WASHINGTON  -- Automakers are being pushed to build a more fuel-efficient generation of gas-electric hybrids, turbocharged engines and advanced vehicles powered by electricity under tough new standards from the Obama administration.

Final rules to be signed Thursday by the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency come after carmakers posted modest gains in the distance a car can travel on a gallon of gas.

The rules require 2016 model year vehicles to meet fuel efficiency targets of 35.5 miles per gallon combined for cars and trucks, an increase of nearly 10 mpg over current standards set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The EPA, issuing the first rules ever on vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, will set a tailpipe emissions standard of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile for vehicles sold in 2016, or the equivalent of what would be emitted by vehicles meeting the mileage standard.

"After decades in which we have done little to increase auto efficiency, those new standards will be completed, which will reduce our dependence on oil while helping folks spend a little less at the pump," President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

Each auto company will have a different fuel-efficiency target, based on its mix of vehicles. Automakers that build more small cars will have a higher target than a car company that manufacturers a broad range of cars and trucks. The standard could be as low as 34.1 mpg by 2016 because automakers are expected to receive credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in other ways, including preventing the leaking of coolant from air conditioners.

Environmental groups had pushed for curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, blamed for global warming, and challenged the Bush administration for blocking a waiver request from California to pursue more stringent air pollution rules than required by the federal government. The request was granted by the Obama administration last year.

Automakers have supported the plans for a single federal standard and have been working on an assortment of fuel-efficient technologies, including hybrids, electric cars and technologies that shut off engine's cylinders when full power isn't needed.

Nissan is releasing its electric car, the Leaf, later this year while General Motors is introducing the Chevrolet Volt, which can go 40 miles on battery power before an engine kicks in to generate power. Ford is bringing its "EcoBoost" line of direct-injection turbocharged engines -- and their 20 percent improvement in gas mileage -- to 90 percent of its models by 2013.

Obama said the new requirements will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of the program, which will cover the 2012-2016 model years. The new standards come four years ahead of a 2007 energy law that required the auto industry to meet a 35 mpg average by 2020.

The extra costs could be recouped in gasoline savings. The administration estimated last year the requirements would cost up to $1,300 per new vehicle by 2016 but would take three years to pay off that investment, saving more than $3,000 over the life of the vehicle through better gas mileage.

"What these rules are going to mean is more choice for consumers, more options for consumers to fight high gas prices, to address global warming and have good, clean safe cars," said David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The CEOs of some of the country's biggest companies are being summoned to Washington to defend claims that the health care reform law would cost them millions -- a move Republicans say amounts to intimidation. 

Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on Friday fired off letters to the heads of Caterpillar, Verizon, AT&T and Deere after they and other firms reported that the health care overhaul would dig deep into their bottom lines. 

Caterpillar claimed it would raise costs by $100 million in the first year and imperil coverage for its 150,000 employees and retirees. Deere estimated it would raise expenses by $150 million. 

Waxman, in his letters, called these estimates a "matter of concern" and said they "appear to conflict with independent analyses" showing the law would lead to a decrease in premium costs for large companies. 

Waxman called the CEOs to Washington to testify at an April 21 hearing and requested full documentation from the firms detailing how they arrived at their estimates. 

But Republicans said the committee was trying to "bully" companies for speaking out against the legislation. 

"Instead of interrogating America's private sector job creators, Congress should be listening to them, heeding their warnings about the effects of this deeply flawed new law, and replacing it with reforms that will help them get back to creating jobs," House Minority Leader John Boehner said in a statement. 

Texas Rep. Michael Burgess, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said he's not surprised the companies are reporting negative side effects and urged his Democratic colleagues to lay off. 

"The timing of the letters and the hearing and the scope of information requested looks an awful lot like an attempt to intimidate and silence opponents of Democrats' flawed health care reform legislation, which is unfortunately the law of the land," he said. 

Capitol Hill isn't the only place where the firms are feeling pressure. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, in an interview with CNBC, called the companies' statements "premature and irresponsible" last week. 

The companies say they're concerned that costs will skyrocket in large part because of a provision that taxes Medicare subsidies for prescription drugs. 

James Klein, president of the American Benefits Council, expressed skepticism that the companies would be exaggerating. 

"Certainly no company would want to have to take that kind of accounting hit if they could at all avoid it," he said. "This does not need to become a partisan issue on either side."

CRANSTON, R.I. -- Flooding on a scale rarely seen in New England forced hundreds of residents from their homes Wednesday, overwhelmed sewage systems and isolated communities as it washed out bridges and rippled across thoroughfares from Maine to Connecticut.

