NORFOLK, Va. — A local business owner turned a flooded Norfolk intersection into an impromptu waterway Tuesday, riding his jet ski through several feet of standing water after flash flooding from severe thunderstorms submerged one of the city’s busiest roads, in scenes that quickly spread across social media.

The flooding struck the intersection of Monticello Avenue and Princess Anne Road, where floodwaters reached three to four feet deep in some areas, stranding drivers and turning the roadway impassable by car. Video of the scene showed Joe Scearce, owner of Joe’s Tires and Rims, navigating the flooded intersection on his personal watercraft as stunned onlookers watched from higher ground.

A Storm That Overwhelmed the Region

The flooding was part of a broader wave of severe weather that hit Virginia’s Hampton Roads region beginning Tuesday afternoon. The National Weather Service office in Wakefield issued a flash flood warning covering Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach, warning that thunderstorms were producing heavy rain across the area, with between 1 and 3 inches already recorded and rainfall rates of 1.5 to 2 inches per hour expected to continue. Additional rainfall of 1 to 2 inches was forecast on top of those totals, with the weather service cautioning that flash flooding of small creeks, streams, urban areas, highways and low-lying areas was either already underway or expected to begin shortly.

Extreme flooding was reported across multiple parts of Hampton Roads Tuesday afternoon into the evening, according to local station WAVY, with officials warning that floodwater depths could be deceiving and urging drivers who encountered a flooded road to turn around rather than attempt to pass through.

A Spontaneous Decision

Scearce, whose tire shop sits near the flooded intersection, described the moment he decided to grab his jet ski rather than wait out the storm from dry ground. Speaking with local station WAVY, Scearce recalled turning to his friends and colleagues as the water continued to rise, telling them the situation was becoming serious enough that he needed to act. He said he told the group it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity he had to take advantage of, prompting him to head back, remove his socks and shoes, and announce that he was going to put his jet skis into the water on Monticello Avenue. According to Scearce, his friends initially responded with disbelief, saying “no way,” before he insisted he was serious and followed through.

Scearce later told 13News Now that people around him had been warning him throughout the afternoon that conditions were getting increasingly serious, repeating that the flooding was becoming a genuine concern well before he made the decision to take his watercraft onto the submerged roadway.

Business Disrupted, but Doors Stayed Open

Despite the dramatic flooding and resulting damage to equipment at his shop, Scearce said Joe’s Tires and Rims remained busy with customers seeking tire service even as the surrounding area dealt with the aftermath of the storm. Scearce described the rainfall as among the most significant Norfolk has experienced in decades, underscoring just how unusual Tuesday’s storm was compared with the region’s typical summer weather patterns.

A Region Prone to Flooding

Tuesday’s flash flooding adds to a long history of flooding challenges facing Norfolk and the broader Hampton Roads region, an area particularly vulnerable to both tidal flooding and flash flooding from heavy rainfall given its low-lying coastal geography. The region has weathered numerous flooding events tied to hurricanes and tropical systems in recent years, including significant flooding during Hurricane Dorian in 2019, when storm surge and heavy rain led to widespread road closures and prompted the opening of emergency shelters across the area.

More recently, tidal flooding tied to Hurricane Erin disrupted trash and recycling collection across Norfolk last August, forcing the city to reschedule pickups after floodwaters made streets impassable for collection crews. Areas of neighboring Virginia Beach have also experienced unusually severe tidal flooding in recent years, with residents in some cases describing flooding at intersections they had never previously seen underwater, even after decades of living in the area.

Cleanup Efforts Underway

By Wednesday, crews were working to clean up and assess damage from Tuesday’s storm, with the intersection of Monticello Avenue and Princess Anne Road beginning to dry out after standing underwater for an extended period. City crews and local officials continued surveying the broader impact of the flash flooding across Hampton Roads, a process local outlets indicated was ongoing as the region worked to return to normal following the storm.

A Moment That Captured Wide Attention

Video of Scearce’s jet ski ride through the flooded intersection spread rapidly across social media platforms, drawing attention from national outlets and social media accounts covering breaking news, including widely shared posts highlighting the unusual scene of a personal watercraft navigating what is normally a busy roadway intersection. The footage captured widespread public fascination, offering both a moment of levity amid the storm’s disruption and a striking visual illustration of just how severe Tuesday’s flash flooding became in parts of the city.

A Reminder of Flash Flood Dangers

While Scearce’s jet ski ride generated viral attention, weather officials continued to emphasize the serious risks posed by flash flooding events like Tuesday’s storm, reiterating standard safety guidance that drivers should never attempt to drive through flooded roadways given how difficult it can be to accurately judge water depth and the strength of any underlying current. The National Weather Service’s warning language specifically cited flash flooding as a hazard affecting not just small creeks and streams but also highways, streets, underpasses and other areas prone to poor drainage, a category that clearly included the Monticello Avenue and Princess Anne Road intersection where Tuesday’s most dramatic flooding occurred.

