Tag Archives: houses

World

Indian officials demolish several houses after protests over anti-Islam remarks

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In Indian Kashmir, police arrested a youth for posting a video threatening to behead the ruling party’s former spokeswoman who had made some of the remarks, officials said. The video, circulated on YouTube, has been withdrawn by authorities.

Muslims have taken to the streets across India in recent weeks to protest against the anti-Islamic comments by two members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Clashes have broken out between Muslims and Hindus and in some cases between protesters and police in several areas. Police in Uttar Pradesh arrested more than 300 people in connection with the unrest.

Some in India’s minority Muslim community see the comments as the latest instance of pressure and humiliation under BJP rule on issues ranging from freedom of worship to the wearing of hijab head scarves.

The BJP has suspended its spokeswoman Nupur Sharma and expelled another leader, Naveen Kumar Jindal, for the comments, which have also caused a diplomatic row with several Muslim countries.

Police have filed cases against the two and the government has said the comments do not reflect its views.

Muslim groups have demanded their arrest, while some hardline Hindu groups label them as brave and nationalist politicians.

Over the weekend the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh state, Yogi Adityanath, ordered officials to demolish any illegal establishments and homes of people accused of involvement in riots there last week, the BJP’s state spokesperson said.

The house of an alleged mastermind of the riots, whose daughter is a female Muslim rights activist, was demolished amid a heavy police presence on Sunday. Properties of two more people accused of throwing stones after Friday prayers were also demolished in the state.

Mrityunjay Kumar, Adityanath’s media adviser, tweeted a photo of a bulldozer demolishing a building and said, “Unruly elements remember, every Friday is followed by a Saturday.”

Opposition leaders said Adityanath’s government was pursuing an unconstitutional method to silence protesters.

On Sunday, Jindal said his family faced continuous threats and some of his followers said a crude bomb was defused near his residence in capital New Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has so far not commented on the communal unrest.

In the eastern state of West Bengal, authorities enforced an emergency law prohibiting public gatherings in the industrial district of Howrah until June 16.

BJP’s West Bengal president on Sunday staged a sit-in protest and accused neighboring Bangladesh, a mainly Muslim nation, of inciting violence in the state.

On Friday, two teenagers were killed in clashes between Hindus and Muslims in eastern India, police said on Saturday. Police opened fire to break up the violence in the city of Ranchi in Jharkhand state but it was not clear if the two victims were killed by the police or by rioters.

Senior police official Surendra Kumar Jha said at least 14 police officials were injured in the incident in Ranchi and other areas. A curfew was imposed and Internet services suspended to stop the unrest escalating.

Last week countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Iran — which are key trade partners of India — lodged diplomatic protests to demand an apology from Modi’s government for the comments.

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Business

World’s richest man Elon Musk says he’s homeless and ‘rotates’ among friends’ houses

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Elon Musk has said he doesn’t own a home and has been sleeping on friends’ spare beds despite reportedly being the world’s richest man.

Speaking in an interview with TED which aired on Monday, Mr Musk said he did not currently have a home and was staying with friends around San Francisco’s Bay Area, near Tesla HQ, when working in the city.

“I don’t even own a place right now, I’m literally staying at friends’ places,” said the 50-year-old, who usually lives in Texas. “If I travel to the Bay Area, which is where most of Tesla’s engineering is, I basically rotate through friends’ spare bedrooms”.

The Tesla and Space X founder added that he does not own a yacht and did not take holidays in a defence of his billion-dollar wealth.

“I dont have yacht, I don’t take vacations, so its not as that my personal consumption is high,” Mr Musk said, adding: “One exception is a plane but if I dont use the plane I have less hours to work.”

He had been asked by TED’s Chris Anderson, the head of the conference organisation, about people who were “hugely offended” by billionaires before making the claims about his living situation.

“I think there’s some axiomatic flaws that are leading to that conclusion,” said Mr Musk of the people who are “offended” by his wealth. “If, for sure it would be problematic if I was consuming billions of dollars of year in personal consumption but that is not the case”.

Mr Musk has a an estimated net worth of $251bn (£207bn), according to Bloomberg, and is the richest individual in the United States and the world. He is currently at the centre of a $43bn (£33bn )take over bid of Twitter but has been set back by the company’s board.

The TED comments come a month after Mr Musk’s long-term on-and-off partner Grimes caused controversy with an interview with Vanity Fair in March in which she said he “does not live like a billionaire”.

