Times says, is "likely to underestimate the true extent of the problem." 

Details: Researchers from three universities undertook the study, which shined a light on abuse in Germany from 1946 to 2014. Per the Times, "[e]very sixth case of abuse involved rape ... and most of the victims were boys." Most of the victims were also 13 years old or younger. 

Criminologist Christian Pfeiffer told the Times that he declined being a part of the research because it's "not fully independent." He said the church wanted to retain control over the results "and under certain circumstances even ban their publication." 

German Bishop Stephan Ackermann told the Times, "We are aware of the extent of the sexual abuse that is supported by the results of the study. It is depressing and shameful.”

Flashback: Australia had their moment last year, when a royal commission found that thousands of children had been abused since 1950 by 7% of the country's Catholic priests.

Go deeper: The Grand Jury report in Pennsylvania detailed the practices of confidentiality that helped church members keep their abuse under wraps.

Germany has its own Catholic Church sex abuse scandal

It's safe to assume there are scandals like this all over

Weather cock and cross on top of a Catholic church in Germany, amid dark storm clouds.

Top of the tower of the Catholic church of St. Johannis in Germany. Photo: Friso Gentsch/picture alliance via Getty Images

Axios

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