Hurricane Ian: An entire seafront levelled – no one expected this storm to be so vicious and so damaging

Published

2 years ago

October 1, 2022

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It is the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico that bring people to Fort Myers Beach – but on Wednesday afternoon, they unleashed the fury of Hurricane Ian.

A tsunami-like storm surge, three metres (10ft) high in places, washed away homes and businesses.

Early reports of ‘substantial loss of life’ – Hurricane Ian updates

The seafront has been levelled – now littered with the remnants of the shops and restaurants that made it a bustling tourist resort.

T-shirts and baseball caps from a souvenir store, pots, and pans from a seafood cafe and glasses from a bar are partly obscured by brown sludge, a reminder of what once was.

A little further down the road, a staircase is all that remains of the orange house on the beach front.

‘They were washed away’

The story of its occupants is told by their neighbour, Ron Shepherd, who watched as the house was lifted from its foundations by a torrent of water.

“I was on the balcony and could see it floating by,” he says.

“There were three people and a dog inside, and we were shouting to them to get out and grab hold of another house that they were passing that was unoccupied. They got out, but they were washed away.

“One guy held onto a palm tree for two minutes, but then he was gone, the water was moving so fast.”

‘I’ve never seen anything like this’

Nobody who remained in Fort Myers Beach as Hurricane Ian made landfall expected it to be so vicious or to do such extensive damage.

Wyatt and Brooke Jordan stayed in a building just back from the seafront with their four children.

“The water came up pretty fast,” Wyatt said.

“I’ve lived in Florida my whole life, and I’ve never seen anything like this. We went to bed on Tuesday night and thought it was heading for Tampa, and then we woke up, and it was coming for us.”

So many people seem to have been surprised by the path this storm took – but also the vast area it covered and how slowly it moved.

It is this that will result in the highest cost for Florida, both in lives lost and the recovery.

US

Boy, 10, admits to shooting and killing man at trailer park

Published

23 mins ago

April 20, 2024

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Boy, 10, admits to shooting and killing man at trailer park

A 10-year-old boy confessed to shooting and killing a man in his sleep two years ago, Texas officials say.

Brandon Rasberry was killed while sleeping at a recreational vehicle (RV) park in Nixon, Texas, in January 2022, just four days after he moved into the area.

The 32-year-old’s body was discovered after he failed to show up to work for two days. He had been shot once in the head.

The Gonzales County Sheriff’s Office said the child – who was seven at the time of the shooting and did not know Mr Rasberry – cannot be charged with the crime because of his age.

According to Texas law, a child must be at least ten to have criminal culpability. The boy was later evaluated at a psychiatric hospital, and is being held in juvenile detention for a separate incident.

Speaking to local news outlet KSAT, the victim’s father Kenneth Rasberry said: “This is a little boy, for reasons that I’m sure these counsellors and case managers and all of that, that’s going to pick that poor little boy’s brain apart.

“He needs to be prayed on. He needs to be comforted… He’s forgiven. And he can still be saved. He’s so young. He’s definitely tormented by something.”

Boy threatened to kill student

The sheriff’s office said that they were called on 12 April over a boy threatening to assault and kill another student on a bus the day before.

When a deputy arrived at the school, he spoke with officials who told him that the child admitted he shot and killed a man in 2022.

After transporting him to an advocacy centre, he admitted to killing Mr Rasberry at the RV park and described the incident in detail.

According to the sheriff’s office, the child said he was visiting his grandfather – who lived near to Mr Rasberry – at Lazy J RV Park.

On 16 January, the child said he took a pistol from a glovebox in his grandfather’s truck, and then entered the RV belonging to Mr Rasberry. He then shot him once in the head.

As he was leaving the mobile home, the child fired another shot into a couch, before returning the firearm to the glovebox of the truck.

The child added he had never met Mr Rasberry and said he was not upset with him before the shooting.

He was placed on a 72-hour emergency detention, and was later transported to a psychiatric hospital in San Antonio for evaluation and treatment.

Upon release from the hospital, the child was booked in on charges relating to the school bus incident for terroristic threat and was placed in detention.