With cleanup efforts continuing into Wednesday and beyond, residents across Hampton Roads are likely to remain attentive to further storm forecasts given the region’s persistent vulnerability to both flash flooding from heavy rainfall and tidal flooding tied to coastal storm systems. For Scearce and his tire shop, business appeared to continue largely uninterrupted despite the storm’s disruption, even as Tuesday’s flooding left a lasting, widely shared image of one Norfolk business owner’s unconventional response to rising water in his own front yard.

The shares of Britannia Industries gained 4% to Rs 5,652 on the BSE on Friday after the FMCG major reported a more than 14% year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 593 crore for the April-June quarter of the ongoing financial year 2027, with brokerages maintaining their ‘Buy’ calls for the stock.

The company on Thursday released its results for the first quarter of FY27, reporting an 8% YoY rise in revenue from operations to nearly Rs 5,000 crore, from Rs 4,622 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year. Its total expenses increased more than 7% YoY to Rs 4,262 crore during the quarter under review.

Britannia’s profit margin stood at around 12%, while net sales grew 9.5% YoY to Rs 4,964 crore. The year started with West Asia conflict, leading to a steep increase in cost of fuel and shipment charges across the company’s domestic and international businesses, which Britannia has been able to navigate well during this quarter, delivering a healthy volume and value growth while also gaining ground against competition, with profits growing ahead of topline in double digits over last year, said CEO & MD Rakshit Hargave.

“While we continue to closely monitor the evolving geopolitical situation in West Asia and crude oil volatility for potential impact on international operations and domestic input costs, we will remain agile in our actions to deliver healthy, sustainable revenue growth amidst an improving domestic demand environment, driven by sharp innovation, strong brand investments, and disciplined margin management through accelerated cost efficiency initiatives,” he further said.

Nuvama on Britannia share price

Nuvama Institutional Equities said the company delivered an in-line performance during the first quarter, with margins expanding. It noted that the FMCG major’s international business recovered sequentially as supply chain constraints eased towards the end of the quarter. Staff costs declined 13.3% YoY and increased 12.6% QoQ, while interest expense declined 12.5% YoY, it noted.
The geopolitical situation in West Asia and volatility in crude oil prices remain key monitorables, according to Nuvama, which has a ‘Buy’ call on Britannia Industries shares with a target price of Rs 7,240 apiece, implying around 34% upside potential.
Also read | Britannia Q1 Results: Profit rises 14% to Rs 593 crore on volumes, price rise
Nomura on Britannia share price
Nomura said that Britannia’s sales were largely in line with estimates, although EBITDA was a tad below due to higher ad spends. It noted the positive management commentary that highlighted the company ended the quarter with mid-teens growth.

“The company also gained market share on a larger scale in e-commerce on the back of continued innovations and higher influencer and A&P spends, as well as robust growth in GT as the regionalisation strategy yielded results. Britannia launched Dubai Kunafa Croissant in Q1. With the supply chain constraints normalising towards the end of Q1, management highlighted that the international business recovered sequentially,” the international brokerage added.

Nomura has a ‘Buy’ rating on Britannia shares, with a target price of Rs 6,500 apiece, implying 20% upside potential.

Britannia share price
Britannia Industries shares closed nearly 1% lower at Rs 5,404 apiece on the NSE on Thursday ahead of the earnings announcement. The stock has recorded marginal losses in a week and a month, but has overall fallen more than 10% in 2026 so far.

In the longer term, the shares of the FMCG major have declined more than 1% in a year, but delivered positive returns of 16% in three years and 50% in five years. The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 1.3 lakh crore.

Also read | Dividend alert! Last day to buy Jio Financial, Indus Towers among 9 stocks for dividend payouts. Do you own any?

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

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Shares of Figma tumbled Thursday, falling 17.64%, or $4.97, to $23.18, after the design software company’s second-quarter earnings report showed accelerating revenue growth and a raised full-year outlook, but a more cautious forecast for the current quarter proved enough to send investors heading for the exits.

The decline extends a brutal stretch for Figma’s stock since its blockbuster initial public offering last year, with shares now trading well below their post-IPO highs as investors continue to weigh the company’s strong underlying growth against persistent concerns about competition from AI-native design tools and questions about the sustainability of its premium valuation.

