By Peter John

Thousands of people in Hawaii have been told to evacuate their homes as the US state suffered its worst flooding in decades.

More than 230 people have been rescued so far, Blangiardi told a news conference on Friday. Heavy rains continued to fall on the archipelago in the early hours of Saturday morning.

It is the second severe storm to hit the archipelago in the last week, causing damage that could exceed $1 billion (£745m), according to Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

Rising floodwaters lifted homes and cars and triggered evacuation orders for some 5,500 people north of the state’s capital city, Honolulu. Roads have been closed across the islands.

The authorities warned that a dam in Oahu, the state’s most populous island, was at risk of collapse. Blangiardi urged residents to “stay safe” and “take the storm as seriously as you can”.

Speaking at the news conference on Friday, Governor Josh Green said there had been no reported fatalities in the storms, and praised the emergency workers working to keep people safe.

Honolulu Department of Emergency Management has issued multiple flash flood warnings and urged residents to move to higher ground and avoid flooded areas.

Flood watch warnings have also been issued for Maui, Molokai and The Big Island.

Green said the storm would have a “serious consequence for us as a state” because it had caused enormous damage to airports, schools, roads and hospitals, as well as people’s homes.

“This is the largest flood that we’ve had in Hawaii in 20 years,” he told the news

The US has lifted sanctions on some Iranian oil, as it scrambles to contain the impact of its war in Iran on energy markets. 

The move marks a stunning reversal of longstanding American policy – and one with highly uncertain pay-off. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the issuing of a narrowly tailored, short-term authorisation permitting the sale of Iranian oil currently stranded at sea. 

Oil and gas prices have risen sharply since the war began. The price of Brent crude oil is holding around $112 a barrel, up 53% on the past year. UK gas, which was trading at 80p per therm before the crisis, is now at around 151p per therm.

On Friday Bessent said the permit was applicable to the sale of crude oil and petroleum products of Iranian origin currently loaded on vessels.

The authorisation will last until 19 April, the treasury department added.

The treasury secretary said the move would quickly bring about 140m barrels of oil to global markets.

Before the war, China was the primary buyer of the oil coming out of Iran, scooping up the barrels at a steep discount due to sanctions imposed by the US and other countries. 

In an interview with Fox Business on Thursday, Bessent said a waiver on sales restrictions could help divert more of those supplies to other countries in need of oil, such as India, Japan and Malaysia, while forcing China to pay “market price”. 

Writing on X, Bessent said Iran would have difficulty accessing any revenue generated from the purchase of Iranian oil and that the US would “continue to maintain maximum pressure on Iran”.

However, David Tannenbaum, director of Blackstone Compliance Services, a consultancy specialising in maritime sanctions, told the BBC on Thursday that the idea was “bananas”. 

“Essentially we’re allowing Iran to sell oil, which could then be used to fund the war effort,” he said.

The waiver would not have much impact on prices, experts warned.

“I don’t think it’s a game changer and it raises a whole lot of questions,” said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a think tank, on Thursday.

Ziemba said she did not think the US would want money from oil sales to go to Iran’s government – but it could be hard to prevent in practice. 

“The US government is definitely in an every-barrel-counts situation because of the scale of the supply shock,” she added. “They’re looking to find additional oil wherever they can.”

There has also been some positive reaction from financial experts to the Trump administration’s temporary reversal of sanctions on Iranian oil. 

David Malpass, the former president of the World Bank, said the move was a “narrow action that should cause downward pressure on oil prices outside China” and “should also reduce Iran’s oil revenue and undercut its military”.

Writing on X, he added: “This is one in a number of steps last week that will benefit the U.S. and add to long-term energy supplies.”

The US has already undertaken other efforts to boost supply, including the release of millions of barrels of oil reserves and the suspension of some sanctions on Russian oil last week.

That second decision sparked significant blowback from leaders in Europe, who said it would strengthen President Vladimir Putin’s regime and prolong the war in Ukraine.