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Tag: Evacuations

  • East Palestine families living in limbo months after fire

    East Palestine families living in limbo months after fire

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    EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Jeff Drummond spends days and nights alone in a tiny room with fake wood paneling, two small beds and a microwave atop a mini refrigerator that serves as a nightstand — his pickup truck parked just outside the door at the roadside motel where he’s taken refuge since early February.

    Shelby Walker bounces from hotel to hotel with her five children and four grandchildren while crews tear up railroad tracks and scoop out contaminated soil near their four-bedroom home.

    Almost 3 months after a fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment blackened the skies, sent residents fleeing and thrust East Palestine into a national debate over rail safety, residents say they are still living in limbo. They’re unsure how or whether to move on from the accident and worry what will happen to them and the village where they have deep family roots, friendships and affordable homes.

    “I have no idea how long we can continue to do this,” says Walker, while washing clothes at a laundromat.

    Walker, 48, also works at a small hotel where many workers are staying, so is constantly reminded of the accident. She remembers the scorched rail tanker at her property line and a backyard flooded with water from the burn site. “Sometimes I just break down,” she says.

    About half of East Palestine’s nearly 5,000 residents evacuated when, days after the Feb. 3 derailment, officials decided to burn toxic vinyl chloride from five tanker cars to prevent a catastrophic explosion.

    Most have returned, though many complain about illnesses and worry about soil, water and air quality. Some are staying away until they’re sure it’s safe. Others, like Drummond, are not allowed back in their homes because of the ongoing cleanup.

    The retired truck driver and Gulf War veteran misses mowing the lawn, puttering around his yard and chatting with regulars at the tavern next door.

    “I have nothing here,” says Drummond, sitting on an orange plastic chair outside the Davis Motel in North Lima, Ohio. “So it’s trying to find something to keep yourself busy, to keep from going crazy.”

    FEARING THE UNKNOWN

    Norfolk Southern Railroad is paying for lodging for some families but won’t say how many still are out of their homes while the railroad excavates tens of thousands of tons of contaminated soil, a process the Environmental Protection Agency expects to take another 2-3 months. The railroad also must remove toxic chemicals from two creeks, which could take longer.

    “I pledge that we won’t be finished until we make it right,” Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw told an Ohio rail safety committee last week.

    The railroad also handed out $1,000 “inconvenience checks” to residents within the ZIP code that includes East Palestine and surrounding areas, but most did not qualify for further assistance and went home.

    The EPA’s Mark Durno says continual air monitoring at the derailment site and in the community and soil tests in parks, on agricultural land and at other potentially affected areas have not yet detected concerning levels of any contaminants.

    “Nothing jumped off page for us yet,” Durno says, adding that testing would continue just to be sure.

    The railroad says testing shows drinking water is safe, though it’s establishing a fund for long-term drinking water protection. It’s also establishing funds for health care and to help sellers if their property value falls because of the accident.

    But it’s the unknown that worry people.

    Jessica Conard, a 37-year-old speech therapist, wonders whether her boys — ages 3, 8 and 9 — will ever be able to fish in the pond separating their property from the railroad tracks. Or play at the park where the chemicals are being removed from a stream. Can they remain in the town where “generations upon generations” of family have lived?

    “You want them to be able to have those memories,” says Conard, who returned to East Palestine six years ago to raise her family where the sound of trains was the backdrop to her own childhood. “I just kind of feel like those memories are tainted because when you hear a train now it kind of makes you cringe.”

    DEEP ROOTS

    This is the kind of place where everyone seems connected to everyone else, residents say. Parents don’t worry about their kids because they know other parents are looking out for them.

    Summer Magness chokes up recalling how the community held benefit dinners after her eldest daughter, Samantha, suffered multiple cardiac arrests playing softball four years ago, resulting in a brain injury that left her paralyzed and unable to speak. Samantha, now 16, gets all A’s, attends homecoming and still has her circle of friends.

    “We couldn’t have made it without them,” Magness says.

    Eighty-one-year-old Norma Carr raised four children in the cedar-sided 1930s duplex she moved into 57 years ago and where three generations lived together before the derailment. She knew everyone in her neighborhood, walked to church and always felt safe among friends.

    For now, she’s staying in a condominium 10 miles (16 kilometers) away that the railroad rented the family for six months because Carr, who has Parkinson’s, fared poorly during a month in a cramped hotel room.

    “I miss being able to look out the window and not see a stranger,” says Carr, choking back tears.

    Most of Conard’s relatives work in factories and, like many here, live paycheck to paycheck, putting aside money to buy and fix up homes, she says. “I mean, this is what we strive for. It’s the American dream.”

    She and her husband sold their first East Palestine home last year to move into their “forever home” a couple miles away, on a road named for one of her ancestors. “Then all of a sudden, overnight (the dream is) gone.”

    STAY OR GO?

    Small businesses like Sprinklz on Top and The Corner Store line the main drag, North Market Street, along with chains like McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. The Chamber of Commerce, library and post office are there, too. Statues of bulldogs, the high school mascot, are placed throughout town.

    There also are signs reflecting the hardship the village has been through: “Y’all OK?” says one. Others say “Get ready for the greatest comeback in American history.”

    But many wonder if they should stay or go.

    For Summer Magness, it would be difficult to leave the community where her family has lived for generations. She doubts her home could sell for what it would cost to buy elsewhere. Still, she would move if she could, because the feeling of security has been upended and “the safety of my children is my only concern.”

    To stay, Carr’s daughter Kristina Ferguson, 49, says she would want independent testing and a thorough cleaning of their home. But she isn’t sure if the family will ever feel safe there again.

    Ferguson also worries whether living there could affect her mother’s Parkinson’s.

    “There’s … no home in the world that is worth losing one family member over,” she says. “I know as long as we’re together we will have a home in our heart.”

    ___

    Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Foreigners airlifted out; Sudanese seek refuge from fighting

    Foreigners airlifted out; Sudanese seek refuge from fighting

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    KHARTOUM, Sudan — As foreign governments airlifted hundreds of their diplomats and other citizens to safety, Sudanese on Monday desperately sought ways to escape the chaos, fearing that the country’s two rival generals will escalate their all-out battle for power once evacuations are completed.

    In dramatic evacuation operations, convoys of foreign diplomats, civilian teachers, students, workers and families from dozens of countries wound past combatants at tense front lines in the capital of Khartoum to reach extraction points. Others drove hundreds of miles to the country’s east coast. A stream of European, Mideast, African and Asian military aircraft flew in all day Sunday and Monday to ferry them out.

    But for many Sudanese, the airlift was a terrifying sign that international powers, after failing repeatedly to broker cease-fires, only expect a worsening of the fighting that has already pushed the population into disaster. The latest nominal cease-fire, which brought almost no reduction in fighting, was due to run out Monday evening.

    U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a “catastrophic conflagration” that could engulf the whole region. He urged the 15 members of the Security Council to “exert maximum leverage” on both sides in order to “pull Sudan back from the edge of the abyss.”

    Sudanese face a harrowing search for safety in the constantly shifting battle of explosions, gunfire and armed fighters looting shops and homes. Many have been huddling in their homes for nine days. Food and fuel are leaping in price and harder to find, electricity and internet are cut off in much of the country, and hospitals are near collapse.

    Those who can afford it were making the 15-hour long drive to the Egyptian border or to Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast. Those without means to get abroad streamed out to relatively calmer provinces along the Nile north and south of Khartoum. Many more were trapped, with cash in short supply and transport costs spiraling.

    “Traveling out of Khartoum has become a luxury,” said Shahin al-Sherif, a high school teacher. The 27-year-old al-Sherif was frantically trying to arrange transport out of Khartoum for himself, his younger sister, mother, aunt and grandmother. They had been trapped for days in their home in Khartoum’s Amarat neighborhood while fighting raged outside. Finally, they moved to a safer district farther out.

    But al-Sherif expects things to get worse and worries his sister, aunt and grandmother, all diabetic, won’t be able to get the supplies they need. Bus ticket prices have more than quadrupled so that renting a bus for 50 people to get to the Egyptian border costs around $14,000, he said.

    Amani el-Taweel, an Egyptian expert on Africa, warned of “horrific suffering” for Sudanese unable to leave. In a country where a third of the population already needed humanitarian aid, aid agencies can no longer reach most Sudanese because of the clashes.

    Once evacuations are complete, “warring parties will not heed any calls for a truce or a cease-fire,” she said.

    Heavy gunfire and thundering explosions rocked the city in continued fighting between the military and a rival paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces. In the afternoon, intensified airstrikes hammered Khartoum’s Nile-side Kalakla district for an hour until the area was “razed to the ground,” said Atiya Abdulla Atiya, secretary of the Doctors’ Syndicate. The bombardment sent dozens of wounded to the Turkish Hospital, one of the few medical facilities still functioning, he said.

