President Joe Biden on Thursday pledged robust federal help for the Northeastern and Gulf states battered by Hurricane Ida and for Western states beset by wildfires — with the catastrophes serving as deadly reminders that the "climate crisis" has arrived.

"These extreme storms, and the climate crisis, are here," Biden said in a White House speech. "We must be better prepared. We need to act."

As fearful Lake Tahoe residents packed up belongings and fled a raging wildfire burning toward the California-Nevada border, some encountered an unexpected obstacle: price gouging.

A rideshare company quoted a fee of more than $1,500 to be transported from the smoke-choked ski resort at Heavenly Valley to the safety of Reno-Tahoe International Airport, about eight times the going rate. A Nevada hotel-casino outside the evacuation order zone advertised a two-night stay for $1,090.72, almost four times the midweek rate offered a day earlier.

The cleanup — and mourning — continued Friday as the Northeast U.S. recovered from record-breaking rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Ida.

At least 48 people in five states died as storm water cascaded into people's homes and engulfed automobiles, overwhelming urban drainage systems never meant to handle so much rain in such a short time.

The U.N. weather agency says the world — and especially urban areas — experienced a brief, sharp drop in emissions of air pollutants last year amid lockdown measures and related travel restrictions put in place over the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Meteorological Organization, releasing its first ever Air Quality and Climate Bulletin on Friday, cautioned that the reductions in pollution were patchy — and many parts of the world showed levels that outpaced air quality guidelines. Some types of pollutants continued to emerge at regular or even higher levels.

Flash flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida has killed at least 44 people in four northeastern U.S. states, including several who perished in basements during the "historic" weather event officials blamed on climate change.

Spain's northeast town of Alcanar on Thursday assessed the damage to homes and businesses caused by flooding produced by intense rain that fell over large areas of the country.

Residents said that they were fortunate that no lives were lost when over 250 liters per square meter (45 gallons per square yard) were dumped on the town between 12 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

China needs to expand its efforts to reduce carbon emissions to help hold back the rise in global temperatures, U.S. envoy John Kerry said Thursday.

The State Department said Kerry told Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng in a virtual meeting that there is "no way" for the world to solve the climate crisis without China's "full engagement and commitment."

Relentless rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida sent the New York City area into a state of emergency early Thursday, as the storm carried into New England with threats of more tornadoes.

New York's FDR Drive, a major artery on the east side of Manhattan, and the Bronx River Parkway were under water by late Wednesday evening. Subway stations and tracks became so flooded that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority suspended all service. Videos posted online showed subway riders standing on seats in cars filled with water.

An oil slick spreading from a Syrian power plant drew closer Wednesday to the breakaway north of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus despite urgent efforts to stop the spread.

Environmental and transport officials in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) -- recognized only by Ankara -- said the oil had approached to within 15 nautical miles (28 kilometers) of the divided island's northeastern tip.

A Bengal tiger cub is being cared for by humans at Nicaragua's National Zoo after its mother was unable to produce the milk necessary to feed the latest little addition to the endangered species, the zoo's director Eduardo Sacasa said Tuesday.

The tiger, which was born on Saturday, is the fourth of its kind to be born at the National Zoo in Masaya, some 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the capital Managua.