Lightning kills a New Jersey man as rescues, power outages and travel disruption hit region

Bands of deadly, extreme weather including torrential rain and high winds sparked flash flooding and tornado warnings in several north-eastern US states on Tuesday night and into Wednesday, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people and playing havoc with travel.

A 32-year-old man was killed on Tuesday afternoon in a lightning strike in Monroe township, New Jersey, authorities said.

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© Photograph: Kenneth Martin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kenneth Martin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Kenneth Martin/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

The city has hired an outside lawyer to investigate after Chief Axel Henry accused Mayor Kaohly Her, in her first term in office, of behaving inappropriately toward police officers.

© Vincent Alban/The New York Times

No deaths reported after twister leveled homes and toppled trees and power lines in north-east of state

First responders searched homes and buildings on Tuesday for possible victims of a powerful tornado that ravaged several north-eastern Wisconsin communities.

The Fox Cities region, which is home to more than 100,000 people in the cities of Appleton, Menasha and Neenah, was left in shambles by Monday’s twister, with homes leveled, cars flipped and power lines and trees toppled.

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© Photograph: Octavio Jones/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Octavio Jones/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Octavio Jones/AFP/Getty Images

Some have called for Nuremberg-style trials against big oil. But there are laws already on the books to describe companies’ conduct

The sky outside is hazy orange, and my five-year-old son is screaming bloody murder. “Sorry, buddy, we have to stay inside,” I say. “It’s not safe to breathe out there.” I had told him we’d be going to the beach today. Something inside me tears a little as I wonder how many promises he’ll see similarly broken in the coming years.

Far too many parents were forced to have some version of this conversation with their children this month, as smoke from record-breaking wildfires poured across the midwest and north-east. Some of them already had to tell their kids that their Fourth of July festivities were canceled because of the lethal heatwave that caused numerous mass casualty events earlier this month.

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© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

The former Black Panther’s lawyers ask a UN panel to review his detention after US legal avenues were exhausted

As he approaches the 45th anniversary of his incarceration in December, the Black radical writer and prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal is taking his claim that he has been subjected to arbitrary imprisonment for a crime that he did not commit to a new tribunal: the United Nations in Geneva.

On Tuesday Abu-Jamal, 72, lodged a petition with the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention, a body within the Human Rights Council. It marks the latest attempt by the internationally renowned prisoner and prolific author of 15 books to seek relief, having exhausted all domestic channels through state and federal courts.

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© Photograph: April Saul / Philadelphia Inquirer

© Photograph: April Saul / Philadelphia Inquirer

© Photograph: April Saul / Philadelphia Inquirer

Tornado that blackened midday sky rips roofs off homes and flips vehicles in town of Menasha

A tornado struck north-eastern Wisconsin on Monday, blackening the midday sky and sending workers sheltering in office basements as ferocious winds splintered homes, scattered twisted metal across a highway and knocked out power to more than 30,000 people.

The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado in Winnebago county, about 90 miles (145km) north-west of Milwaukee. Damage was reported in cities including Appleton and Menasha, where police chief Matt Albrecht said some homes and businesses were “severely impacted”.

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© Photograph: Douglas Tom Williams/AP

© Photograph: Douglas Tom Williams/AP

© Photograph: Douglas Tom Williams/AP

At a time when the quickening pace of global heating has never been clearer, climate policies are being deprioritised

A new and ominous word has entered the vocabulary of firefighters struggling to cope with the vast wildfire sweeping through south-west France. A pyrocumulonimbus is a fire-generated thunderstorm that can whip up winds in unpredictable ways, making the containment of a blaze and assessment of its likely course far more difficult. A known phenomenon in North America and Australia, firefighters believe France is suffering its first in the Bordeaux region, as the country endures the consequences of the third major heatwave of the summer and prepares for a fourth.

The dire statistics of the ongoing fires in France and Spain tell a story of deepening devastation and human misery. A far greater expanse of French land has already been burnt this year, compared with the 30,000 hectares during the whole of 2025, while 220,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in the Gironde. In Spain, the environment ministry has calculated that over 170,000 hectares have been affected, compared with 29,000 last year. Over 100,000 people have been forced to flee.

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© Photograph: Emma Da Silva/AP

© Photograph: Emma Da Silva/AP

© Photograph: Emma Da Silva/AP

Southern and central states from California to Mississippi face heat indexes above 100F amid another heat dome

At least 40 million people were under extreme heat warnings across central and southern parts of the United States on Sunday as high temperatures and severe humidity gripped large swaths of the country for a second straight day.

Heat indexes well above 100F (38C) stretched from Minnesota down to Mississippi, extending west into southern California and Nevada. Parts of the south-west were expected to see highs of 120F (49C), according to the National Weather Service.

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© Photograph: Ellen Schmidt/AP

© Photograph: Ellen Schmidt/AP

© Photograph: Ellen Schmidt/AP

Temperatures of 95-105F (35-40C) are expected, spanning Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwest

About 70 million people in the US are set to face excessive heat advisories as dangerously hot temperatures scorch much of the country’s southern and central states.

