The latest on Ida's aftermath

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf attributed the severe weather that spurred tornadoes and flooding in his state to climate change.

There have been at least 45 deaths in six states — Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia — after the remnants of Ida tore through the Northeast. Four occurred in Pennsylvania.

Storms are getting stronger as the planet gets hotter, scientists say. Hurricanes are made more intense by the warming ocean and are moving more slowly over land.

"We've seen this increasingly around the commonwealth. ... There is no area of Pennsylvania that has been unaffected, at least during my term in office — seven years now — to this kind of devastation, and it's just very sad," Wolf said.

"Unfortunately, we're the weather's unwilling victims," he added.  

Wolf said there needs to be a "robust conversation" on how to combat climate change.

"The more you see this kind of thing — the indiscriminate and intense nature of the storms — I'm not sure how you can sit on the sidelines and say we don't need to do anything. ... We've got to come to grips with the idea that we can't ignore this," he said.

Watch:

A gas station worker in New Orleans said some people have pulled guns on him while waiting in long lines to get gasoline after Hurricane Ida ripped through the area this week.

Abdullah Hummus, the gas station owner's son, sat with a gun himself as he oversaw residents filling up gasoline tanks.

He said that right after Hurricane Ida passed, a person tried to shoot through the window to rob the store, but they have bulletproof glass.  

"We've been giving out free ice, free water, multiple days and we're trying our best to help the community in every aspect that we can because that's what New Orleans is about: resilience, helping each other out, mutual relationship. ... We're really trying our best to keep peace and order, but our best is not enough right now," he added.

The station never ran out of gas overall, but only has premium right now. Every few hours, a truck comes with a load of regular gasoline, he said, and police need to escort it off the highway. The gas station's generators have shut off every few hours, and it takes about 30 minutes to restart them.

Watch the interview here:

New York City is working on rolling out financial aid for homeowners and small businesses impacted by Ida, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in a news conference Friday.

The aid will be coordinated by way of pop-up, one-stop shops, agencies on the ground, and a small business hotline, he said, but didn’t mention when the financial aid will be made available to those who need it.

"We're going to work closely with the federal government and the state."

Around 4.5 million people in the Northeast remain under flood warnings this morning, with another two million people under a flood advisory.

The bulk of the warnings are posted for northeastern New Jersey and also dotted around swollen rivers throughout the Northeast where ongoing major flooding continues. Advisories are located in southern Connecticut, where minor flooding remains.

Nearly a dozen river gauges remain in major or moderate flood stage in northern New Jersey Friday morning, with most locations cresting today, if not already receding. Some rivers in the Northeast are forecast to remain above flood stage into the weekend.

According to the National Weather Service, a flood warning is issued when flooding is imminent or occurring. A flood advisory is issued when flooding is not expected to be bad enough to issue a warning. However, it may cause significant inconvenience, and if caution is not exercised, it could lead to situations that may threaten life or property.

Following historic rainfall across New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday announced the NYC Climate-Driven Rain Response, a series of initiatives the city will undertake to help the city deal with extreme weather.

The initiative will focus on warning systems, protecting people living in basement-level homes and the creation of a 30-day extreme weather response task force, which will put together a new set of protocols and policies by climate week, he said.

The mayor said New Yorkers didn’t know they’d experience “shocking and unprecedented rainfall.” 

"We had a one-hour period Wednesday night that set the all-time record for a single hour in the history, the recorded history of New York City … We had set a previous record a few weeks earlier for the most rainfall in an hour, (but) this new record is much, much higher," he said. 

The system of warnings will include...

This system can include first responders going door-to-door and getting people out of their homes, de Blasio said. 

People living in basement apartments may expect to receive specific cell phone alerts ahead of storms about the vulnerabilities they face and to be evacuated from their homes, he added.

De Blasio did not say how soon these changes will be implemented.

"We're going to, in particular, focus on a different kind of warning, a much more severe kind of warning and a much more severe set of actions," said de Blasio. "We now understand that this kind of radical, sudden change in weather is beyond the understanding, beyond the reach of any of our typical measuring tools. Things are happening that projections can't track with accuracy or consistency, which means we have to assume the worst in a way we never have before."

Ohio will deploy 250 National Guard soldiers to Louisiana to help the region hit by Hurricane Ida, according to a statement from the governor’s office. 

The statement from the office of Gov. Mike DeWine said the soldiers were requested by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.   

The soldiers will be placed on active duty on Sept. 8 and will be deployed for roughly three weeks. While there, soldiers “will be providing general-purpose support during the relief mission,” the statement added.

A majority of the National Guard will be activated from the 112th Transportation Battalion (North Canton), the 1485th Transportation Company (Coshocton), and the 1486th Transportation Company (Mansfield), the statement said. 

Ohio joins several other states, including North Carolina and Missouri, that have sent National Guard troops to help the region ravaged by the Category 4 storm. 

President Biden is traveling to Louisiana today, five days after Hurricane Ida made landfall in the state. He's scheduled to arrive in New Orleans just after 1 p.m. ET.

The President will first travel to St. John Parish's Emergency Operations Center in LaPlace, Louisiana, for a briefing with local leaders at 2:15 p.m. ET, according to the White House schedule. After that, he'll tour a neighborhood in LaPlace and speak about his administration’s response to the hurricane.

Around 5 p.m. ET, Biden will take an aerial tour of communities damaged in Hurricane Ida, including Laffite, Grand Isle, Port Fourchon and Lafourche Parish.

He'll finish his day by meeting with local leaders in Galliano, Louisiana.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced a $10 million dollar grant program for small businesses affected by Ida.

"If you have been crushed and you can prove it, you're eligible," Murphy said Friday, encouraging business owners to document damages with photos and receipts.

The money will be made available through the New Jersey Economic Development authority and will provide anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 per business, he said.

Additional details on the grant program will be available next week.

Cleco Power has released a restoration timeline for customers to get power back, five days after Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana. 

The company estimated that many impacted areas will have power by Friday, according to a post on Facebook. Many subdivisions in St. Tammany Parish had their power restored on Thursday, the company said.  

Cleco Power said “If you do not see your area listed, we do not have information available for the area at this time.”

Cleco released the following estimates:

Abita Springs: 

Mandeville:

Covington: 

Madisonville:

These subdivisions have an estimated time of return of today:

Goodbee:

These areas have an estimated time of return of today:

Lacombe: