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Tag: Evacuations

  • 6-5 Fire: Evacuation orders, warnings issued in Tuolumne County

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    6-5 Fire: Evacuation orders, warnings issued in Tuolumne County

    Updated: 3:18 PM PDT Sep 2, 2025

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    Evacuation orders and warnings are in effect for parts of Tuolumne County after a fire sparked Tuesday morning.The so-called 6-5 Fire sparked at 10:34 a.m. along Old Don Pedro Road at Big Cree Court, south of Jamestown, Cal Fire said.As of 2:03 p.m., the fire has burned at least 200 acres, Cal Fire said.Evacuation orders are in effect for Sixbit Gultch Road, evacuation maps by Cal Fire said. When an evacuation order is issued, residents are lawfully required to leave immediately due to threatening conditions.Warnings are also in effect for the communities of Keystone, Chinese Camp, and the area surrounding La Grange Road and Old Don Pedro Road. You are not required to immediately leave under a warning but are recommended to be ready to do so at a moment’s notice in case conditions become dangerous.See the evacuation maps here.This 6-5 Fire is one of many similarly named fires that sparked Tuesday as a series of lightning strikes hit the region, likely being the cause behind many of the fires. The one that has burned the largest amount of acres so far is the 2-2 Fire, which has burned more than a thousand acres so far.Air quality in parts of Northern California is also experiencing unhealthier levels. Check air quality in your area with the interactive map below.This is a developing story. Stay with KCRA 3 as we work to gather more details.| MORE | A 2025 guide for how to prepare for wildfires in California | Northern California wildfire resources by county: Find evacuation info, sign up for alertsCal Fire wildfire incidents: Cal Fire tracks its wildfire incidents here. You can sign up to receive text messages for Cal Fire updates on wildfires happening near your ZIP code here.Wildfires on federal land: Federal wildfire incidents are tracked here.Preparing for power outages: Ready.gov explains how to prepare for a power outage and what to do when returning from one here. Here is how to track and report PG&E power outages.Keeping informed when you’ve lost power and cellphone service: How to find a National Weather Service radio station near you.Be prepared for road closures: Download Caltrans’ QuickMap app or check the latest QuickMap road conditions here.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

    CHINESE CAMP, Calif. —

    Evacuation orders and warnings are in effect for parts of Tuolumne County after a fire sparked Tuesday morning.

    The so-called 6-5 Fire sparked at 10:34 a.m. along Old Don Pedro Road at Big Cree Court, south of Jamestown, Cal Fire said.

    As of 2:03 p.m., the fire has burned at least 200 acres, Cal Fire said.

    Evacuation orders are in effect for Sixbit Gultch Road, evacuation maps by Cal Fire said. When an evacuation order is issued, residents are lawfully required to leave immediately due to threatening conditions.

    Warnings are also in effect for the communities of Keystone, Chinese Camp, and the area surrounding La Grange Road and Old Don Pedro Road. You are not required to immediately leave under a warning but are recommended to be ready to do so at a moment’s notice in case conditions become dangerous.

    See the evacuation maps here.

    This 6-5 Fire is one of many similarly named fires that sparked Tuesday as a series of lightning strikes hit the region, likely being the cause behind many of the fires. The one that has burned the largest amount of acres so far is the 2-2 Fire, which has burned more than a thousand acres so far.

    Air quality in parts of Northern California is also experiencing unhealthier levels. Check air quality in your area with the interactive map below.

    This is a developing story. Stay with KCRA 3 as we work to gather more details.

    | MORE | A 2025 guide for how to prepare for wildfires in California | Northern California wildfire resources by county: Find evacuation info, sign up for alerts

    See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

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  • Hurricane Erin’s massive waves threaten to isolate North Carolina’s Outer Banks

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    There’s a popular T-shirt on Hatteras Island on the North Carolina Outer Banks that says: “One road on. One road off (sometimes)” — poking fun at the constant battle between Mother Nature and a thin ribbon of pavement connecting the narrow barrier island to the rest of the world.

    Mother Nature is probably going to win this week. Hurricane Erin is forecast to move hundreds of miles offshore from the islands but the massive storm is still sending waves 20 feet (6 meters) or greater crashing over vulnerable sand dunes.

    Officials have ordered evacuations of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands even without a hurricane warning because that tiny ribbon of highway called NC 12 will likely be torn up and washed out in several places, isolating villages for days or weeks.

    The 3,500 or so Outer Bankers who live there have handled isolation before. But most of the tens of thousands of vacationers have not.

    “We haven’t seen waves of that size in a while and the vulnerable spots have only gotten weaker in the past five years,” said Reide Corbett, executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute, a group of several universities that study the Outer Banks.

    In a basic sense, they are sand dunes that were tall enough to stay above the ocean level when many of the Earth’s glaciers melted 20,000 years ago.

    The barrier islands in some places are as far as 30 miles (48 kilometers) off mainland North Carolina. To the east is the vast Atlantic Ocean. To the west is the Pamlico Sound.

    “Water, water everywhere. That really resonates on the Outer Banks,” Corbett said.

    The most built up and populated part of the Outer Banks are in the north around Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills, which aren’t under the evacuation order. South of the Oregon Inlet, scoured out by a 1846 hurricane, is Hatteras Island, where the only connection to the mainland is the NC 12 highway. South of there is Ocracoke Island, accessible only by boat or plane.

    The first highways to reach the area were built more than 60 years ago. And the Outer Banks started booming, as it went from quaint fishing villages to what it is now, dotted with 6,000-square foot vacation homes on stilts.