As three days of record-breaking rains tapered to a drizzle, forecasters warned the worst of widespread flooding was still ahead as rivers and streams had yet to crest -- for the second time in a month.

In Rhode Island, which bore the brunt of the storm, residents were experiencing the worst flooding in more than 100 years. Stretches of Interstate 95, the main route linking Boston to New York, were closed and could remain so for days. Amtrak suspended trains through the area because of water on the tracks.

Every resident of Rhode Island, a state of about 1 million, was asked to conserve water and electricity because of flooded sewage systems and electrical substations. Rising waters either stranded hundreds of people or sent them to shelters. Many of those who stayed behind appeared shell-shocked, still recovering from floods two weeks ago caused by as much as 10 inches of rain.

Monica Bourgeois, 45, cried Wednesday morning as she stood outside her home in Cranston, where a sewer pump station gave out and hundreds of residents had evacuated by early Wednesday. The Pawtuxet River had turned her lawn into a lake and flooded her basement with six feet of still-rising water.

"It's over the furnace. We're afraid it's going to hit the electrical panel. It's so awful. The whole basement is destroyed. The whole basement is under water," she said.

"I have absolutely no idea how we're going to pay for this. I'm extremely, extremely worried. Do you know how much a new furnace costs? We're just praying to God for some help."

The flooding caps a month that set rainfall records across the region. Boston measured nearly 14 inches for March, breaking the previous record for the month, set in 1953. New Jersey, New York City and Portland, Maine, surpassed similar records. Providence registered its rainiest month on record, period, with a total of more than 15 inches of rain in March.

"None of us alive have seen the flooding that we are experiencing now or going to experience," Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri said. "This is unprecedented in our state's history."

President Barack Obama issued an emergency declaration late Tuesday for Rhode Island, ordering federal aid for disaster relief and authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts.

But the havoc was spread throughout the region, as National Guard troops went into action in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. A pond dam in Porter, Maine, let loose Tuesday morning, sending a torrent of water down country roads but injuring no one. Water covered roads in New Hampshire.

Stonington, Conn., a coastal town on a peninsula, was largely cut off as two of its three bridges went out. A bridge also gave out in Freetown, Mass., isolating about 1,000 residents.

Non-essential state workers in Rhode Island were given the day off, and state officials asked schools and private businesses to consider closing, as well. Officials in Warwick, where a water and sewage treatment plant failed, asked residents not to launder clothes or flush toilets. The state also asked people to stay off highways and local roads.

Heavy rains in Connecticut caused the earth under a Middletown apartment complex parking lot to give way, leaving two buildings teetering over the ravine of a river. Residents were taken to an emergency shelter at a high school.

Authorities also evacuated 50 units at a condominium complex in Jewett City in eastern Connecticut because a sewage treatment plant next door was under at least 4 feet of water.

In Massachusetts, the biggest concerns were in the southeastern part of the state, where a highway was closed. Heavy rains buckled a road in Fall River, near the Rhode Island border.

In Peabody, north of Boston, a court closed Wednesday because flooding made it inaccessible. Some residents there evacuated. Downtown businesses piled sandbags at their front doors and nearby streets were closed.

Demetri Skalkos, co-owner of McNamara's liquor store, said about three feet of water stood in the basement. He said he was worried about losing business over the traditionally busy Easter period.

"This is the Holy Week," he said. "... If we don't do business now, when are we going to do business?"

A Swedish tourist was killed Wednesday when he fell 490 feet into the crater of Mount Batur, an active volcano on the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, local police said.

The 25-year-old man slipped as he tried to peer into the crater after a dawn trek to the summit, which climbs to 5,600 feet, on the northeastern side of the island, police added.

"He was looking into the crater, slipped and fell," local police chief Made Oka told AFP.

He said emergency responders were at the scene and were trying to recover the tourist's body using ropes. Police were unable to provide the man's name.

Mount Batur is easy to climb compared to some other volcanoes in Indonesia and is popular with day-trippers on Bali.

A mother and daughter discovered a burning body near a school in Compton, Calif., in a case police are calling "100 percent evil."

The mother and daughter spotted flames near Compton High School and went over to investigate at 3:15 a.m.  They alerted authorities when they realized it was a body.  

Lt. Henry Saucedo of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's office said the scene was 100 percent evil.

"You do this more than 20 years and you think you've seen everything. Then you see this," Saucedo told KTLA.com.

Witnesses told KTLA.com that the victim appeared to be a man, approximately 20-years-old.  They also said his foot had burned off of his body.

Firefighters extinguished the flames but weren't clear what killed the adult victim.  Investigators believe the person was already dead when they were set on fire, KTLA.com reports. 

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Click here for the full report from KTLA.com