Rainy weather has made its way up the East Coast Sunday, bringing flooding and killing power in New Jersey after Tropical Storm Ophelia battered North Carolina.  

In the Tri-State area, people will face the brunt of lingering, miserable weather for much of Sunday as the post-tropical storm moves past. There is still a risk of coastal flooding and heavy, persistent rain – from DC to NYC on Sunday. 

Yesterday, the National Hurricane Center reported just after 6:20am, the storm had made landfall near Emerald Isle, North Carolina. The storm had maximum winds reaching 70mph, with sustained winds of 61mph.

A tropical storm warning was issued from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to Fenwick Island, Delaware. A hurricane watch was also in effect in North Carolina for the area north of Surf City to Ocracoke Inlet.

In New Jersey today, winds and the deluge have been causing disruption, and waves near the shore have been recorded as reaching up to 10 feet high. 

At the Cleveland Park Metro Station in Washington, DC, officials are anticipating flooding and have sandbagged the vicinity, as well as other flood-prone stations. 

New York City locals woke up to torrential rain and strong winds Sunday, with drizzly weather expected to continue into the beginning of the new week as the city reels from the final effects of Ophelia. 

Global Citizen Festival, held in Central Park, continued on despite the wet weather on Saturday evening – as festivalgoers in the Big Apple braved the torrent to watch big names like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Lauryn Hill.  

Hurricane Specialist at the National Hurricane Center Philippe Papin said on Sunday: ‘There have been tropical-storm-force winds observed, but those are starting to gradually subside as the system moves further inland.

‘However, there is a significant flooding rainfall threat for a large portion of eastern North Carolina into southern Virginia over the next 12 to 24 hours.’

NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol said: ‘New Yorkers should take precautions regarding the forecast for high winds and rain during our first fall weekend.

‘This weekend’s weather is also a reminder that we are still in the middle of Atlantic Hurricane season and it is a great time to review your preparedness plan for your home or business, especially if you live in flood-prone areas.’ 

Footage showed the destruction caused in Greenville and Washington, North Carolina, Sunday morning after the storm brought heavy rain and major flooding.

Roads and streets were submerged, with cars unable to pass through the floodwater. 

Rescue teams with small boats made their way through the water to bring people trapped in cars and houses to safety.    

On Sunday morning, 2,600 people were without power in North Carolina, and 5,800 were blacked out in New Jersey.

During the intense deluge on Saturday, there were over 52,000 people in North Carolina and Virginia without power – but the majority have now been restored.  

The National Hurricane Center said in a morning update there will be a gradual weakening during the next 48 hours as the low center moves slowly offshore.

Water levels remain elevated within portions of Chesapeake Bay and its tidal rivers – but should gradually recede through today, experts said.

Throughout Sunday, portions of the Mid-Atlantic to southern New England will experience up to three inches of rainfall. 

According to the NHC: ‘This rainfall may produce localized flash, urban, and small stream flooding impacts across portions of the Mid-Atlantic region into southern New England. 

‘Isolated river flooding is possible in areas of heavier rainfall.

‘Swells generated by Ophelia will continue to affect much of the east coast of the United States through today. 

‘These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.’

On Saturday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued his state’s emergency declaration, aiming to expedite preparations and help provide a swift response.

‘The storm’s path has been difficult to predict and we want to ensure that farmers, first responders and utility crews have the tools necessary to prepare for severe weather,’ the governor said. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order sought to ease response and recovery efforts.

‘We want to ensure that all communities, particularly those with the greatest anticipated impact, have the resources they need to respond and recover from the effects of this storm,’ Youngkin noted. 

Maryland Governor Wes Moore said in a statement on Friday evening that the state expected an extended period of strong winds, heavy rainfall and elevated tides.

In Annapolis, Maryland’s capital, water taxi driver Scott Bierman said service would be closed Saturday.

‘We don’t operate when it´s going to endanger passengers and or damage vessels,’ Bierman said.