Strong Quarter, Muted Reaction

Figma reported second-quarter revenue of $370.08 million, up 48% from the same period a year earlier and comfortably ahead of the $351.56 million analysts had expected. Adjusted earnings came in at 8 cents per share, doubling the 4-cent consensus estimate. The quarter marked Figma’s third consecutive period of accelerating revenue growth, and the company generated $60.9 million in net cash from operations and $53.2 million in free cash flow during the period.

Figma Chief Executive Dylan Field framed the results as validation of the company’s broader strategic direction, saying in a statement that the second quarter marked Figma’s third straight quarter of accelerated revenue growth, and that as code gets commoditized and value moves up the stack, the opportunity ahead of the company has only grown.

Guidance Fails to Match the Enthusiasm

Despite the strong headline numbers, Figma’s forecast for the third quarter fell short of what investors needed to see to sustain the stock’s momentum. The company’s guidance implies roughly 36% year-over-year revenue growth at the midpoint for the current quarter, a meaningful deceleration from the 48% growth rate posted in the second quarter. That sequential slowdown in projected growth, even alongside an increase to full-year guidance, was enough to trigger a sharp selloff in after-hours and premarket trading.

Following the results, Figma raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance by $40 million to approximately $1.47 billion, reflecting continued confidence in the company’s underlying demand trends. However, analysts noted that Figma’s lofty valuation, trading at multiples well above the broader software sector even after months of declines, left little room for anything short of an unambiguous beat-and-raise across every metric, and the company’s more conservative sequential outlook was interpreted by some investors as an early signal that its recent acceleration could be leveling off.

Margin Pressure Adds to the Concerns

Beyond the guidance itself, analysts flagged softer GAAP profit margins and a substantial stock-based compensation burden as additional factors weighing on sentiment. Figma’s operating cash flow was reported as nearly flat year over year, with its margin contracting even as overall revenue continued to expand, a dynamic that some analysts said raises important questions about the company’s ability to convert its rapid top-line growth into durable profitability over time.

Analysts covering the stock also pressed company executives during the earnings call on competitive differentiation and the trajectory of gross margins going forward, questions that drew confident responses from Field and Chief Financial Officer Praveer Melwani, who pointed to Figma’s professional-grade design canvas and its expanding suite of AI-powered creative tools as evidence the company remains well positioned as the broader design software market consolidates.

An Insider Lockup Adds to the Pressure

Adding further uncertainty to the stock’s near-term trajectory is a significant insider share lockup expiration scheduled for August 2026, which is expected to release more than $6 billion worth of low-cost-basis shares onto the market. That looming supply overhang has been cited by analysts as a persistent risk factor for the stock independent of the company’s underlying operating performance, since a wave of newly tradable shares from early investors and employees can weigh on a stock’s price even when the company’s fundamentals remain strong.

A Volatile Year Already

Thursday’s decline extends what has already been an extraordinarily turbulent year for Figma’s stock. Shares fell 44% during the first half of 2026 even as the company’s core business continued growing rapidly, driven largely by investor fears surrounding AI-native design competitors, including Anthropic’s Claude Design, which have raised questions about whether traditional collaborative design software could eventually be displaced by generative AI tools capable of producing design work directly from prompts. Figma’s stock fell more than 20% in June alone amid that competitive anxiety, even after a strong first-quarter report in May that initially sent shares higher.

At various points earlier this year, Figma shares traded as low as $16.60, down roughly 80% from their 52-week high of $142.92, before staging a partial recovery in recent months that has now been interrupted by Thursday’s post-earnings decline.

AI Monetization Remains an Early-Stage Story

Much of the market’s ongoing skepticism toward Figma centers on how quickly the company can turn growing customer adoption of its AI-powered tools into durable, monetized revenue. Company executives have said usage of Figma’s AI credit system is broad among its larger customers, but the second quarter represented only the first full quarter in which that monetization effort was fully underway, leaving investors with limited data to judge whether the trend can be sustained at scale.

Wall Street sentiment toward the stock has remained relatively mixed even before Thursday’s decline, with analyst ratings split between buy and hold recommendations rather than showing broad conviction in either direction, reflecting the market’s ongoing uncertainty about how the competitive landscape for AI-assisted design tools will ultimately evolve.

With Figma’s stock now trading well below its earlier highs despite continued strong revenue growth, investors are likely to focus closely on the pace of AI-driven monetization in coming quarters, along with any further developments tied to the looming insider lockup expiration, as key factors that will determine whether the stock can stabilize. The company’s ability to demonstrate that its more conservative third-quarter guidance reflects prudent caution rather than a genuine slowdown in demand is expected to remain the central question shaping investor sentiment toward the stock in the weeks ahead.

