Flooding in New York, Louisiana and Missouri: This week, Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana and started to flood New York. Ida started out as a category 4 Hurricane with 150 mph winds. Hurricane Katria was a category 3 hurricane, with 110 mph winds, although Katrina was a larger storm overall. Ida currently holds the record of the fifth largest hurricane to make landfall in the United States. The storm is currently in New York. So far, at least 42 people are dead in New York from the floods.
Significance: Hurricane Ida is being used as an example of climate change by the World Weather Attribution Initiative. One million people in Louisiana and Mississippi were left without power, 990,000 in Louisiana and 30,000 in Mississippi. Ida flooded the New York subways and the city. President Biden promised full federal assistance with the cleanup efforts, and is urging congress to build infrastructure to combat the climate crisis.
Texas abortion law: The Supreme Court voted 5-4 to not take action against the recent Texas fetal heartbeat abortion law. The law states abortions are not allowed once the fetus has cardiac activity, typically 6 weeks into a pregnancy. The law also stipulates that anyone involved in an unlawful abortion can be sued, including the doctors, nursing staff and the driver if the women was driven to the abortion.
Significance: This law directly challenges the Roe v. Wade decision, which deemed the abortion procedure to be a constitutional right. The law doesn’t make exceptions in cases of incest and rape, only when giving birth would be a health risk to the mother. This law is also unlike other similarly strict abortion laws, as it relies on private citizens to sue abortion providers on behalf of the state. If the plaintiff is successful in suing a medical provider or other party, they may receive a $10,000 reward and have any legal fees reimbursed. Similarly to a 2012 abortion law which was overturned in 2016, Texas is predicted to see the large scale closure of abortion clinics.