In Washington, the Nationals baseball team postponed its Saturday game until Sunday.

It is not uncommon for one or two tropical storms, or even hurricanes, to form off the East Coast each year, National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said.

‘We’re right at the peak of hurricane season, we can basically have storms form anywhere across much of the Atlantic basin,’ Brennan said.

Facebook has found itself in hot water after wading into the debate over whether off-shore wind farms are responsible for a surge in whale deaths across the east coast.

Environmentalist Michael Shellenberger has accused the internet giant of ‘censoring accurate information’ after it slapped a content warning on a post about the beaching of 300 whales since 2017.

Officials admit there has been an ‘unusual mortality event’ on the east coast in the last six years with strandings reported from New York to North Carolina, but have insisted the string of new wind farms are not responsible.

The controversy blew up days after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was threatened with contempt of Congress amid claims the social media firm removed posts at the direction of the Biden White House.

‘Facebook is censoring accurate information about the relationship between industrial wind energy development and the increase in whale deaths off the East Coast,’ Shellenberger said.

‘Why is Facebook censoring accurate information and spreading disinformation?’

Construction is underway on two new wind farms off Rhode Island and Massachusetts after the White House pledged to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030, enough to power 10 million homes.

Two are already operating off Rhode Island and Virginia Beach despite fury from conservationists and commercial fishing operators, and the $10billion Virginia development is expected to feature more than 175 wind turbines by 2026.

In January, the Clean Ocean Action environmental group asked President Joe Biden to step in and halt the wind farm projects, saying there was evidence it was related to the whale deaths.

‘We’ve gone too far, too fast,’ Clean Ocean Action executive director Cindy Zipf said.

‘Over 2.2 million acres is being allocated to offshore wind and 10,000 miles of cables.

‘This alarming number of deaths is unprecedented in the last half century, the only unique factor from previous years, is the excessive scope, scale, and magnitude of offshore wind powerplant activity in the region.’

The latest dead whale washed ashore on Takanassee Beach in New Jersey on Saturday, and this year is on course to be the worst on record for fatal strandings on the east coast.

Shellenberger has called the issue the ‘biggest environmental scandal in the world’ and delivered a series of angry posts to his thousands of Facebook followers this week.

‘The government says it’s not because of the wind industry’s high decibel pile driving and boat traffic in previously pristine waters,’ he wrote.

‘They’re lying. And now we have the proof.’

That triggered Facebook watchdogs to slap a warning, claiming the post was ‘missing context and could mislead people’.

It also linked to an article by Facebook partner Factcheck.org insisting there is no reason to believe wind farms are to blame.

‘Several factors, experts and officials have said, could be increasing the risk of these hazards,’ the checkers wrote.

‘For one, climate change is warming oceans and changing the distribution of prey that marine species depend on.

‘As a result, whales are altering their migration routes and moving out of protected areas and closer to the shores, where they are more vulnerable to ship strikes and entanglement with fishing gear.’

It pointed to autopsies carried out by the official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggesting that 40 per cent of dead humpbacks were killed by hitting boats or getting tangled in ropes.

But they admit: ‘The causes for the other 60 per cent have been inconclusive, in part, officials say, because the carcasses decompose quickly, making it difficult to determine a cause of death.’

Facebook automatically moves reduces the visibility of posts flagged by its fact-checking partners, including AFP, reducing the visibility of false or misleading content.

But earlier this month its parent company Meta changed its settings allowing users to partially disable the fact-checking that they see.

‘We’re giving people on Facebook even more power to control the algorithm that ranks posts in their feed,’ a Meta spokesman told AFP.

We’re doing this in response to users telling us that they want a greater ability to decide what they see on our apps.’

‘For the last 20 years, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that his social media company is the “digital equivalent of a town square,” committed to factual accuracy, and protecting the natural environment,’ Shellenberger said.

‘Facebook knows its “fact checks” are just their “opinion”.

