California floods: Atmospheric river brings snow, strong winds and flooding to state
Nearly 10,000 Californians have been forced to flee their homes after widespread flooding and snow was triggered by an atmospheric river across the state.
Several major highways and rural communities were blocked off after swelling rivers burst their banks, and creeks overflowed in Santa Cruz County, south of San Francisco.
Authorities in the town of Soquel are urging people to stay indoors, as flooding destroyed the town’s Main Street, trapping some in their homes.
Teacher Heather Wingfield from the town said she was trapped in her home after the nearby Bates Creek rushed through Soquel.
“It’s horrible,” she said. “Hopefully no one has a medical emergency.”
She added that water infrastructure has been washed out for her and her neighbours.
Several feet of water also covered nearby Watsonville, while a burst river bank in Springville washed a road away.
There has also been flash floods in the foothill town of Kernville, with the river, known locally as “killer Kern”, continuing to rise.
One Kernville local claimed the river has tripled in size overnight.
No injuries have so far been reported, but evacuation orders are in place across the region in central California.
Pic: AP
An atmospheric river is a bed of moisture in the atmosphere that carries wet air from the tropics, and dumps heavy snow and rain across another region.
They can be up to 375 miles wide, and stretch to be more than 1,000 miles long, and are usually seen as an important source of rainfall for the region.
It’s the latest atmospheric river to dump rain across the state in recent weeks, with the governor Gavin Newsom declaring emergencies in 34 counties, while the White House approved a disaster declaration, which should provide financial relief to California.
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There could be more trouble in the Sierra Nevada too, as snow on the mountains begins to melt, contributing to further flooding, some forecasters have said.
Melting snow is expected to cause further problems Pic: AP
Lake Oroville, a huge reservoir in California and home to the tallest dam in the US, has seen its spillways opened for the first time in four years, due to the excessive volume of water in it.
State officials are hoping to harness the excess rainfall for use later in the year to help deal with inevitable droughts across California.
Governor Newsom has signed an executive order in recent days, allowing farmers and water agencies to store more water in underground aquifers.
Four people have been charged with plotting New Year’s Eve bomb attacks in California.
Federal authorities in the US said the four are allegedly part of an extremist group which is suspected of planning the attacks in southern California.
The plot consisted of planting explosive devices at five locations targeting two US companies at midnight on New Year’s Eve in the Los Angeles area.
The suspects were arrested last week in Lucerne Valley, a desert city east of Los Angeles.
Photos of suspects of the terror plot are shown on a screen during a press conference. Pic: AP
They are said to be members of an offshoot of a pro-Palestinian, anti-government and anti-capitalist group dubbed the Turtle Island Liberation Front, the complaint said.
As well as the alleged plan against the two companies, the group also planned to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and vehicles, attorney general Pam Bondi said.
The four defendants named in the complaint are Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante Gaffield, and Tina Lai.
All four are from the Los Angeles area, according to first assistant US attorney Bill Essayli.
The alleged plot
According to a sworn statement by the complaint, Carroll showed an eight-page handwritten document to a paid confidential source in November, which described a bomb plot.
The document was titled “Operation Midnight”.
Essayli said one of the suspects created a detailed plan that “included step-by-step instructions to build IEDs (improvised explosive device)… and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles.”
FBI assistant director in charge Akil Davis speaks at a press briefing on the incident. Pic: AP
Carroll and Page are then alleged to have recruited the other two defendants to help them carry out the plan which included acquiring bomb-making materials before constructing and performing test detonations.
Under the plan, the defendants would supposedly have travelled to a remote location in the Mojave Desert on the 12 December to construct and detonate their test explosive devices, the sworn statement alleges.
Evidence photos included in the court documents show a desert campsite with what investigators said were bomb-making materials strewn across plastic folding tables.
The FBI said agents intervened before the defendants could complete their work to assemble a functional explosive device.
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US
The shock of a shooting will cut deeply – but if anywhere can find hope in the face of despair, Providence can
“Most of us live off hope” – the text of a colourful mural, painted on a wall on Hope Street, Providence.
On most days, the neighbourhood around Brown University feels like a place of quiet optimism, swimming against the negative tide.
Hope Street’s mural
The shock of a shooting, that has claimed two lives and left eight others critically wounded, will cut deeply here.
Violence feels not just intrusive but incompatible with the spirit of a place that is governed by thought, not threat.
When the university president said “this is a day we hoped would never come”, she spoke for the whole town.
Two students were killed in the attack
Providence, Rhode Island, is a place I know well. My daughter, her husband and their two little girls live there.
It is a college town with a college vibe, the compact campus priding itself on openness – architecturally, intellectually and emotionally.
They rehearse “shelter-in-place” scenarios, as every university does, but they are not experienced at living behind locked doors.
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‘Stay inside,’ mayor warns as suspect still at large
Rhode Island, the smallest state, has one of the lowest gun-death rates in America, zero mass shooting events in 2024.
Earlier this year, the state banned the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, but it didn’t include those already owned.
Even in a Democratic, liberal state like Rhode Island, they are struggling to find a solution to America’s gun problem.
People hug each other outside Brown University in Providence after the shooting. Pic: Reuters
The age-old constitutional right to bear arms continues to trump the most human of all rights – the right to life.
This is a community that assumes safety, not because it is naïve, but because it has grown accustomed to trust.
College Hill rises in gentle brick and ivy, its narrow streets winding past houses with verandas designed for long conversations.
They take place in hushed tones right now, but if anywhere can find its way out of despair, Providence can.
On the historic street along its east side and in the college on the corner, most people live off hope.
US director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife have been found dead at their home in Los Angeles, Sky News’s US partner NBC News has reported.
A source close to Reiner told the outlet he and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, apparently died of stab wounds.
A family member is being questioned by investigators, a law enforcement official told the AP news agency.
A 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman were found dead inside the property, a Los Angeles Fire Department official said. Reiner turned 78 in March.
Detectives from the LAPD Robbery Homicide Division have been assigned to the case, the force said in a statement.
‘Apparent homicide’
LAPD Captain Mike Bland said they were investigating an “apparent homicide”.
Reports said there was a large police presence at the house.
Reiner starred in Sleepless In Seattle and The Wolf Of Wall Street and directed This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men.
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said Reiner’s death was a devastating loss for the city.
“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” she said.
“An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”
‘Creative, funny, and beloved’
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said: “It’s hard to think of anyone more remarkable and excellent in every field and endeavour they pursued. Rob was creative, funny, and beloved. And in all of their endeavours, Michelle was his indispensable partner, intellectual resource, and loving wife.
“Personally, Rob cared deeply about people and demonstrated that in his civic activities – whether by supporting the First 5 initiative or fighting against Prop 8 in California. Civically, he was a champion for the First Amendment and the creative rights of artists. And professionally, he was an iconic figure in film who made us laugh, cry and think with the movies he created.”
Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner. Pic: AP
Actress Kathy Bates told NBC News: “I’m horrified hearing this terrible news. Absolutely devastated. I loved Rob. He was brilliant and kind, a man who made films of every genre to challenge himself as an artist. He also fought courageously for his political beliefs. He changed the course of my life. Michelle was a gifted photographer. She shot my beautiful photos for the Misery campaign. My heart breaks for them both. My thoughts are with their family.”
Reiner was married to Michele Singer Reiner since 1989, after they met while he was directing When Harry Met Sally. They have three children together.
Michele used to work as a photographer and took the photo of Donald Trump that appears on the cover of his book Trump: The Art Of The Deal.
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