“Bro lives at times below the poverty line. To the point where I was like, can we not live in a very insecure $40,000 house? Where the neighbors, like, film us, and there’s no security, and I’m eating peanut butter for eight days in a row?”

Grimes, who recently gave birth to the couple’s second child, was heavily condemned for suggesting Mr Musk’s frugal lifestyle was equivalent to being “poor”.

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US

Covid cases among Washington power brokers put new focus on White House’s protocols for Biden

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Had it taken place at nearly any other time, the perfunctory event in Washington might have come and gone. But in the age of a pandemic, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s close proximity to the President during the signing — just a day before she would announce that she had tested positive for Covid-19 — has triggered alarm.
And elsewhere in Washington, a slew of cases among political partygoers illustrates the push and pull between returning back to “normal” life and continuing efforts to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told CNN’s John Berman Friday that it is “possible” Biden will eventually contract Covid-19, but she added the White House continues to take precautions.

“The President is certainly living his life, just as you say all Americans across the country are — while taking precautions, while ensuring that we’re following CDC guidance,” she said.

While Covid case numbers in Washington and around the country remain low, a rash of cases among high-profile lawmakers and notable figures in the nation’s capital has led to increased scrutiny on the administration’s Covid protocols.

Vice President Kamala Harris, in particular, is in the spotlight for her seeming disregard of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for those who were exposed to Covid-19. Her communications director, Jamal Simmons, tested positive after attending the annual Gridiron Club Dinner, one of at least 37 people who have tested positive following the event where members of the press hobnob with prominent Washington officials.

Simmons was a close contact of the vice president, the White House said in a statement. A close contact is defined by the CDC as being within 6 feet for a cumulative total of 15 minutes over a 24-hour period. While Harris did not need to quarantine because of Simmons’ positive test, the White House said that she would follow CDC guidance for close contacts.

But on Thursday, as she presided over the confirmation vote for incoming Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the vice president was seen maskless at the Senate dais. Harris sometimes could be seen putting her hand up, as if to request a senator not approach too closely, but there were times when individuals, masked and unmasked, did approach her.

The CDC recommends that people who are exposed to Covid and are up-to-date on vaccinations be tested at least five days after the close contact as well as wear masks around other people for 10 days following the contact. The guidelines do not say that person can be maskless around others if they are practicing social distancing.

A White House official, responding to questions about why Harris had not been wearing a mask inside the Senate chamber during the vote, said the vice president had consulted with a White House physician, was “practicing social distancing” and had “limited and brief interactions from her chair.”

Asked earlier whether Harris had breached protocol by remaining unmasked inside the chamber, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said she had not done “further analysis” and noted that the vice president was sitting on a dais slightly away from the Senate floor.

She later said Harris would follow CDC protocols at other events, such as the celebration at the White House for Jackson’s confirmation. The President and vice president have continued to test negative for Covid-19 and have both received their second Covid-19 vaccine booster doses in recent days.

Testing Biden’s bubble

The President, who is 79 years old, is at an increased risk for a more severe case of Covid-19 because of his age, although the CDC says older adults who are up-to-date on vaccines and boosters significantly reduce their risk of hospitalization and death.

Biden’s bubble, the White House maintains, goes beyond the CDC’s guidelines to insulate him from potential infection — testing individuals close to him and implementing physical distancing when possible. And yet, as this week’s events have transpired, the limits of the White House bubble have been tested — with Covid currently affecting at least four individuals in the line of succession to the President to varying degrees.

Officials and visitors have not been required to wear masks or socially distance at large White House events since the CDC updated its new metrics to guide Covid-19 restrictions such as mask-wearing in late February. Covid cases in Washington have declined since their peak in early January, when the country was facing a wave of Omicron variant cases.

The White House says that only individuals who are in “close contact” with Biden are tested immediately before meeting or attending events with him, and that not everyone who attended Wednesday’s event on the Postal Service was tested. It also says additional testing protocols for Biden will be up to his doctors.

Pelosi, along with other members of Congress at the White House on Wednesday, tested negative ahead of the signing event.

She and the dinner attendees who have tested positive are not considered to be close contacts of the President. Those dinner attendees include Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo; Attorney General Merrick Garland; Simmons; first lady Jill Biden’s press secretary, Michael LaRosa; Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas; Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California; Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine; and the President’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens.

Even with the spate of positive tests and apparent close calls for the President, the White House is moving forward with normal events — on Friday, Biden will hold an outdoor celebration for Jackson’s confirmation.

The reception has already drawn some parallels to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination announcement in the White House Rose Garden in late September 2020, which ended up being a likely Covid-19 superspreader event, and preceded then-President Donald Trump’s Covid-related hospitalization by less than a week.