‘Thus, labeling FactCheck.org, which in this case is simply repeating US government misinformation, as a “fact-checker” is disinformation.’

The smell hits you first. Before even passing through one of the 21 decorative entrance gates at Istanbul’s 15th-century Grand Bazaar, I’m met by a heady fug of saffron, rose and leather, mingled with the rich scent of strong Turkish coffee.

‘The first ten minutes inside will be amazing,’ my tour guide Koray Yalkut advises, as we weave between crowds heading in the same direction. ‘Then the second ten minutes are overwhelming. And after half an hour you’ll want to leave.’

Clearly, he underestimates my commitment to a bargain.

One of the world’s largest covered markets spanning 62 streets, the bazaar attracts up to half a million visitors each day to more than 2,000 shops, some of which are still run by the 15th generation of the same family.

Within minutes, I’m lost in the ornate alleyways, entranced by rows of Turkish delight, rainbow-coloured pashminas and pomegranates. Inside a shop named Aladdin, staff present bowls of pistachios and baklava while I choose between vials of flower oil perfumes and giant packs of dried fruit. They send me on my way with effusive goodbyes and a free bag of fragrant spices.

It’s the same all over Istanbul. I’m offered artisan chocolate in high-end jewellery store Begum Khan, and apple tea in a hole-in-the-wall shop in Besiktas selling ceramics and crystals. Everyone is welcoming.

Yet last November, a terrorist bomb killed six people on a major street in the city, highlighting Turkey’s hostile political regime, particularly towards the Kurdish population.

Many locals believe the country’s divisive — and increasingly autocratic — President Erdogan (who is facing an election today) will eventually make Turkey a super-power, but everyone I meet rolls their eyes at his name. None will say much about him directly, but all are keen to keep Istanbul as a secular, progressive and safe city. After all, it was an open-minded meeting point of cultures and continents long before Erdogan. Straddling Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait, it’s been the capital of three empires, survived many attacks and earthquakes, and was a major hub on the Silk Road trade route from East to West.

It’s now the most populated city in Europe with nearly 16 million inhabitants — yet this chaotic, charismatic metropolis is often overlooked as tourists hurry south to the country’s beach resorts. They’re missing a city every bit as captivating as Rome or Athens, with as many historical wonders — as well as lively bars and gourmet restaurants.

For the best access to both, I stay in the Shangri-La Bosphorus, a beautifully converted 1920s tobacco warehouse near the Maritime Museum and the extravagant Dolmabahce Palace. There’s a ferry right outside to cross continents in minutes, or the hotel can arrange a breakfast cruise to sail past domed mosques, Ottoman castles and, if you’re lucky, dolphins leaping from the water as the sun rises over Asia.

In rush hour, it’s also the fastest way to swerve the near-endless traffic jams and head to the old city of Sultanahmet on Istanbul’s European side.

Here, traces of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires make every street a museum, albeit with dogs snoozing in the sunshine and candy-striped stalls selling simit (Turkish bagels) to breakfasting office workers.

The main sights are clustered around the fountains of Sultanahmet Square, including the Sultanahmet Mosque — nicknamed the Blue Mosque for its colourful tiled interior — and the Hagia Sophia.

The latter is a former 5th-century church built by Roman emperor Justinian I, and turned into a mosque by invading Ottomans in 1453.

It’s been a museum since 1935, although Erdogan controversially declared it a mosque again in 2020. Women must now cover their hair to enter, but it remains an architectural marvel with a 55m-high dome that shimmers with tiny gold mosaics. Next door is the eerie subterranean Basilica Cistern that once supplied water to the Byzantine palaces.

It was discovered in 1545 when locals revealed they could lower buckets under their basements to catch fish. Now, water still drips intermittently from the ceiling into its shallow pools where carp dart between the shadows.

Later, I return to the Grand Bazaar — and not just for a final shopping spree. Yalkut leads me up a rickety staircase at the back of a sari shop to walk across the terracotta rooftops of the Bazaar, an area only accessible with a private guide.

