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Hawaii’s governor declared a state of emergency as a major winter storm left hundreds without power and threatened catastrophic flooding across the islands. In a statement, Hawaiian Gov. David Ige said he signed the emergency declaration as heavy rains from a “Kona low,” a type of seasonal cyclone in the Hawaiian Islands, were expected to “continue to cause flooding and damage” across the state.  The decision will allow Hawaii to use funds to provide “quick and efficient relief of suffering, damage, and losses caused by flooding and other effects of heavy rains.” Ige said the emergency relief period would run until at least Friday

The Oahu Department of Emergency Management reported cases of vehicle rescues, water evacuation requests, inundated homes and road closures, and images and videos from Twitter showed indoor flooding and cars and buses driving in and stranded in floodwater. While the threat of significant flooding had diminished in some parts of the islands, the possibility of “catastrophic flooding” was still a concern, with the “threats and impacts” of the storm “focused over the western half of the state.” The weather service said “numerous landslides” could occur in areas with steep terrain, while “many roads could become impassable due to severe runoff and flooding.”

U.S. President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin in a video call Tuesday that the United States and its allies would respond with strong measures if Russia invades Ukraine.

During their 2-hour secure virtual meeting, the White House said that President Biden “voiced the deep concerns” of the United States and its allies about Russia’s escalation of forces around Ukraine and “reiterated his support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” while calling for de-escalation and a return to diplomacy. Biden also asserted that the United States and its allies would respond with “strong economic and other measures in the event of military escalation.”

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a press conference: “He told President Putin directly that if Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States and our European allies would respond with strong economic measures. There was a lot of give and take” between Biden and Putin, adding that Biden was “crystal clear about where the United States stands.” Sullivan added the administration was prepared to send supplies and other resources to Ukraine and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies if Russia further invades Ukraine.

Tuesday’s meeting came amid a U.S.-Russia relationship that’s been in decline for years. The White House said that Biden and Putin also discussed other issues, such as “the U.S.-Russia dialogue on Strategic Stability, a separate dialogue on ransomware, as well as joint work on regional issues such as Iran.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all NYC employers will have to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for their in-person workers under new rules announced on Monday. The vaccine mandate for private businesses will take effect Dec. 27 and is aimed at preventing a spike in COVID-19 infections during the holiday season and winter months. The new guidance would be the most aggressive in the nation. Vaccinations are already required for city employees including teachers, police officers and firefighters, and a vaccination mandate for employees of private and religious schools was announced last week. Current New York City COVID-19 rules also include at least one vaccine dose for indoor restaurant dining, entertainment venues and fitness centers. Under new mandates for indoor dining, entertainment and gyms, two shots will be required for people over 12. One shot will be required for children aged 5 to 11, who are not covered by the current mandate.

de Blasio said that he expects the new mandate to survive any legal challenges. The mandate will apply to roughly 184,000 businesses in the city, which has a population of 8.8 million.  Said de Blasio: “We are going to be working with businesses all over the city and that’s almost 200,000 businesses that are not already covered by the Key to NYC guidelines right now. We are going to be talking to them in the next days on how to put together the right plan to implement this. The specific guidance, the specific rules will come out Dec. 15.”  He added: “We’ve been living with this now for most of two years. We got to put it behind us and vaccine mandates in my experience are the one thing that really breaks through. And we do know this, vaccines every single time, you know, every single time there’s a fear of the vaccine won’t have an impact on a new variant. Well, guess what? Every single time the vaccines have worked. That’s a good track record. Let’s lean into it even more.”

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