The Biden White House has noted, importantly, that unlike at the time of Barrett’s reception, Americans now have wide access to Covid-19 vaccines.

“At that point in time, vaccines weren’t available. People were not vaccinated. It certainly puts us in a different space,” Psaki said on Thursday, emphasizing that Friday’s event will be outdoors.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Kate Bennett, Jasmine Wright, MJ Lee, Nikki Carvajal and Sam Fossum contributed to this report.

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Business

Inventories of New Houses for Sale Highest since 2008, Worst Spike in Construction Costs in at Least 50 Years: What the Heck Is Going On?

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A look at massive distortions and massive supply in the pipeline.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

The index for construction costs of singled-family houses spiked 15.3% in November compared to a year ago, the worst year-over-year spike in the data going back to 1970, and by 21.1% compared to November two years ago, according to data by the Commerce Department on Thursday. This excludes the cost of land and other non-construction costs:

Builders are complaining about all kinds of shortages, including windows, while window makers complain about labor and materials shortages. Lead times are stretching into eternity by the measure of single-family housing construction projects that then get bogged down.

There is enough demand to allow builders to pass on those cost increases to buyers: The median price of single-family houses sold in November spiked 18.8% year-over-year and by 27.1% from two years ago to $416,900. That means, half the homes sold for over $416,900 and half sold for less.

The bottom has fallen out at the lower end with nearly no houses sold below $200,000. Only 13% of the houses sold below $300,000. But 57% of the houses went for over $400,000. The median price is skewed by this shift in mix to the high end, because that’s where the money is, and by the death of the low end:

Inventory of single-family houses for sale at all stages of construction combined – more on those stages in a moment – has been persistently rising for months and hit the highest level since August 2008:

Inventory for sale by stage of construction:

The number of completed single-family houses for sale – which means they have to have windows among other things – has been straggling along below 40,000 (seasonally adjusted) all year, a historically low range in the data going back to 1999, and setting several new record lows along the way. In November, 39,000 completed houses were for sale (red line in the chart below).

But the number of houses for sale where construction hasn’t started yet hit 110,000 in November, the highest in the data going back to 1999 (purple line).

And the number of houses for sale that were still under construction rose to 253,000 in November, the highest since 2007 (green line).

The shortage of completed houses.

Every month since May, completed houses for sale have accounted for less than 10% of total inventory for sale, which hasn’t happened since at least the early 1970s. The pre-pandemic low was 20% of total inventory, in May 2018.

There are few completed houses for sale as delays of all kinds see to it that builders are having a rough time completing construction. And as they’re trying to complete construction or shortly after they complete construction, the houses are sold and don’t linger in inventory:

Sales of New Houses, in Total and by Stage of Construction.

Total sales of new single-family houses in November, all stages of construction combined, fell 14% from a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 744,000 houses, having unwound the entire pandemic spike. Sales also remain far lower than during the boom years of 2002 through 2006 (this does not include apartment and condo buildings).

Sales of completed houses – where inventories have collapsed – have been hobbling along near the levels during the housing bust and in November dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 164,000 (red line in the chart below), as there wasn’t a whole lot to sell. And at 22% of total sales in November, their share hit lows not seen since 2005.

Sales of houses under construction jumped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 359,000 houses in November (green line), and has been running high ever since April last year. This was driven in part by the shortage of completed houses – and more buyers ended up buying a house that was still under construction. The share of sales of houses under construction surged to 48% of total sales in November, along with August and June, the highest in the data going back to 1999

Sales of houses where construction hasn’t started yet – when a homebuilder will build it after the buyer commits to buying it – rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 221,000 houses (purple line), for a share of total sales of 30%, which is roughly in line with pre-pandemic years since 2012, but is down from the peak months during the pandemic:

Distortions… and a lot of supply stuck in the pipeline.

What we’re seeing here are large-scale distortions across the spectrum, from spikes in construction costs and shortages of all kinds, long lead times, and the inability to complete construction in a speedy manner, which leads to the huge build-up of inventory of unfinished houses for sale, while completed houses for sale have become scarce.

There is lots of supply, but – at the moment – it’s the wrong kind of supply: It’s further up the pipeline and some of it is stuck in the pipeline, while buyers are leery of getting tangled up in the potential delays and cost increases. But this supply is coming down the pipeline, and there’s a lot of it, and it’s pegged at very high prices, and it’s doing so as mortgage rates are rising from the ultra-low levels that made all this possible.

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Entertainment

First Look at Harry Potter Competition Series Tournament of Houses Released

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Harry Potter fans are nearly ready to test their knowledge as Harry Potter: Tournament of Houses begins soon. This week, TBS and Cartoon Network revealed a teaser offering the first look and the premiere date for Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses. Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren hosts the four-part Harry Potter-themed competition series. The show will debut a new episode each Sunday from November 28th through December 19th on TBS and as part of Cartoon Network’s ACME Night. Following its linear television simulcast, the special event series will become available to stream on HBO Max early next year.

According to the show’s official description, nearly two decades since the global critical and box office hit of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses celebrates the 20th anniversary of the film and continues the Wizarding World spirit showcasing ultimate fan glory on a never-before-seen scale. Featuring hundreds of trivia questions and special guest surprises, this unforgettable event of a lifetime will unveil which fans know the vast, intricately detailed universe like the back of their hand as they compete to take home the title of House Cup Champion.

Warner Bros. Unscripted Television produces Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses, in association with Warner Horizon and Robin Ashbrook and Yasmin Shackleton of theoldschool. The quiz show is one of two special broadcasts planned to celebrate Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone‘s 20th anniversary. The other is a retrospective special.

“To celebrate the dedicated fans old and new who have passionately kept the Wizarding World magic alive in so many forms for decades, these exciting specials will celebrate their Harry Potter fandom in a must-see multiplatform TV event,” said Tom Ascheim, President, Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics in a press release announcing the specials. “All Potter fans can gear up for this ultimate one-of-a-kind celebration by embracing their inner Hermione Granger and studying their Wizarding World knowledge. For fans who have always wanted to discover what it might be like to take the OWL exams, this is as close as they are going to get!”

What do you think? Let us know in the comments section. Harry Potter: Tournament of Houses debuts on November 29th on TBS and Cartoon Network. For those looking to revisit the Harry Potter movies, they’re now streaming on multiple platforms. The next film set in the Wizarding World, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, opens on April 15th.

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World

Volcanic lava in Spain’s La Palma engulfs more houses

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LA PALMA, Spain, Oct 9 (Reuters) – Buildings near the volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma were engulfed by rivers of lava early on Saturday, with the drama of the red-hot eruption intensified by the spectacle of flashes of lightning.

The magma destroyed at least four buildings in the village of Callejon de la Gata, Reuters witnesses said.

There were a series of 37 seismic movements on Saturday, with the largest measuring 4.1, the Spanish National Geological Institute said.

The Cumbre Vieja volcano began erupting on Sept. 19 and has destroyed more than 800 buildings and forced the evacuation of about 6,000 people from their homes on the island. La Palma, with a population of about 83,000, is one of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic.

Lightning flashes were seen near the eruption early on Saturday. A study published in 2016 by the journal Geophysical Research Letters found lightning can be produced during volcanic eruptions because the collision of ash particles creates an electrical charge.

The lava from the volcano has engulfed over 150 hectares (370 acres) of farm land, most of it used for the cultivation of bananas that are one of the main crops on the island.

Airlines flying to the Canary Islands were advised to load extra fuel in case planes had to change course or delay landing because of ash, said a spokesman for Enaire, which controls the navigation in Spanish airspace.

La Palma’s airport has been closed since Thursday because of ash, Spanish air traffic operator Aena (AENA.MC) said. read more but the other airports in the archipelago remained open.

Reporting by Silvio Castellanos, Juan Medina, Graham Keeley; editing by Frances Kerry and Jason Neely

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Unfinished Houses for Sale Pile Up, Total Inventory Highest since 2008, amid Material Shortages & Worst Spike in Construction Costs since 1979

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Sales of new single-family houses fall 24% from a year ago. The lower end has died.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

Sales of new single-family houses in August were down by 24.3% from August last year, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 740,000 houses, according to the Census Bureau this morning.

Sales of single-family houses remain far below their peak during the years of 2002 through 2007, in part due to the large-scale construction boom since then in multi-family buildings, such as condo towers and apartment towers:

Ballooning inventories: A record 90.5% of the houses for sale are either not started or unfinished, as total inventory piles up. Homebuilders are complaining about material shortages and labor shortages and surging costs and all kinds of other issues that prevent them from starting construction or completing construction.

The number of:

  • Not-started houses for sale jumped to 105,000 (up from 60,000 in August 2019);
  • Under-construction houses for sale jumped to 237,000 (up from 185,000 in August 2019).
  • Completed houses for sale, at 36,000, were far below August 2019 (81,000).