    On a nice day, what look like snowplows and street sweeper brushes wait on the side of NC 12 to scoop and sweep away the constantly blowing sand.

    When the storms come, water from the ocean or the sound punch through the sand dunes and wash tons of sand and debris on the road. In more extreme cases, storms can break up the pavement or even create new inlets that require temporary bridges.

    It cost the North Carolina Department of Transportation more than $1 million a year in regular maintenance to keep NC 12 open during the 2010s. They also spent about $50 million over the decade on repairs after storms.

    But the state estimates Dare County, which includes most of the Outer Banks, brings in $2 billion in tourism revenue a year. So the cycle of clean up and repair continues.

    It can take time to fix things. Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and Hurricane Irene in 2011 both cut inlets into Hatteras Island and ferries were needed for two months. It can still take days to get NC 12 back open even after more routine Nor’easters.

    It’s not just storms that impact the island. As the planet warms and polar ice melts, rising ocean levels threaten the Outer Banks. In a place where most of the land is only a few feet above sea level, every inch of sand counts.

    In Rodanthe, which sticks the farthest out into the Atlantic, the churning ocean has swallowed up more than a dozen homes since 2020. Officials think at least two unoccupied homes are likely to be lost if the waves from Erin are as strong as predicted.

    Shelli Miller Gates waited tables on the Outer Banks to earn money as a college student in the late 1970s. She remembers houses with no air conditioning, televisions or phones. And she adored it.

    “I love the water. I love the wildness of it. It’s the way I want to live my life,” the respiratory therapist said.

    It’s a lifestyle embraced by many. The area’s shorthand “OBX” shows up in many places as a source of pride, including the first three letters on license plates issued by the state.

    The isolation contributes to a sense of community. Gates has seen people band together countless times when their connection to the outside world is severed. And there is always the allure of getting to live someplace where others just get to visit.

    “There’s things everywhere. There’s earthquakes and lizards and floods. Looks at the poor people out in western North Carolina,” Gates said. “There are so many things that can happen to you. I feel like you have to find the place that feels like home.”

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    Associated Press Journalist Ben Finley contributed to this report.

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  • FACT FOCUS: No, Oprah Winfrey didn’t block access to a private road amid tsunami warning evacuations

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    Even as the threat of a tsunami swamping Hawaii had passed on Wednesday, social media posts were still circulating claims that Oprah Winfrey had refused immediate access to a private road that would allow residents a shorter evacuation route.

    The warnings followed one of the century’s most powerful earthquakes, an 8.8 magnitude quake that struck off a Russian peninsula and generated tsunami warnings and advisories for a wide swath of the Pacific. Posts on X and TikTok contended Winfrey refused to open her private road, or was slow to do so during the evacuation.

    But the roadway does not actually belong to Winfrey, and efforts to open the road to the public started soon after the tsunami warning was issued.

    Here’s a closer look at the facts.

    CLAIM: Winfrey owns the private road and refused to allow public access for residents trying to reach higher ground, only relenting following public pressure.

    FACT: This is false. Despite being commonly known as “Oprah’s road,” the portion of Kealakapu Road is privately owned — but not by Winfrey. It belongs to Haleakala Ranch, which also owns the land surrounding the road, its president Scott Meidell told The Associated Press. Winfrey has an easement agreement with the ranch, which allows her to use and make certain improvements to the road, her representative told the AP in a statement. Winfrey has paved the road as part of the agreement, Meidell said.

    The decision to open the road to the public is principally up to the landowner, Winfrey’s representative noted. Meidell said Haleakala Ranch “had conversations with Ms. Winfrey’s land management staff during this process. So, they’re consulted to be sure.”

    Haleakala Ranch contacted the local fire department and the Maui Emergency Management Agency just after 3 p.m. local time, shortly after the tsunami warning went into effect, Meidell said. The road was made accessible shortly after 5 p.m., he said, and ranch personnel assisted in the evacuation of around 150 to 200 vehicles until the final group of cars were escorted up the road at 7 p.m.

    Maui County officials said in a press release shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday that “Oprah’s road” was accessible to the public, an advisory repeated in a 9:30 p.m. update. But Meidell said further evacuations weren’t necessary after 7 p.m. because police had confirmed “at that point the highway was completely empty of traffic.”

    Maui police and the Maui Emergency Management Agency did not immediately return the AP’s requests for comment.

    “As soon as we heard the tsunami warnings, we contacted local law enforcement and FEMA to ensure the road was opened. Any reports otherwise are false,” a representative for Winfrey wrote in a statement first disseminated to news outlets Tuesday night. The decision to open the road was made quickly “when the warning was issued to evacuate, working with local officials and Oprah’s Ranch,” the representative added in a statement Wednesday.

    Cars were escorted in separate caravans that each “had a lead vehicle and a sweep vehicle to make sure that there weren’t any incidents on the mountain road,” Meidell said.

    Haleakala Ranch encompasses nearly 30,000 acres of open space from the southern shoreline to Upcountry Maui, according to its website, and has been family-owned and operated since the late 1800s. The private road connects a public roadway with a highway on the island’s oceanside.

    Some Hawaii residents have long expressed frustration with the large swaths of land that wealthy public figures like Winfrey own on Maui and have advocated against short-term rentals that dot the region and worsen the already low housing supply. The islands have faced a chronic housing shortage only exacerbated in 2023 when a deadly wildfire destroyed most of Lahaina, a town on Maui and the historic former capital of the Hawaiian kingdom. The wildfire was the deadliest in U.S. history in a century that left more than 100 people dead.