US

Israel’s attack on Iran reflects badly on Biden after president’s public message for Netanyahu

Published

9 hours ago

April 20, 2024

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Israel's attack on Iran reflects badly on Biden after president's public message for Netanyahu

The overnight events do not reflect well on President Biden.

He had signalled so emphatically just days ago for Israel not to retaliate.

“Take the win,” the American president told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Middle East latest – follow live

It was a message made public and combined with back-channel briefings we were getting from the White House and the State Department.

Washington’s message to the Israeli government was that the spectacular failure of the Iranian attack, combined with the diplomatic first of having the Jordanians and the Saudis defending Israel, was a victory.

“Take it, don’t retaliate,” was the message they hoped would land. Uncontrolled escalation is just too much of a risk.

But Israel has been ignoring America for a few months now. Biden has frequently found the limits of his influence over Gaza.

As this week progressed, it became clear that on this issue too Netanyahu wasn’t going to be bent by Washington, London or anywhere else.

And there were plenty who questioned the wisdom of Biden’s diplomatic directive.

Israel had just faced the biggest aerial assault in its history by a nation committed to its destruction.

“Take the win”?! Really? To many, it sounded like an astonishing appeasement of Iran.

And so, as it dawned on diplomatic visitors to Israel this week that Netanyahu and his war cabinet were going to ignore Biden and hit back, the language began to shift.

“Don’t retaliate” became “minimise escalation”.

“We hope they do so in a way that does as little to escalate this as possible,” UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said after meeting Netanyahu on Tuesday.

My understanding is that Western diplomats were given a heads-up by Israel that it was hitting back overnight and with some detail on the type and location of the targets.

But this past week raises questions about the Biden administration’s influence and its strategy.

Biden’s call for no retaliation was very public and echoed by allies. It was driven by the real fear of uncontrolled escalation.

But was it diplomatically smart to make the call so public? Some are asking if that didn’t just undermine Israel’s ability to reestablish deterrence.

Privately call for restraint, maybe. But why publicly?

But more than that, did the public “don’t do it” messaging just expose President Biden to failure and weakness when his directive was simply ignored by Israel?

Brace now for the next move.

Perhaps a steady de-escalation through a series of strikes on targets each less significant than the one before it – both sides saving face, both claiming deterrence.

Such is the madness of conflict.

US

Donald Trump labels hush money trial a ‘mess’ after jury selected

Published

9 hours ago

April 20, 2024

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Donald Trump labels hush money trial a 'mess' after jury selected

Donald Trump described the hush money case against him as a “mess” after the jury who will decide his fate has been selected.

Leaving the court in New York after proceedings were adjourned for the day, Trump addressed reporters, saying he was supposed to be in states like Georgia, New Hampshire and North Carolina as part of his campaign for the 2024 presidential election.

“[But instead] I’ve been here all day,” he said, labelling the trial as “unfair”.

Trump trial as it happened: Former president looks ‘bored’ in court

Trump held up a stack of news stories and editorials that he said were critical of the case while he continued railing against the trial.

“The whole thing is a mess,” he said.

It comes as all 12 jurors have been seated in the first criminal case against a former US president.

Members of the jury include a sales professional, a software engineer, an English teacher and multiple lawyers.

Sky News’ US partner network, NBC News reported there are seven men and five women on the jury.

It comes after lawyers grilled hundreds of potential jurors asking questions on everything from their hobbies and social media posts to their opinion of the former president.

More than half of a second group of prospective jurors were dismissed by Judge Juan Merchan on Thursday after most said they doubted their ability to be fair and impartial.

One juror was also dismissed after she said she “slept on it overnight” and woke up with concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial in the case.

The challenge now is to select six alternate jury members before the trial can move to opening statements, with Mr Merchan hopeful this will be completed on Friday.

Trump is accused of criminally altering business records to cover up a $130,000 (£104,200) payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, during his 2016 election campaign.

Ms Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who was paid $150,000 (£120,000), both claim to have had affairs with Trump.

His lawyers say the payment was meant to spare himself and his family embarrassment, not to help him win the election.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He could get up to four years in prison if convicted.

The former president faces two other criminal trials accusing him of trying to subvert his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, and another that accuses him of mishandling classified information after he left the White House in 2021.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.