    Egypt meanwhile denied that any of its diplomats had been harmed after the Sudanese military claimed that an assistant to the Egyptian military attache was killed in an attack. Cairo, which has close ties to the Sudanese army, has joined calls for a cease-fire.

    Over 420 people, including at least 273 civilians, have been killed and over 3,700 wounded since the fighting began April 15. The military has appeared to have the upper hand in fighting in Khartoum but the RSF still controls many districts in the capital and the neighboring city of Omdurman, and has several large strongholds around the country. With the military vowing to fight until the RSF is crushed, many fear a dramatic escalation.

    For foreign nationals, the need to abandon Khartoum had become overwhelming by the seventh day of the conflict. Khartoum’s wealthy neighborhoods, where most foreigners live, saw some of the heaviest shelling and drone strikes, and several fell under RSF control.

    Alice Lehtinen, a British teacher living in the Khartoum Two neighborhood, was shot in the foot by a stray bullet on the first day of fighting. Soon after, RSF troops occupied the lower floor of her apartment building as they combed the streets for weapons, dollars and other supplies, she said. The Sudanese pound has become worthless as shops lay smashed and looted.

    Another British teacher, Elizabeth Boughey, said the RSF broke into her house and stole her Sudanese pounds, then returned soon after to hand the money back. They looked like teenagers she said.

    The United States said Monday that it has begun facilitating the departure of private U.S. citizens after swooping in to extract diplomats on Sunday. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. has placed intelligence and reconnaissance assets over the evacuation route from Khartoum to Port Sudan but does not have any U.S. troops on the ground.

    France secured use of a base on the outskirts of Khartoum to use as an extraction point after intense negotiations with both sides — the military that held the base and the RSF that held the surrounding districts, a French diplomatic official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation.

    Amid continued gunfire, nationals from dozens of countries made their way to the base. Some braved the roads in their own vehicles while others called on private security firms to shepherd them through military and RSF checkpoints.

    France brought out nearly 500 people, including citizens from 36 countries, on flights to the nearby Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. Military planes from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Spain, Jordan and Greece also picked up loads of passengers.

    Meanwhile, groups of South Koreans, Palestinians, Kenyans, Saudis, Japanese and other nationalities made the 13-hour drive from Khartoum to Port Sudan to be picked up by their nations’ aircraft.

    Flights continued into Monday afternoon, and France, Germany and the Netherlands said they were prepared to do more flights if possible. Britain’s Middle East Minister Andrew Mitchell said about 2,000 U.K. citizens still in Sudan have registered with the embassy for potential evacuation. He told the BBC the government was looking at “a series of possible evacuations.” Many Britons in the country have complained about a lack of information from the government and say they are in the dark about any evacuation plans.

    Despite the pullout, U.S. and European officials insisted they were still engaged in trying to secure an end to the fighting. But so far the conflict has shown how little leverage they have with two generals — army chief Abdel-Fattah Burhan and RSF leader Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — who appear determined to fight to the end.

    The U.S. and EU have been dealing with the generals for years, trying to push them into ceding power to a democratic, civilian government. A pro-democracy uprising led to the 2019 ouster of former strongman Omar al-Bashir. But in 2021, Burhan and Dagalo joined forces to seize power in a coup.

    ___ Elhennawy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Michael Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, Angela Charlton in Paris, Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Frank Jordans in Berlin and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

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  • Diplomats flee Sudan fighting as citizens struggle to escape

    Diplomats flee Sudan fighting as citizens struggle to escape

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    KHARTOUM, Sudan — Foreign governments evacuated diplomats, staff and others from Sudan on Sunday as rival generals battled for a ninth day with no sign of a truce that had been declared for a major Muslim holiday.

    While world powers like the U.S. and Britain airlifted their diplomats from the capital of Khartoum, Sudanese desperately sought to flee the chaos. Many risked dangerous roads to cross the northern border into Egypt.

    “My family — my mother, my siblings and my nephews — are on the road from Sudan to Cairo through Aswan,” prominent Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abual-Ala wrote on Facebook.

    Fighting raged in Omdurman, a city across the Nile from Khartoum, residents said, despite a hoped-for cease-fire to coincide with the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

    “We did not see such a truce,” Amin al-Tayed said from his home near state TV headquarters in Omdurman, adding that heavy gunfire and thundering explosions rocked the city.

    Over 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and over 3,700 wounded in fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF.

    The RSF said the armed forces unleashed airstrikes on the upscale neighborhood of Kafouri, north of Khartoum. There was no immediate army comment.

    The ongoing violence has affected operations at the main international airport, destroying civilian planes and damaging at least one runway, and thick, black smoke rose above it. Other airports also have been knocked out of operation.

