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TOPSHOT – Aerial view shows an area completely destroyed by the floods in the Blessem district of Erftstadt, western Germany, on July 16, 2021.

SEBASTIEN BOZON | AFP | Getty Images

The 2021 holiday shopping season could be marred by out-of-stock goods and shipping delays as the recent floods in Europe and China exacerbate already strained global supply chains.

Western Europe and China’s Henan province — a key transport hub and home to several major businesses — are grappling with the aftermath of devastating floods.

The disasters have damaged railways used for the delivery of goods and raw materials in both regions. Water rushed into industrial areas extensively damaging facilities, machinery and warehouses, companies in the supply chain industry told CNBC. 

“Black Friday and the holiday season, for which products (and raw materials) are being staged, will face the brunt of the impact,” Pawan Joshi, executive vice president of supply chain software firm E2open told CNBC in an email. 

“Consumer electronics, dorm room furniture, clothing and appliances will all continue to be in short supply as back-to-school shopping starts up, and will trickle into the peak holiday shopping season,” he said. 

Delays from the distribution of raw materials needed to produce goods will have a cascading effect and disrupt supply chains “for weeks and months,” Joshi said.

The flooding has the potential to throw another wrench into the mix for the auto industry, which is already reeling from a semiconductor shortage.

Pawan Joshi

executive vice president, supply chain software firm E2open

Several companies, including Germany’s largest steel maker Thyssenkrupp, have declared force majeure. A force majeure event occurs when unforeseeable circumstances, such as natural catastrophes, prevent one party from fulfilling its contractual duties, absolving them from penalties.

Some of the worst-hit industries from the floods include autos, technology and electronics, according to those that CNBC spoke to.

Auto production hit again after chip shortage

Car production is likely to be hammered by manufacturing delays as many of the world’s major automakers and their suppliers are based in regions devastated by the floods.

“The flooding has the potential to throw another wrench into the mix for the auto industry, which is already reeling from a semiconductor shortage,” Pawan said.

Manufacturing facilities in Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium are expected to bear the brunt of the damage from the floods, supply chain risk management firm Everstream told CNBC via email. Many suppliers that provide specialized parts for the auto, technology and aerospace industries are based there, said Shehrina Kamal, vice president of intelligence solutions at Everstream. 

“As floodwater started to recede, most major highways and roads were expected to be cleared over the past weekend; however, due to the extent of water damages in some affected industrial areas, manufacturing operations are unlikely to resume as quickly, potentially impacting supply availability,” she said.

“Given that some companies have already issued profit warnings and even declared force majeure, the effects of the flooding will likely continue to ripple through supply chains for several weeks to come,” Kamal concluded.

Zurich-based Klingelnberg, which produces gear components, issued a warning that the damage to its Hueckeswagen plant in Germany could hurt its revenue targets for 2021. 

Disruption of copper bad news for electronics

The floods could also disrupt the supply of copper, which is used in many products from electronics to electric vehicles.

The flood-hit Henan province in China is a major copper production hub, noted Vivek Dhar, a commodities analyst at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Copper prices last week rose strongly on supply concerns, he said, as Henan has seen strong growth in copper smelting in recent years. 

“Copper demand hopes are linked to rebuilding damaged infrastructure in central China. The power sector in China is a particularly strong driver of copper demand,” Dhar wrote in a note last week. 

Over in Europe, Aurubis GmbH – a supplier of high-precision copper wires for the electronics and electrical equipment sectors – declared force majeure on deliveries following extensive flooding at its plant, according to Everstream Analytics.

Read more about China from CNBC Pro

Meanwhile in Henan’s capital Zhengzhou, the disruption could hit a broad swath of industries from autos to pharmaceuticals and biotech, said Ryan Seah, APAC intelligence analyst at Everstream.

“Zhengzhou is a vital transportation hub and is one of China’s principal cities along the Belt and Road Initiative,” said Seah, referring to China’s mammoth infrastructure plan that stretches across several countries and continents. He added that the city is home to 91 companies listed in China and a wide range of sectors.

Zhengzhou is also home to a major factory run by Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn. It is the world’s biggest assembly plant for Apple’s iPhones. Foxconn previously told CNBC that it had “activated an emergency response plan for flood control measures in that location.”

Dr. Celine Gounder, an epidemiologist who advised the Biden government, highlighted the importance of a vaccinated workforce as employers consider returning to the office.

“If you are able to vaccinate your workforce, I think that is a very different calculation than if you are not,” Gounder said Monday evening in an interview on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” . “Vaccination is the way out of this pandemic.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday issued a vaccination mandate for the 68,000 transit workers who operate the city’s vast subway and bus system. Workers must either be vaccinated or have weekly tests starting on the day of work. He also suggested that private businesses like bars and restaurants require proof of vaccination against Covid-19 as a prerequisite for approval. The announcement comes less than a week after the governor issued the same requirement for all civil servants.