Total inventory for sale, from not-started to completed houses, rose to 378,000, the most since October 2008:

Supply of new houses has been above 6 months for the fourth month in a row, at the top end of the pre-pandemic range except for 2018, when surging mortgage rates triggered a slowdown in sales, and therefore an increase in months’ supply:

The median price, at $390,900, was unchanged from July and May and was up 20% from a year ago.

The median price is heavily skewed by the ongoing shift in mix to more expensive homes, with the low end dying out completely:

  • Almost no homes with a price of under $200,000 were sold. This category has died.
  • Under-$300,000 homes accounted for only 29% of total sales, down from 35% in August 2020 and down from 42% in August 2019.
  • $300,000 to $400,000 homes accounted for 19% of total sales.
  • Over-$400,000 homes accounted for 51% of sales, up from 31% in August 2020, with the over-$500,000 homes, which is where the money is, accounting for 31% of sales.

Construction costs spiked the most since 1979, amid all kinds of shortages and price spikes of materials. According to separate data by the Commerce Department, construction costs for single-family houses, excluding the cost of land and other non-construction costs, spiked by 12.8% in August compared to a year ago, the fastest year-over-year surge in construction costs since 1979:

Lumber has come off its ridiculous spike, but Chicago lumber futures, now rising again and at $650 per thousand board feet, are still 70% higher than they’d been in August 2019. Steel prices have continued to surge. Futures of Polyvinyl Chloride, the material for PVC pipes, have surged 65% year-over-year. Costs have surged across the board.

There are anecdotal reports coming out of the homebuilder industry of shortages of all kinds: Shortages of windows and doors – the glass shortage is apparently behind the WOLF STREET beer mug shortage – steel beams, insulation, appliances, roofing materials, copper wiring, fasteners, plumbing fixtures…. And prices of materials are responding in the most monstrously overstimulated economy ever, and these costs are getting passed on.

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US

Ida’s path of destruction in N.J.: Rising death toll, epic flooding, fierce tornado damage, houses destroyed

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Roadways turned into rivers. Downed trees and power lines blocked roads and damaged houses. And a tornado ripped through a southern Jersey town, destroying at least 20 houses.

In one of the fiercest storms to hit New Jersey in recent years, Tropical Storm Ida delivered a knockout punch, wreaking havoc across the state as it took lives, flooded downtowns and caused untold millions of dollars in damage.

As of midday Thursday, at least nine people in New Jersey died from the storm, including four who died in an apartment complex in Elizabeth.

Ida left few areas in New Jersey unscathed, with the destruction spanning the state from Passaic County in the north to Gloucester County down south. While the storm had been predicted to have a massive impact — Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency in all of New Jersey’s 21 counties — the destruction, at first look Thursday morning, was far greater than many had feared.

“There is a lot of hurt in New Jersey,” Murphy said Thursday morning as he pledged to use all resources available to help residents deal with the widespread damage. “We’re pulling all the levers. It’s going to be a long road,” he said as he implored people to stay off the roads.

Ida’s confirmed death toll as of noon Thursday surpassed the state’s losses from Hurricane Floyd and the numbers may still rise as rescue crews continue their searches.

In 2011, nine people in New Jersey died from Hurricane Irene, most from drowning in the raging flood waters while trapped inside their cars. Six people drowned in New Jersey during Hurricane Floyd in 1999, including two deaths each in Somerset and Bergen counties and one each in Passaic and Salem counties. At least 40 people from New Jersey died during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

The worst flooding from Ida may be yet to come. As of midday Thursday, some rivers had not yet reached their peak flood stage.

The Passaic River in Pine Brook and Little Falls, the Raritan River in Bound Brook and the Assunpink Creek in Trenton are forecast by the National Weather Service to keep rising until 6 p.m. Friday. The Delaware River at Easton/Phillipsburg is forecast to crest around 6 p.m. on Thursday, the weather service said.

The storm also upended transportation across the state, temporarily shutting down Newark International Airport Wednesday night, with nearly 400 flights canceled. Flooding closed part of one terminal and some roads remain closed. Teterboro Airport was also shut down. NJ Transit rail service is still suspended, except for the Atlantic City Rail Line, while buses are running with localized delays as they encounter roads closed by flooding and downed trees.

More than 60,000 people remained without power as of midday Thursday. For PSE&G customers, Essex County had the most outages with more than 14,000. JCP&L’s outages included more than 8,000 in Morris, nearly 8,000 in Hunterdon and more than 7,500 in Sussex counties.