    Users claimed with no evidence then that Winfrey had hired private firefighters to protect her land before the fires started, and hired security to keep others of her land during the evacuations. Some X users also spread false claims linking Winfrey to the cause of the blaze. Winfrey teamed up with Dwayne Johnson to launch the People’s Fund for Maui and committed $10 million to help residents who lost their homes in the wildfires. The fund raised almost $60 million as of April 2024.

    In 2019, Winfrey confirmed on X, then Twitter, that county officials were given permission to use the private road immediately after a brush fire started on Maui’s southern area. The road ultimately was not used, Maui County spokesperson Chris Sugidono told the AP at the time.

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    Associated Press National Writer Hillel Italie contributed reporting.

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    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • Israeli strikes pound Lebanese coastal city after residents evacuate

    Israeli strikes pound Lebanese coastal city after residents evacuate

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    TYRE, Lebanon — Israeli jets struck multiple buildings in Lebanon’s southern coastal city of Tyre on Wednesday, sending up large clouds of black smoke, while Hezbollah confirmed that a top official widely expected to be the militant group’s next leader had been killed in an Israeli strike.

    Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli strike on the nearby town of Maarakeh killed three people. There were no reports of casualties in Tyre, where the Israeli military had issued evacuation warnings prior to the strikes.

    Hezbollah meanwhile fired more rockets into Israel, including two that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv before being intercepted. A cloud of smoke could be seen in the sky from the hotel where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was staying on his latest visit to the region to try to renew cease-fire talks.

    On Wednesday night, the Israeli military said another four “projectiles” crossed from Lebanon into Israel, with two intercepted and one falling in open land. There were no immediate reports of injuries, the military said.

    Hezbollah confirmed that top official Hashem Safieddine had been killed in an announcement one day after Israel said it had killed him in a strike earlier this month in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

    Safieddine, a powerful cleric within the party ranks, had been expected to succeed Hassan Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last month.

    Hezbollah said Safieddine had “joined his brother, our most noble and precious martyr,” Nasrallah.

    The militant group began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel, drawing retaliatory airstrikes, after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack from Gaza triggered the war there. All-out war erupted in Lebanon last month, and Israeli strikes killed Nasrallah and most of his senior commanders. Israeli ground forces invaded southern Lebanon at the beginning of October.

    Tyre, a provincial capital, had largely been spared, but strikes in and around the city have intensified recently.

    The 2,500-year-old city, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Beirut, is known for its pristine beaches, ancient harbor and imposing Roman ruins and hippodrome, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is among Lebanon’s largest cities and a vibrant metropolis popular with tourists.

    The buildings struck Wednesday were between several heritage sites, including the hippodrome and a cluster of seaside sites associated with the ancient Phoenicians and the Crusaders.

    The Israeli military issued evacuation warnings a couple of hours before the strikes for dozens of buildings in the heart of the city. It told residents to move north of the Awali River, dozens of kilometers (miles) to the north.

    Avichay Adraee, an Israeli military spokesman, said on the platform X there were Hezbollah assets in the area, without elaborating or providing evidence.

    The Shiite Muslim Hezbollah has a strong presence in the city, and its legislators are members of the group or its allies. But Tyre is also home to civilians with no ties to the group, including a sizable Christian community.

    Civil Defense first responders warned residents through loudspeakers to evacuate and helped older adults and others who had difficulty leaving. Ali Safieddine, the head of the Civil Defense, told The Associated Press there were no casualties.

    Dr. Wissam Ghazal, a health official in Tyre, said the strikes hit six buildings, flattening four of them, around 2 1/2 hours after the evacuation warnings. People displaced by the strikes could be seen in parks and sitting on the sides of nearby roads.

    The head of Tyre’s disaster management unit, Mortada Mhanna, told the AP that although many had fled, thousands of residents and others displaced from other areas remain. Many people, including hundreds of families, previously had fled villages in South Lebanon to seek refuge in shelters in Tyre.

    An estimated 15,000 people remain in the city out of a pre-war population of about 100,000, Mhanna said.

    On Wednesday night the pan-Arab TV channel Al-Mayadeen, which is politically allied with Hezbollah, said the Israeli military struck its office building on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs.

    “Al-Mayadeen holds the Israeli occupation accountable for the attack on a known media office for a known media outlet,” the TV station said. It added that the office had been evacuated. The Israeli army did not issue a warning prior to the strike.

    On Nov. 21, an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed two Al-Mayadeen journalists reporting on military activity along the border with Israel.

    Lebanon’s Health Ministry said 28 people were killed and 139 wounded over the past 24 hours, raising the death toll since the conflict began last year to 2,574, with 12,001 people wounded. The fighting has driven 1.2 million people from their homes, including more than 400,000 children, according to the U.N. children’s agency.

    On Wednesday, rescuers recovered the bodies of a mother and her 7-year-old child two days after an Israeli airstrike on Monday hit a densely populated slum near Beirut’s main public hospital, Saad al-Ahmar, the commander of the Civil Defense’s southern district fire and rescue unit, told The Associated Press.

    Monday’s strike killed at least 18 people, including four children, and wounded over 60 others, the Health Ministry said. It also damaged the nearby Rafik Hariri University Hospital, Beirut’s primary public medical facility.

    The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hezbollah site, without providing further details, and stated the hospital itself was not the intended target.

    On the Israeli side, Hezbollah attacks have killed around 60 people, half of them soldiers. Near-daily rocket barrages have emptied communities across northern Israel, displacing some 60,000 people. In recent weeks Hezbollah has extended its range, launching scores of rockets daily and regularly targeting the northern Israeli city of Haifa. Most are intercepted or fall in open areas.

    In Gaza, the Israeli military has pressed ahead with a major operation in the northern part of the territory, where the United Nations’ humanitarian office has said Israel has severely restricted aid deliveries. During his visit to the region, Blinken reiterated a warning that hindering aid could force the U.S. to scale back crucial military support for Israel.

    Israel’s army said it had arrested about 150 suspected Palestinian militants, while about 20,000 people left Jabaliya, a refugee camp that has turned into a densely built neighborhood over the decades. The military released drone footage showing thousands of people walking past bombed buildings. Over the past few days, several Palestinians said the Israeli military forced them to leave.

    The U.N. estimates 60,000 people have fled the far north of Gaza southwards over more than a two-week period.

    A Palestinian resident of Beit Lahiya, near Jabaliya, told the AP that Israel’s military has rounded up hundreds of men in northern Gaza, separating them as families try to flee the area.

    Hisham Abu Zaqout, a father of four, said he was held for at least three hours along with dozens of men in a school near a hospital.

    The Israeli army says it is trying to uproot Hamas militants from Jabaliya, as well other parts of northern Gaza, issuing mass evacuation orders there earlier this month. Jabaliya has been the scene of on-and-off fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants for months, leaving parts of it destroyed.

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    Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut and Jack Jeffery in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow AP’s war coverage at  https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

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  • Flooding from seasonal rains threatens residents in northern Thailand, including elephants

    Flooding from seasonal rains threatens residents in northern Thailand, including elephants

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    BANGKOK (AP) — Flooding in northern Thailand forced many residents of the city of Chiang Mai and its outskirts to seek safety on higher ground on Friday, with members of the animal world under similar threat.

    Evacuations were underway at the Elephant Nature Park, which houses around 3,000 rescued animals, including 125 elephants, 800 dogs, 2,500 cats, 200 rabbits and 200 cows.

    Flood waters caused by heavy rainfall swept through the park on Thursday.

    Heavy seasonal monsoon rains and the effects of Typhoon Yagi combined to cause serious flooding in many parts of Thailand, with the northern region particularly badly hit.

    Video posted online by the park vividly illustrated that care and compassion are not solely human traits.

    The video shows several of the park’s resident elephants fleeing through rising, muddy water to ground less inundated.

    Three of them dash through the deluge with some ease but, according to the park, a fourth one is blind and was falling behind. It showed greater difficulty passing through wrecked fencing.

    Its fellows appear to call out to it, to guide it to their sides.

    Efforts to evacuate more animals were hampered by the high water, while more rain is forecast.

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  • Over 90,000 Georgia residents sheltering a day after chemical plant fire sent chlorine into the air

    Over 90,000 Georgia residents sheltering a day after chemical plant fire sent chlorine into the air

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    CONYERS, Ga. — More than 90,000 residents in a county east of Atlanta were told to keep sheltering in place Monday and businesses were told to stay closed a day after a chemical plant fire sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky that could been seen for miles.

    Air quality surveys done by the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Environmental Protection Division “revealed the harmful irritant chlorine” detected in the air from the fire at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Georgia, the Rockdale County government said in statement early Monday.

    “For everyone sheltering in place, the best practice is to turn the air conditioning off and keep windows and doors shut,” the statement said.

    The fire was brought under control around 4 p.m. Sunday, officials said.

    Interstate 20, which was shut down in both directions in the area Sunday, was reopened Monday morning, officials said. Some other roads in the county and county government offices were closed.

    People in the northern part of Rockdale County, north of Interstate 20, were ordered to evacuate on Sunday, and others were told to shelter in place.

    Sheriff’s office spokesperson Christine Nesbitt did not know the number of people evacuated, although it covered a large portion of the community of Conyers. Media reports said the number was 17,000.

    The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters. The malfunction caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical, producing a plume of chemicals.

    McDaniel said there were employees inside the plant, but no injuries have been reported, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

    BioLab’s website says it is the swimming pool and spa water care division of Lawrenceville, Georgia-based KIK Consumer Products.

    The company also said that no injuries were reported.

    “Our top priority is ensuring the community’s safety, and our teams are working around-the-clock to respond to the ongoing situation at our facility in Conyers, Georgia,” a spokesperson said in a statement Monday. “We continue to work collaboratively with first responders and local authorities and have deployed specialized teams from out of state to the site to bolster and support their efforts. We are all focused on remediating the situation as rapidly as possible.”

    A small fire on the plant’s roof was initially contained but reignited Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

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  • Interstate is closed outside Atlanta as residents evacuate due to a chemical plant fire

    Interstate is closed outside Atlanta as residents evacuate due to a chemical plant fire

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    CONYERS, Ga. — Some residents east of Atlanta were evacuated while others were told to shelter in place Sunday to avoid contaminants from a chemical plant fire that sent a massive plume of dark smoke high into the sky that could be seen from miles away.

    Interstate 20 was shut down in both directions in the area, the Georgia Department of Transportation said in a post on X. Reports said traffic was snarled as vehicles backed up in the area after the closure.

    The fire ignited when a sprinkler head malfunctioned around 5 a.m. Sunday at the BioLab plant in Conyers, Rockdale County Fire Chief Marian McDaniel told reporters. The malfunction caused water to mix with a water-reactive chemical, producing a plume of chemicals.

    McDaniel said there were employees inside the plant but no injuries have been reported at this time, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

    The newspaper said the billowing cloud of smoke was visible Sunday afternoon as far as 30 miles (50 kilometers) away at Atlanta’s international airport south of the city. It added no injuries were immediately reported.

    “Once we can get that chemical out of the building and allow it to burn off we’ll be in a much better shape,” McDaniel said.