Host Shepard Smith also asked Gounder about the rise in delta variant cases in children and whether or not they affected differently from other variants. The NYU epidemiologist stated that the Delta variant is different and therefore affects children more.

“The virus concentration in infected people is 1,000 times higher in the nose and throat than in the early strains of the virus,” said Gounder. “So if you imagine that there are so many more viruses in the body, even if a child might not have had a serious infection at the beginning of the pandemic, now with so many more viruses we are seeing children getting sick.”

Senator Lindsey Graham announced Monday that he tested positive for Covid-19, but the Republican from South Carolina said his “symptoms would be much worse” if he hadn’t been given the full dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Graham, 66, said in a tweet that he had flu-like symptoms on Saturday night and that he would be quarantined for 10 days.

While the Senate has not officially issued a mask mandate, Graham was seen wearing a mask on Monday, according to a Politico reporter.

Graham began to show symptoms when the Senate met over the weekend to work on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. It is unclear how many other members of the Senate came into close contact with him.

Graham attended a Saturday night party aboard Senator Joe Manchin’s, DW.V., houseboat, NBC News confirmed. Other Senators in attendance were Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Chris Coons, D-Del., John Thune, RS.D. and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., whose offices and NBC have been certified.

Manchin and Kelly spokesmen said the senators are fully vaccinated and follow CDC guidelines for anyone exposed to a person who tests positive. Thune’s office and Rosen confirmed that the senators tested negative for Covid-19 on Monday.

CDC guidelines include testing for Covid three to five days after exposure to someone with a confirmed or suspected case and wearing a mask indoors in public for 14 days or until the test is negative, the CDC said. Fully vaccinated people should also isolate themselves if they test positive.

According to the guidelines, senators appear to be able to vote in masked form unless they get a positive test result.

Graham was one of 17 Republican senators who last week voted to move the infrastructure plan forward. His absence or possible quarantine for other senators could affect the passage of the bill as a final vote approaches.

While the Senate has not reintroduced a mask mandate, the Republicans in the House of Representatives have resolutely opposed a renewed mask requirement in their chamber. The House of Representatives has more than four times as many members as the Senate and a larger proportion of unvaccinated MPs.

Graham’s announcement came as the United States is grappling with a spike in the Delta variant of Covid and the Biden government is urging more people to get vaccinated.

The CDC warned in a confidential document Thursday that the Delta variant, which is the dominant form of the disease in the United States today, is as contagious as chickenpox and has a longer transmission window than the original Covid strain.

Health officials said Covid vaccines prevent more than 90% of serious illnesses but may be less effective at preventing infections.

The confidential document, which has been reviewed by CNBC, states that there are 35,000 symptomatic infections in 162 million vaccinated Americans every week.

Publicly available CDC data says that by July 19, 5,914 fully vaccinated people with Covid infections had been hospitalized or had died from Covid infections – the vaccinated are generally milder.

Data from a survey by Monmouth University shows a partisan split in reluctance to take Covid vaccines.

The survey found that 17% of respondents said they were likely to refuse the vaccine. Among them, 70% either identify with or tend to identify with the Republican Party, while only 6% identify with the Democrats.

The Biden administration continues to urge more Americans to get vaccinated, especially as the US prepares for an expected surge in Delta Covid infections in the fall.

On Monday, the U.S. hit Biden’s May target of providing 70% of U.S. adults with at least one vaccination, about a month behind the original July target.

CDC says the US reports an average of about 600,000 vaccinations a day through Sunday. This is far from the more than 3 million daily recordings in mid-April, but an increase of 14% over the previous week.

Last week, Biden announced that federal employees would need to prove their Covid vaccination status or undergo safety protocols.

Biden had previously advised federal agencies not to require vaccination for field work, but the Department of Veterans Affairs was the first federal agency to instruct health workers to receive the Covid vaccine.

Biden, who is fully vaccinated, also said he will follow the reverse CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals to wear masks indoors in areas with high transmission rates.

– CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. and Dan Mangan contributed to this report

This story evolves. Please check again for updates.

Amazon Studios shared its first image of its upcoming untitled “Lord of the Rings” series, due on its streaming service Sept. 2, 2022.

Amazon Studios

The most expensive television show in history has wrapped its first season.

Amazon Studios’ “Lord of the Rings” series, which reportedly cost a whopping $465 million to make, completed filming in New Zealand Monday. While the show does not have a title as of yet, it does have a release date: Sept. 2, 2022.

Helmed by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the series is set during author J.R.R. Tolkien’s second age, a period of Middle-earth history thousands of years before the events of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

Plot details are scarce, but Amazon has said the show will follow an ensemble cast of characters. Those that have read Tolkien’s “Silmarillion” will know that Sauron, the main villain in the theatrical films, rose to power during the second age and secretly forged the One Ring.

“As Bilbo says, ‘Now I think I am quite ready to go on another journey,'” Payne and McKay said in a joint statement Monday. “Living and breathing Middle-earth these many months has been the adventure of a lifetime. We cannot wait for fans to have the chance to do so as well.”