Because the waters of the Raritan River spilled across Route 18 in New Brunswick and were still rising Thursday, Rutgers’ postponed its football season opener against Temple until Saturday.

As of noon Thursday, authorities confirmed at least nine deaths from the storm.

In Elizabeth, four residents of the Oakwood Plaza Apartments complex on Irvington Avenue died during the storm, and rescue personnel are trying to determine if there may be more casualties. The dead include a married couple in their 70s, their 38-year-old son and a 33-year-old female neighbor but their names have not been released, authorities said.

On Thursday morning, police were calling every listed resident and going door-to-door to apartments to check on other residents, city spokeswoman Kelly Martins said.

“Our police and fire are going door-to-door to pretty much do a wellness check at this point and see if there are unfortunately anymore,” said Martins.

Some 600 Elizabeth residents are homeless because of the storm, officials said.

In Middlesex County, a man died when he was swept into a 36-inch storm sewer pipe, Mayor Matthew Anesh said in a statement.

Authorities said two men were swept into the pipe, which travels under Stelton Road from South Plainfield to Piscataway, on Wednesday night, but only one of the men was rescued.

Then on Thursday, police said, they discovered the body of Dhanush Reddy, 31, of Edison, in a wooded area in Piscataway.

Two people were found dead in submerged vehicles in Hillsborough Township, Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Deputy Chief Frank Roman Jr. said. The deaths took place between late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

Roman said a preliminary investigation found both individuals drove into flooded waters.

In Milford, Hunterdon County, a driver was found dead in a pickup truck in a creek off Carpenter Street, Mayor Henri Schepens said. The driver’s name has not yet been released and New Jersey State Police are investigating the death.

“We don’t know where the vehicle came from,” Schepens said. “It could have gone through many bridges. It went for quite the distance. The whole roof was smashed in. Water is amazingly powerful.”

In Passaic, a 70-year-old man drowned in a car fully submerged in rising flood waters in Passaic on Wednesday night, Passaic mayor Hector Lora said. The man’s 66-year-old wife and 25-year-old son were rescued by firefighters, but two others may have been swept away by flooding, Lora said. The 70-year-old man’s name has not been released.

Lora said others at least two others are feared dead, swept away by the Passaic River, and divers would continue searching.

“This is just yet another reminder, these come more frequently,” said Murphy, noting that climate change exposes New Jersey in part because of its dense population. “We have got to update our playbook. We’ve got to turn it up, but in the meantime we’re going to be there for folks as they pick up the pieces and recover.”

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NJ Advance Media reporters Rodrigo Torrejon, Steven Rodas, Rob Jennings, Larry Higgs, Noah Cohen and Joe Atmonavage contributed to this report.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.

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US

Plano, Texas, home explosion: 6 injured in a Texas home explosion that damaged 2 other houses

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Six people were taken to the hospital, including one person who was in the house, Plano Fire-Rescue said in a tweet. The other five were residents of the house next door, the tweet said.

The house appears to have significant damage, Daly said. The severity of the damage to the other two homes wasn’t immediately clear.

Staff at a library about a mile away felt the explosion, the tweet said.

Plano Fire-Rescue tweeted earlier that the cause of the explosion wasn’t clear.

Investigators from Atmos Energy, a natural gas company, and Plano Fire-Rescue were on the scene, another tweet said.

Gas in the neighborhood was shut off, Daly said. It was unclear Monday evening whether it had been turned back on.



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World

Six dead, 30 missing in Germany as houses collapse in floods

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BERLIN, July 15 (Reuters) – Flooding in western Germanyhas left six people dead and many missing, and caused at least six houses to collapse.

Police said on Thursday that four people were dead and 30 missing around the wine-growing hub of Ahrweiler, south of Bonn, after the Ahr river, which flows into the Rhine, burst its banks, bringing down the houses. Around 50 were stranded on roofs, and more houses were at risk of collapse.

“There are many places where fire brigades and rescue workers have been deployed. We don’t yet have a very precise picture because rescue measures are continuing,” a police spokesperson said.

Two firefighters died in the Sauerland region, northeast of Bonn, on Wednesday, police said. The news agency DPA said one had drowned and a second had collapsed after a rescue operation.

Rail and road transport were disrupted, and shipping on the Rhine, an important trade artery,was suspended.

More heavy rain was due in southwestern Germany, on the upper reaches of the German Rhine, on Thursday and Friday, the German Weather Service said.

Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Douglas Busvine; Editing by Kevin Liffey

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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