    McDaniel said she wasn’t sure what chemicals may have been contained in the plume.

    BioLab’s website says it is the swimming pool and spa water care division of Lawrenceville, Georgia-based KIK Consumer Products. An automated message at the phone number on the parent company’s website said to call back during business hours.

    “We are actively responding to an occurrence at our facility in Conyers, Georgia,” a BioLab representative said in a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Our employees are accounted for with no injuries reported. Our team is on the scene, working with first responders and local authorities to assess and contain the situation.”

    A small fire on the plant’s roof was initially contained, but reignited Sunday afternoon, Sheriff Eric Levett said in a video posted on Facebook as gray smoke spewed into the sky behind him. He said authorities were trying to get the fire under control and urged people to stay away from the area.

    People in the northern part of Rockdale County, north of Interstate 20, were ordered to evacuate and others were told to shelter in place with windows and doors closed. Sheriff’s office spokesperson Christine Nesbitt did not know the number of people evacuated although it covered a large portion of the community of Conyers.

    Sunday evening the Newton County School District announced that classes would be canceled on Monday. “Out of an abundance of caution for the safety, health, and well being of all students and staff, we have determined that the best course of action is to close all schools tomorrow…,” it said in a statement.

    The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division were both on site, county Emergency Management Director Sharon Webb said. The agencies are monitoring the air “to give us more of an idea of what the plume consists of.”

    McDaniel said crews were working on removing the chemical from the building, away from the water source. Once the product is contained, the situation will be assessed and officials will let residents know whether it is safe to return to their homes, she said.

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  • Evacuation order remains in effect for Ohio town where dangerous chemical leak occurred

    Evacuation order remains in effect for Ohio town where dangerous chemical leak occurred

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    WHITEWATER TOWNSHIP, Ohio (AP) — An evacuation order remained in effect Wednesday for residents in an Ohio community as crews continued to work at the scene of a dangerous chemical leak.

    Styrene, a toxic and flammable chemical that is used to make plastic and rubber, began leaking Tuesday afternoon from a railcar in Whitewater Township, a community of about 6,000 people just west of Cincinnati. The Hamilton County Emergency Management Agency advised anyone within a half-mile (about 800 meters) of the area near U.S. Route 50 and the Great Miami River to leave immediately.

    Tom Ciuba, a spokesperson for Central Railroad of Indiana, which operates the tracks, said Wednesday that the railcar was no longer venting, He said crews worked overnight to put water on the car, but it hadn’t been removed from the tracks and wouldn’t be until officials determine it is safe to do so. He said air and water quality continue to be monitored, and that several roads near the area will remain closed indefinitely.

    The White House said President Biden has been briefed on the leak and was in touch with state and local officials. The Federal Railroad Administration and Environmental Protection Agency officials are at the scene assisting with hazmat operations and air quality testing.

    The President has directed his team to provide any resources that may be needed. We urge residents to heed the warnings of emergency personnel, especially those instructed to evacuate.’

    It isn’t clear when the evacuation order might be lifted. The area has a mix of businesses, homes and large swaths of undeveloped land.

    Several are schools were closed after the leak and remained shuttered Wednesday. No injuries have been reported.

    Authorities have said a pressure release valve on the railcar was leaking the styrene, which can cause headaches, nausea and respiratory issues in the short term and more serious health problems including organ damage in the long term.

    Last year a train derailment in East Palestine, on the other side of Ohio, caused hazardous chemicals to leak and burn for days. The February 2023 derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border led to new safety rules and increased scrutiny of the rail industry.

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  • A pipeline has exploded and is on fire in a Houston suburb, forcing evacuations

    A pipeline has exploded and is on fire in a Houston suburb, forcing evacuations

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    LA PORTE, Texas — Firefighters were battling a massive pipeline fire in suburban Houston that sparked grass fires and burned power poles on Monday, forcing people in the surrounding neighborhood to evacuate as a giant plume of fire was shooting high up into the air.

    The fire began at 9:55 a.m. in La Porte, located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Houston.

    La Porte City Secretary Lee Woodward told KTRK-TV that they don’t yet know what flows through the pipeline or how it will be shut down.

    Video images from KTRK showed a park near the fire had been damaged and firefighters pouring water on adjacent homes. There are also several businesses nearby, including a Walmart.

    Officials have ordered residents in the Brookglen neighborhood area near the fire to evacuate, Lee Woodward, a La Porte city spokesperson said in an email.

    “Please avoid the area and follow law enforcement direction. Further details will be released as available,” Woodward said.

    The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

    There are several power lines near the fire. The website PowerOutage.us says that there are nearly 4,700 customers without power in Harris County.

    CenterPoint Energy said it is monitoring the fire, which is near Spencer Highway in LaPorte. The company said the fire “is unrelated to the company’s natural gas operations or equipment.”

    “We are also cooperating with first responders. Putting safety first, the public should avoid this area until further notice from local emergency officials. When it is safe to do so, our electric crews will go into the area to assess the damage to our transmission and distribution power lines, poles and equipment and begin restoring service to impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible.”

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  • Hawaii wildfire victims made it just blocks before becoming trapped by flames, report says

    Hawaii wildfire victims made it just blocks before becoming trapped by flames, report says

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    HONOLULU — The wind pushed flames from house to house as a group of neighbors tried to escape their blazing subdivision, abandoning their cars in a blocked road and running to an industrial outbuilding for safety. All six perished just blocks from their homes.

    The group, including an 11-year-old and his parents, was among the victims whose desperate attempts to escape the Lahaina wildfire were detailed for the first time in a report released Friday. The investigation by the Fire Safety Research Institute for the Hawaii attorney general’s office delved into the conditions that fed the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century and the attempts to stop its spread and evacuate the town’s residents.