Deserted despite thousands of shoppers below, it’s the best place for sweeping views across the city, and I recognise it as the spot where Daniel Craig zipped across the skyline on a motorbike in the opening scene of Skyfall. Trust James Bond to know the best way to avoid the traffic.

A Chinese language uncrewed fight plane has flown round Taiwan, the island’s defence ministry stated, showcasing Beijing’s capacity to assault its fall-back east coast bases, as a U.S. maritime patrol plane transited the Taiwan Strait.

China, which views democratically ruled Taiwan as its personal territory, has elevated army stress on the island over the previous three years because it tries to drive Taipei to simply accept its sovereignty declare.

This month, China staged conflict video games round Taiwan after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met U.S. Home of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Los Angeles.

Taiwan’s defence ministry, in an early Friday replace of Chinese language army actions over the earlier 24 hours, stated 38 army plane had entered the island’s air defence identification zone.

A type of was a TB-001 drone, nicknamed the twin-tailed scorpion, which flew round Taiwan, first crossing the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines, then up the east of Taiwan earlier than crossing again towards the Chinese language coast, based on a map supplied by the ministry.

It was noticed between 6 am (1000 GMT) Thursday and 6 am Friday.

Chieh Chung, a army researcher at Taiwan’s Nationwide Coverage Basis suppose tank, stated that in a conflict, China was prone to ship the TB-001 to identify targets on the island’s east coast, the place Taiwan would shelter reserve forces, as bases there don’t face China.

‘It should enable the communist’s army’s naval and air forces within the Western Pacific, together with air drive strike teams or service battle teams, to launch assaults’ on the east coast, he stated.

He added that it was not the primary time a Chinese language drone has flown round Taiwan, however was most probably to first time it did so fully inside Taiwan’s air defence zone.

Chinese language state media has referred to the TB-001 because the ‘twin-tailed scorpion’ and has proven footage of it carrying missiles, saying it’s able to high-altitude, long-range missions.

China’s air drive has flown what it calls ‘island encirclement’ missions with the crewed, nuclear-capable H-6 bomber.

The tensions round Taiwan have alarmed Washington and its allies, which have repeatedly expressed concern at China’s behaviour and known as for no pressured change in the established order.

A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and reconnaissance plane flew by way of the Taiwan Strait on Friday, and a senior French lawmaker confirmed a warship from his nation had lately transited the delicate waterway.

The US, and sometimes its allies, have routinely despatched warships and plane by way of the Taiwan Strait lately.

The U.S. Navy’s seventh Fleet stated the Poseidon flew in worldwide airspace.

‘By working throughout the Taiwan Strait in accordance with worldwide legislation, the USA upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations,’ it stated in a press release. ‘The plane’s transit of the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the USA’ dedication to a free and open Indo-Pacific.’

China’s army stated it monitored the plane, and accused the USA of provocative behaviour within the strait.

China stated final 12 months that it has sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Taiwan Strait, and stated it was ‘a false declare’ to check with the strait as worldwide waters.

The US and Taiwan each say China’s place isn’t right.

Assembly Tsai at her workplace in Taipei on Friday, a French lawmaker and former defence minister stated sending a warship by way of the strait confirmed his nation’s dedication to safety.

‘I wish to inform you that our parliament’s view is that the safety of Taiwan is a vital concern for us and we’re encouraging our authorities to remain alert on safety within the Strait, because the latest passage of our warship has once more demonstrated,’ French Senate Vice President Alain Richard stated.

He didn’t say when the crusing occurred, and neither the French nor Taiwanese governments has formally confirmed particulars. Taiwan’s defence ministry stated this month it was conscious of the transit.

French President Emmanuel Macron lately warned in opposition to being drawn right into a disaster over Taiwan pushed by an ‘American rhythm and a Chinese language overreaction’.