SYDNEY — Millions of Australians across the country’s southeast are being warned to brace for a blast of icy weather in the coming days, as a powerful low-pressure system currently sitting near Antarctica tracks toward the mainland, threatening to bring hail, snow, damaging winds and heavy rain to at least four states.

According to weather service Weatherzone, the low-pressure system is expected to travel more than 4,000 kilometers between Wednesday and Saturday, passing to the south of Australia over the weekend as it drags a large mass of polar air across the Southern Ocean toward the mainland. The severe weather is forecast to affect Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and southern Queensland, according to the outlook.

A Two-Stage Weather Event

Forecasters say the system will unfold in two distinct phases. Wind and rain are expected to increase across southeastern Australia from Saturday into Sunday, as northerly winds strengthen ahead of the approaching cold front. That initial pre-frontal air is expected to remain relatively warm, meaning most of the precipitation during this early stage will fall as rain rather than snow, with the exception of higher terrain in the Alps.

The more severe, bitterly cold conditions are expected to arrive from late Sunday into Monday, as the cold air mass spreads across New South Wales, Victoria, southern Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, before reaching Tasmania on Monday. During this stage, forecasters are warning of blustery winds, rain, hail, thunderstorms and snow across southeastern Australia, conditions that could include damaging to destructive wind gusts and flooding rain.

Destructive Winds and Blizzard Conditions Possible

Damaging wind gusts are considered likely to develop across parts of Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT, with forecasters saying those conditions may also extend into Tasmania. In the highest terrain, particularly across the Australian Alps, the system is expected to bring destructive wind gusts alongside blizzard conditions. Rain is forecast to be widespread across the country’s southeastern states on Sunday and Monday, with the heaviest rainfall totals expected along the ranges of central and northeastern Victoria and southern New South Wales.

Bureau of Meteorology Tracks the System’s Path

David Crock, a meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, said a cloud band was expected to continue streaming over inland Western Australia and parts of South Australia on Friday, ahead of the more severe conditions forecast for the weekend. Describing what would follow, Crock said a strong cold front would reach southwest Western Australia later Friday before continuing across South Australia over the course of the weekend. He added that elsewhere in the country, the dry season remains in full swing across northern Australia, with only a few light showers expected along parts of the Queensland coast.

Crock also noted that cloud and showers are likely to persist Friday around Australia’s southern states, as the broader system continues developing ahead of the more intense wintry conditions expected to arrive over the following days.

A Boost for Ski Resorts

While the system is expected to bring disruptive and potentially hazardous conditions to populated areas, it is also likely to deliver a significant benefit to Australia’s alpine ski resorts. Forecasters say it is extremely likely that the natural snow depth at Spencers Creek, a key benchmark measurement site in the Snowy Mountains, will be well over a meter by the same time next week, with the majority of lifts across the country’s ski resorts expected to be operating as a result of the fresh snowfall. Thredbo, one of the region’s largest ski resorts, became the first Australian ski area to operate at full capacity in 2026 earlier this week, with all 15 of its lifts running.

A Pattern of Severe Winter Weather

The approaching system fits within a broader pattern of significant cold outbreaks that have periodically struck southeastern Australia during winter months in recent years, driven by low-pressure systems tracking north from the Antarctic region. Similar events in past years have brought rare snowfall to lower-elevation areas not typically accustomed to significant winter weather, along with widespread disruption including road closures, flight cancellations and, in some cases, livestock losses on farms caught in the path of the coldest conditions.

Authorities Urge Caution

With the more severe phase of the system expected to bring a combination of flooding rain, damaging winds and hazardous alpine conditions, residents across the affected states are being urged to stay updated on official weather warnings as the system continues to develop over the coming days. Authorities have reiterated standard guidance that anyone facing a life-threatening situation as a result of the severe weather should contact emergency services immediately.

What to Expect in Each State

For Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT, the greatest risks are expected to center on damaging wind gusts, heavy rainfall and potential flooding, particularly across higher terrain and along the ranges of central and northeastern Victoria and southern New South Wales. Tasmania is expected to see the cold front’s most intense conditions arrive slightly later, on Monday, with blizzard conditions possible in elevated alpine areas. Southern Queensland is also included in the areas expected to experience the cold air mass, extending the reach of the wintry system further north than is typical for this type of weather event.

With the low-pressure system still tracking toward the Australian mainland as of Thursday, forecasters are continuing to refine their projections for exact rainfall totals, wind speeds and snowfall accumulations as the weekend approaches. Given the system’s scale and the multiple hazards it is expected to bring, including hail, thunderstorms, flooding rain and potentially blizzard conditions in alpine regions, authorities across the affected states are likely to continue issuing updated warnings and advisories in the lead-up to the system’s peak impact late Sunday and into Monday.

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