    It found “no evidence” of Hawaii officials making preparations for the wildfire, despite days of warnings that critical fire weather was coming, and that the lack of planning hindered efforts to evacuate Lahaina before it burned.

    At least 102 people died in the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfire that was fueled by bone-dry conditions and strong winds from a hurricane passing to Maui’s south.

    Joseph Lara, 86, was found outside his purple 2003 Ford Ranger pickup truck at the parking structure of an outlet mall and “could have been trying to go north on Front Street before he was stuck in traffic,” according to the report.

    His daughter told The Associated Press on Friday that she tries not to think about how he might still be alive if he had taken a different turn to escape.

    “He was alone. He didn’t have anyone to tell him he should go here, here, here,” Misty Lara said. “I can’t fathom what his final thoughts were.”

    The report is a reminder of the trauma experienced by the roughly 17,000 people who survived by driving through fire and blinding smoke, outrunning the flames on foot or bike or huddling in the ocean behind a seawall for hours as propane tanks and car batteries exploded around them.

    “I grew up in Lahaina and like many in that community, I lost family on Aug. 8,” said Deputy Attorney General Ciara Kahahane. “Through my involvement in this investigation, I tried to humbly serve as a voice for you, the people of Lahaina.”

    More than 60% of the victims tried to flee, with many discovered inside or outside their cars or huddled against the seawall. Nearly 80% of the fatalities were in the central part of Lahaina, where the fire flared and spread quickly in the afternoon, allowing little time to evacuate.

    Many were stuck in traffic jams created by downed power poles, accidents, traffic signals that weren’t working and poor visibility. Some back roads that could have provided an alternative escape were blocked by locked gates.

    For those who were evacuating, the distance between their home and the locations where they were recovered was on average 800 feet (244 meters), according to the report.

    One couple was found in their car after turning onto a dead-end street in the chaos, with the flames behind them boxing them in. A man found huddled in the entranceway of a house had abandoned his car, presumably to seek refuge from the heat and smoke. Others took refuge alone in fast food restaurants or furniture stores.

    Lahaina’s already-deteriorating infrastructure complicated evacuation efforts, the report found. Extended-family living arrangements meant households had multiple vehicles, parked on crowded, narrow streets, which created bottlenecks during the evacuations and blocked fire hydrants.

    One road, Kuhua Street, tallied the most fatalities: More than two dozen victims were found on or near the narrow stretch of road that was the only path to safety for many in the densely populated neighborhood.

    It was the same street where the report noted a firetruck was overtaken by flames and a company of firefighters nearly lost their lives. And it was the same street where a car accident trapped 10 people whose bodies were found in or around cars.

    Joseph Schilling, 67, was found next to a fence on Kuhua Street, less than half a mile (800 meters) from the retirement complex where he lived. Emergency dispatchers had already tried to help multiple people who called 911 to report that the road was becoming impassable.

    Six other residents of the independent-living complex who didn’t evacuate died inside their apartments. Their average age was 86.

    Some older people did try to evacuate, even without reliable transportation.

    Claudette Heermance, 68, called 911 to ask what to do and dispatchers told her to evacuate. She left her senior housing complex on a motorized scooter, but it ran out of power as the flames advanced, according to an autopsy report released after her death.

    Badly burned, she stayed in hospice for seven months until she died in March.

    She was the 102nd — and final — victim to be identified.

    ___

    Lauer reported from Philadelphia.

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  • Herndon police give ‘all clear’ after evacuating neighborhood, saying ‘alarming’ chemicals found during arrest were legal – WTOP News

    Herndon police give ‘all clear’ after evacuating neighborhood, saying ‘alarming’ chemicals found during arrest were legal – WTOP News

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    Herndon, Virginia, police announced Friday night that residents of the evacuated homes in the Herndon Station Square neighborhood would be allowed to return to their homes after finding the “alarming” chemical substances found in the home of a wanted man were, in fact, legal to possess.

    Herndon, Virginia, police announced Friday night that residents of the evacuated homes in the Herndon Station Square neighborhood would be allowed to return to their homes after finding the “alarming” chemical substances found in the home of a wanted man were, in fact, legal to possess.

    Around 11:30 a.m. Friday morning, police were called to the 200 block of Herndon Station Square to execute a search warrant on behalf of a Pennsylvania county police department in the home of a man. The man, later identified as 44-year-old Steven Timothy Kyle, was wanted on multiple counts of criminal mischief, stalking and harassment by the Central Bucks Regional Police Department.

    In collaboration with the Fairfax County Police Department bomb squad and ATF Washington, police evacuated at least 20 nearby homes after they discovered “chemical substances and other evidence that raised alarm,” Herndon police said in a post on X.

    “While officers from the Herndon Police Department and investigators were searching the house, they found some chemicals and other substances that caused them some alarm,” said Herndon police Capt. Steve Pihonak during a news conference Friday evening.

    Pihonak later recanted this statement, saying that “they’ve determined none of those chemicals are illegal to posses.” He added that multiple firearms were taken from Kyle’s home.

    “It wasn’t like in the typical homeowner’s garage where they would have … paint over here and this and that. It was definitely suspicious in nature, to how he had these in the home,” he said.

    The W&OD Trail is closed between Grace and Center streets. Grace Street will be closed until further notice between Haley Place and Park Avenue. The Herndon Fortnightly Library and Boulevard, as well as the Herndon Harbor Adult Day Health Care Center, are also closed until further notice.

