Storm Ida wreaks havoc in the United States, at least 44 dead in and around New York City

New York sounded Thursday, hit overnight by torrential rains and sudden and historic flooding that killed at least 44 people in the area, after the devastating passage of Storm Ida. In the American economic and cultural megalopolis, the police counted at least 13 dead, including several people probably trapped and drowned in their basements, rudimentary, and sometimes unsanitary housing, arranged at the foot of Manhattan buildings, Queens or Brooklyn. Just north of Manhattan, in the upscale seaside Westchester County, which was still surrounded Thursday night by muddy and brackish waters, one of its officials, George Latimer, told CNN that three people who had tried to get out of their car also likely drowned. A police officer assigned to traffic surveillance has died in the neighboring state of Connecticut. But the worst toll is for New Jersey, a state that faces New York, with "at least 23 people who have lost their lives," said Gov. Phil Murphy. Most of the victims were taken by surprise and trapped in their cars and probably drowned, the official lamented.

The world at the bedside of endangered nature at iucn congress

The largest nature protection organization, IUCN, opens its world congress on Friday in Marseille, with the ambition of giving a boost to the defense of a planet greatly damaged by humans. Biodiversity is collapsing, with up to a million animal and plant species threatened with extinction, according to UN experts. Nature is "declining faster than ever in human history," they warned as early as 2019. A decline, often referred to as the "sixth mass extinction", which jeopardizes the very conditions of human existence on Earth. As also shown by the multiplication of disasters linked to the effects of climate change, also caused by human activity, storms, floods, droughts, fires... French President Emmanuel Macron will participate in the inauguration of the congress, which will last until September 11, in "hybrid" format - in presence and online - Covid-19 obliges. More than 5,000 participants are registered, including 3,600 in Marseille, against 15,000 expected.

IN BRIEF

The U.S. Supreme Court has dealt the most severe blow to abortion rights in nearly half a century, by refusing to block a Texas law that bans the majority of abortions, even in cases of incest or rape.

France striker Kylian Mbappé, who was hit in the right calf, has withdrawn from the games against Ukraine on Saturday and Finland on Tuesday.