The third major “heat dome” event to hit the US in the past month is gathering strength over the weekend, spanning a vast swathe of the country, from the Gulf of Mexico coast to the Great Plains and the midwest.

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© Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA

© Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA

© Photograph: Chris Torres/EPA

Forecasters warn of US coastal flooding, heavy rain and dangerous surf as the storm tracks west

Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon, and is moving westward toward the Texas coast, where it is expected to reach later on Thursday, bringing rainfall, winds and rising water levels.

In a Thursday morning update, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Bertha was moving west and that the center of the tropical storm was expected to move near or along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts over the next several hours before moving inland over Texas on Thursday evening.

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© Photograph: David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate/AP

© Photograph: David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate/AP

© Photograph: David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate/AP

Torrential rains in West Virginia have caused flash flooding that inundated homes and businesses. Authorities say the floods washed out bridges and led to numerous water rescues in portions of the state. Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia's governor, declared a state of emergency for all 55 counties on Tuesday night. No deaths were immediately reported. Morrisey sent 100 national guard members to the hardest-hit areas in the northern portion of the state with an additional 200 members expected to arrive by late Wednesday morning. The rains were part of wide-ranging storms that produced reports of tornadoes in several states

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© Photograph: Office of West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey/AP

© Photograph: Office of West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey/AP

© Photograph: Office of West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey/AP

State’s governor had declared a state of emergency for all 55 counties, and deployed 500 national guard members

Patrick Morrisey, the West Virginia governor, said at least two people were unaccounted for in Upshur county, after torrential rain caused flash floods in parts of the state.

Speaking at a news conference, Morrisey said that during search-and-recovery operations state police found an overturned vehicle in Upshur county believed to be “connected to two individuals who were reported missing”.

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© Photograph: Evan Bacorn/AP

© Photograph: Evan Bacorn/AP

© Photograph: Evan Bacorn/AP

In Kentucky and West Virginia, rescuers freed trapped residents as states face catastrophic floods and damage

Tropical storm Bertha made ‌landfall in ‌St Bernard parish, on the Gulf coast south-east of New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday afternoon, the ⁠US national ⁠hurricane ⁠center said.

The Miami-based forecaster ‌added that maximum ​sustained winds were estimated ⁠to be ​45mph (75km/h) ‌with higher ​gusts.

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© Photograph: Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal/USA TODAY Network/Reuters Connect

© Photograph: Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal/USA TODAY Network/Reuters Connect

© Photograph: Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal/USA TODAY Network/Reuters Connect

Storm warnings stretch from Florida to Louisiana as Bertha brings heavy rain, flooding risk and possible tornadoes

Tropical Storm Bertha strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday but was expected to weaken this week as it chugs closer to the US, potentially bringing coastal flooding and heavy rain from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.

Those areas along the northern Gulf coast were under a tropical storm warning through Wednesday and could see rain and flooding into Thursday morning, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said. New Orleans also was under a tropical storm warning.

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© Photograph: CSU/CIRA & NOAA/Reuters

© Photograph: CSU/CIRA & NOAA/Reuters

© Photograph: CSU/CIRA & NOAA/Reuters

Bertha could bring heavy rain on US Gulf coast, with its center located 110 miles south of Panama City, Florida

Tropical Storm Bertha formed Monday evening in the Gulf of Mexico south of the Florida Panhandle as it drifts erratically toward populated coastal areas, bringing a threat of heavy rain, storm surge and damaging wind gusts.

Meanwhile, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Fausto formed far from Mexico’s Baja California peninsula and posed no threat to land Monday night.

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© Photograph: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/AP

© Photograph: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/AP

© Photograph: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/AP

Victims were Provo’s fire captain, his wife and their three sons, who were hiking in Bicknell amid heavy rains

Five family members who had set out for a day of hiking were killed after a flash flood swept through canyons of southern Utah on Friday, law enforcement officials said.

The victims were a captain in the Provo fire department, his wife and their sons, according to fire officials. A daughter who was not on the trip survived.

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© Photograph: User: runt35

© Photograph: User: runt35

© Photograph: User: runt35

Dozens of fires ignited in Oregon and Washington as more than 14,000 lightning strikes hit the region during thunderstorms this week.

Ronald L. Fischer vanished just before he was convicted. After more than 20 years on the run, he was arrested on a sailboat in the East River, the authorities said.

At least two people died as waters rose rapidly across the Texas Hill Country, the same area of the state that saw catastrophic flooding last year.

© Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times

Flooding from relentless rain, which Gov. Greg Abbott said was likely to break records, left a trail of damage in many communities in the Hill Country region.

© Christopher Lee for The New York Times

Several fires in northeastern Minnesota are causing dangerous conditions and smoke in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, which is used for camping and other outdoor recreation.

© The New York Times

“For the most part, the aircraft have their own souls,” said a pilot of the meteorological research planes, which are known as Kermit, Miss Piggy and Gonzo.

© Zack Wittman for The New York Times