    “We’re still combing through details. It is going to be a long process. It’s going to be a meticulous, slow process,” he added.

    WTOP’s Scott Gelman reported live from the scene where residents of the 20 homes have been displaced. He said police are working with the county’s emergency management department to find accommodations as they assume residents will not be able to stay the night in their homes Friday.

    Ready Fairfax, the county’s department of emergency management and security, announced residents will be staying at a makeshift shelter at the Sully Community Center and transportation will be provided for those who need it.

    “We anticipate that we will be there overnight, so anyone who needs sheltering can come anytime throughout the night,” said Courtney Arroyo, community engagement manager of Ready Fairfax.

    Below is a map of where the incident took place:

    This story is ongoing. Stay with WTOP for the latest.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Ciara Wells

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  • An Iceland volcano erupts again but spares the nearby town of Grindavik for now

    An Iceland volcano erupts again but spares the nearby town of Grindavik for now

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    GRINDAVIK, Iceland — A volcano in southwestern Iceland erupted Thursday evening for the sixth time since December, spewing red lava through a new fissure on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

    The eruption began shortly after 9 p.m. following a series of strong earthquakes and within the hour a 4-kilometer (2.4-mile) fissure cut through the Sundhnúkur crater.

    Iceland authorities say the eruption’s effects remain localized with road closures but do not threaten the population.

    Halldór Björnsson, head of weather and climate at the Norwegian Meteorological Agency, told the Icelandic news portal Vísir, that unlike previous eruptions, the lava flow is not heading for the town of Grindavik that was largely evacuated in December when the volcano came to life after being dormant for 800 years.

    Magnús Tuma Guðmundsson, a geophysicist, who flew over the eruption centers this evening told the website that “if this continues like this, Grindavík is not in danger because of this. Of course, we don’t know what will happen in the near future, but it is likely that this has reached its peak and then it will start to subside like the other eruptions.”

    As news of the eruption spread, hundreds of curious onlookers drove to nearby vantage points for a view of the stunning natural phenomenon that has become a key tourism attraction.

    “We just thought that it was the northern lights,” said Mahnoor Ali, visiting from Maryland in the U.S. “It’s like the coolest thing I’ve seen in my whole life, honestly.”

    Friends Ameerul Awalludin from Malaysia and Shohei Miyamito from Japan were with an Icelandic friend when they heard the news and quickly rushed to near the eruption.

    “We have like a volcano as well,” said Miyamito, but “we cannot see lava like this.”

    The eruption is not expected to impact air travel.

    ___

    Keyton reported from Berlin.

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  • More than 400 homes evacuated in Northern Ireland to remove World War II bomb

    More than 400 homes evacuated in Northern Ireland to remove World War II bomb

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    LONDON — Police in Northern Ireland ordered the evacuation of more than 400 homes to remove what is suspected to be a World War II-era bomb.

    The removal operation could take more than five days, police said Sunday.

    The device was discovered Friday in Newtownards, an area of County Down, about 9 miles (15 kilometers) east of Belfast.

    “I appreciate the disruption that this has caused, however keeping people safe is paramount and we will not take any risks,” North Down and Ards District Commander Superintendent Johnston McDowell said. “I want to thank those who may be affected for their patience at this time.”

    Police had set up barricades and asked drivers to avoid the area.

    An emergency support center was set up for residents who had to move out of their homes.

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  • Man seen climbing Eiffel Tower, prompting an evacuation hours before closing ceremony

    Man seen climbing Eiffel Tower, prompting an evacuation hours before closing ceremony

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    PARIS — French police evacuated the area around the Eiffel Tower after a man was seen climbing the Paris landmark hours before the Olympics closing ceremony Sunday.

    The shirtless man was seen scaling the 330-meter (1,083-foot) tall tower in the afternoon. It’s unclear where he began his ascent, but he was spotted just above the Olympic rings adorning the second section of the monument, just above the first viewing deck.

    Police escorted visitors away from the area around 3 p.m. Some visitors who were briefly locked on the second floor were allowed to exit around 30 minutes later.

    “An individual started climbing the Eiffel Tower at 2:45 p.m., police intervened and the person was detained,” a Paris police official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of an ongoing investigation into the incident.

    The Eiffel Tower was a centerpiece of the opening ceremony, with Celine Dion serenading the city from one of its viewing areas. The Tower is not expected to be part of the closing ceremony, which was set to begin at Stade de France in the northern suburb of Saint-Denis at 9 p.m.

    The incident occurred as the Olympic competition winds down and security services in Paris and beyond are shifting their focus to the closing ceremony that will bring the curtain down on the Games.

    More than 30,000 police officers have been deployed around Paris on Sunday. France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said about 3,000 police officers will be mobilized around the Stade de France, and 20,000 police troops and other security personnel in Paris and the Saint-Denis area will be mobilized late into Sunday night to ensure safety on the last day of the Olympics.

    ——

    Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.

    ___

    AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

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  • Utility regulators file complaint against natural gas company in fatal 2021 blast in Pennsylvania

    Utility regulators file complaint against natural gas company in fatal 2021 blast in Pennsylvania

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    TYRONE, Pa. (AP) — State utility regulators have filed a complaint against a natural gas provider alleging safety violations in connection with an explosion in a central Pennsylvania borough that killed one person and injured several others three years ago.

    The 22-count complaint filed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission against Peoples Natural Gas Co. alleges that in responding to the report of a gas leak, the company didn’t shut off the gas supply, call emergency personnel or evacuate nearby homes before the July 2021 blast in Tyrone, The (Altoona) Mirror reported.

