With
thunderstoms wreaking havoc in New York City ahead of Tropical Storm Elsa‘s arrival, Representative Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) gave a reminder of the importance of the Green New Deal
and called out lawmakers who opposed the deal earlier.

“The Green
New Deal, which is a blueprint to create millions of good jobs rebuilding
infrastructure to stem climate change & protect vulnerable communities, is
unrealistic,” the 31-year-old said in a tweet. “Instead we will do the adult
thing, which is take orders from fossil fuel exes & make you swim to work.”

Several New
York subway stations were flooded and a number of roads closed as thunderstorms battered the city on Thursday evening. This comes ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is moving up the East Coast after lashing Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.

According
to a report in Business Insider, Ocasio-Cortez was referencing a video that was
leaked earlier, showing an Exxon lobbyist talking about an alleged effort to weaken
President Joe Biden’s push for climate stability.

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Tackling climate
change was one of Biden’s biggest campaign promises but the 78-year-old has
been facing criticism for not acting strongly enough to meet those goals.

Ocasio-Cortez
was among hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House last month demanding
that the Biden administration pay more attention to climate change, especially the
infrastructure package, according to Fox News.

That
package has been another area of debate, with some criticizing Biden for
trimming down the plan from the original $2.3 billion he outlined in March. The
$973 billion deal includes provisions to build a national network of electric
vehicle charging stations, purchase thousands of electric buses and upgrade the
electric grid.

Meanwhile, New York City recorded between two to four inches of rain, which the National Weather Service (NWS) said had caused “extensive flash flooding in certain places”.

Users took to social media to post pictures and video footages of flooded subway platforms as commuters could be seen waist-deep in the water, crossing a dark pool to reach the platforms.