    The blast killed 83-year-old Anna Hunsicker and destroyed her home, also damaging two other residences. Several other people were taken to hospitals, including a utility worker who had been in the basement of the home.

    The leak turned out to have been caused by a contractor’s drill piercing a main, and the blast happened 40 minutes after a worker arrived and 18 minutes after he told a supervisor there had been “a serious incident involving suspected bore or missile damage,” according to the complaint.

    The commission is recommending an $800,000 fine and changes in procedures to improve response to future reports of leaking gas.

    Peoples, which has 20 days to respond, said Friday it was reviewing the complaint but stressed safety as its top priority and a commitment toward working with the commission “toward our shared goal of enhancing the safety of our communities and the distribution systems that serve them.”

    “This explosion was caused by a third-party contractor striking a Peoples’ pipeline with a horizontal drill while installing a water service line perpendicular to our line for the borough of Tyrone,” the company said in an emailed statement, the newspaper reported.

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  • Israel orders the evacuation of an area designated as a humanitarian zone in Gaza

    Israel orders the evacuation of an area designated as a humanitarian zone in Gaza

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    KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

    The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It’s the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel’s punishing air and ground campaign.

    On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

    The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel’s estimates. That’s more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

    Further north, airstrikes killed at least five overnight in Zawaida in central Gaza, according to AP journalists who saw the bodies at the hospital. The count, confirmed by Deir al Balah’s Al Aqsa hospital, included a father, mother and three children.

    The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The U.N. estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

    The war began with an assault by Hamas militants on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.

    ___

    Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

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  • Smoking laptop in passenger’s bag prompts evacuation on American Airlines flight in San Francisco

    Smoking laptop in passenger’s bag prompts evacuation on American Airlines flight in San Francisco

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    FILE – An American Airlines Airbus A321 takes off from Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Nov. 29, 2018. A smoking laptop in a passenger’s bag prompted an evacuation on an American Airlines flight headed to Miami from San Francisco International Airport Friday, July 12, 2024, according to the airline. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

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  • Smoking laptop in passenger’s bag prompts evacuation on American Airlines flight in San Francisco

    Smoking laptop in passenger’s bag prompts evacuation on American Airlines flight in San Francisco

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    FILE – An American Airlines Airbus A321 takes off from Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Nov. 29, 2018. A smoking laptop in a passenger’s bag prompted an evacuation on an American Airlines flight headed to Miami from San Francisco International Airport Friday, July 12, 2024, according to the airline. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

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  • Most evacuation orders lifted as crews continue battling Northern California wildfire

    Most evacuation orders lifted as crews continue battling Northern California wildfire

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    OROVILLE, Calif. — Thousands of people evacuated during a Northern California wildfire were allowed to return home Thursday afternoon as crews continued battling flames amid scorching heat, officials said.

    Containment of the Thompson Fire near the city of Oroville in Butte County also increased to 29% from 7%.

    The “vast majority” of the 17,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings were able to go home, said Kristi Olio, public information officer for Butte County. Previous reports of 26,000 people being under orders or warnings were inaccurate, she said, adding that the fire has unfolded so quickly that it has been difficult to get firm figures.

    The Thompson Fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of Sacramento, sending up a huge plume of smoke that could be seen from space. The fire had burned 5.9 square miles (15 square kilometers), up from 5.5 square miles (14 square kilometers) earlier Thursday.

    But officials warned of hot temperatures that could hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) with even hotter weather expected Friday and Saturday.

    “The winds are slowly picking up,” said Chris Peterson, information officer for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. “You add that with the heat and low humidity,” and the potential for volatile fire behavior grows.

    Four structures were destroyed, and more than 12,000 were threatened. Cal Fire did not specify if the structures were homes, but an Associated Press photographer saw fire burn three adjacent suburban-style homes in Oroville.

    Four firefighters reported injuries, all from heat. The cause of the blaze was being investigated.

    The region is familiar with catastrophic events. The deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history nearly wiped out the town of Paradise in Butte County in 2018. And in 2017, both spillways of the Oroville Dam — the nation’s tallest — failed, mandating the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people.

    “We do it ‘well,’ I guess, is the word to say,” said Oroville Mayor David Pittman.

    He said the 20,000 residents of Oroville have heeded evacuation warnings and stepped up to offer a place to stay and home-cooked meals for evacuees.

    Millions of people across the U.S. are baking in a heat wave including in California, which is seeing “significantly more wildfire activity at this point” than in recent years, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in a statement.

    More than a dozen other blazes, most of them small, are active across the state, according to Cal Fire. The largest of those, the Basin Fire in Fresno County, was nearly 50% contained with 22 square miles (57 square kilometers) burned.

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  • Southern New Mexico wildfire leads to evacuation of village of 7,000

    Southern New Mexico wildfire leads to evacuation of village of 7,000

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    RUIDOSO, N.M. — Residents of a village in southern New Mexico were ordered to flee their homes Monday without taking time to grab any belongings due to a fast-moving wildfire.

    “GO NOW: Do not attempt to gather belongings or protect your home. Evacuate immediately,” officials with Ruidoso, a village home to 7,000 people, said on its website and in social media posts at about 7 p.m.

    Public Service Company of New Mexico shut off power to part of the village due to the fire, which had grown to at least 2 square miles (5.1 square kilometers) at the time the evacuation was ordered, KOAT-TV reported.

    The glow from the fire could be seen Monday night from a webcam in the downtown area, where lights were still on.

    The South Fork Fire started Monday on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

    The Village of Ruidoso is about 75 miles (121 kilometers) west of Roswell, where several evacuation centers were set up.

    An air quality alert was issued for very unhealthy air in Ruidoso and surrounding areas due to smoke.

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