    European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted he had spoken with the rival commanders, urging an immediate cease-fire to protect civilians and the evacuation of EU citizens.

    In other fighting, a senior military official said it repelled an RSF attack on Kober Prison in Khartoum where Sudan’s longtime ruler, Omar al-Bashir, and former officials in his movement have been held since his 2019 ouster. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said a number of prisoners fled but al-Bashir and other high-profile inmates were in a “highly secure” area, adding that “a few prisoners” were killed or wounded.

    The RSF claimed the military removed al-Bashir and other prisoners from the facility, although the statement could not be independently confirmed.

    The Arqin border crossing with Egypt was crowded with about 30 passenger buses of at least 55 people each, said Suliman al-Kouni, an Egyptian student who fled northward from Khartoum with dozens of other students.

    “We traveled 15 hours on land at our own risk,” al-Kouni told The Associated Press by phone. “But many of our friends are still trapped in Sudan.”

    Sudan experienced a “near-total collapse” of internet and phone service Sunday, according to the monitoring service NetBlocks.

    “It’s possible that infrastructure has been damaged or sabotaged,” said Netblocks director Alp Toker. “This will have a major effect on residents’ ability to stay safe and will impact the evacuation programs that are ongoing.”

    After a week of battles that hindered rescues, U.S. special forces swiftly evacuated 70 U.S. Embassy staffers from Khartoum to Ethiopia early Sunday. Although American officials said it was too dangerous for a government-coordinated evacuation of thousands of private citizens, other countries scrambled to remove their citizens as well as their diplomats.

    France and Italy said they would accommodate all their citizens who want to leave, as well as those of other countries who could not otherwise join an evacuation operation.

    French President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister were given security guarantees by both sides for the evacuation, according to Defense and Foreign Ministry officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk publicly. Two French flights took off Sunday from Khartoum to Djibouti, carrying about 200 people from various countries, and more were planned Monday, according to another French military official speaking anonymously under the same rules.

    An Italian air force C-130 that left Khartoum with evacuees landed Sunday night at an air base in Djibouti, the Defense Ministry said. Another flight was planned for Monday.

    Other flights from Sudan were organized by Jordan, Spain, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands.

    Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted that U.K. armed forces evacuated British diplomatic staff and dependents “amid a significant escalation in violence and threats.”

    Overland travel through contested areas was possible but dangerous. Khartoum is about 840 kilometers (520 miles) from Port Sudan on the Red Sea.

    On Saturday, Saudi Arabia said it evacuated 157 people, including 91 Saudi nationals and citizens of other countries. Saudi state TV showed a large convoy of cars and buses from Khartoum to Port Sudan, where a navy ship took them to the Saudi port of Jeddah.

    Fighters attacked a U.S. Embassy convoy last week, and stormed the home of the EU ambassador. Violence wounded an Egyptian Embassy employee in Sudan, according to Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zaid.

    Egypt, which said it had over 10,000 citizens in Sudan, urged those in cities other than Khartoum to head to consular offices in Port Sudan and Wadi Halfa in the north for evacuation, the state-run MENA news agency reported.

    The power struggle between the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has dealt a harsh blow to Sudan’s hopes for a democratic transition. The rival generals came to power after a pro-democracy uprising led to the ouster of the former strongman, al-Bashir. In 2021, the generals joined forces to seize power in a coup.

    The current violence came after Burhan and Dagalo fell out over a recent internationally brokered deal with democracy activists that was meant to incorporate the RSF into the military and eventually lead to civilian rule.

    Both generals, each craving international legitimacy, have accused the other of obstructing the evacuations. The Sudanese military alleged the RSF opened fire on a French convoy, wounding a French national. The RSF countered it came under attack by warplanes as French citizens and diplomats left the embassy for Omdurman, saying the military’s strikes “endangered the lives of French nationals.”

    Hospitals have struggled as violence rages. Many wounded are stranded by the fighting, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Syndicate that monitors casualties, suggesting the death toll is probably higher than what is known.

    The Italian medical group Emergency said 46 of its staff refused to leave, working in hospitals in Khartoum, Nyala and Port Sudan.

    Thousands of Sudanese have fled fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere, U.N. agencies said, but millions are sheltering in their homes amid explosions, gunfire and looting without adequate electricity, food or water.

    In the western region of Darfur, up to 20,000 people left for neighboring Chad. War is not new to Darfur, where ethnically motivated violence has killed up to 300,000 people since 2003. But Sudan is not used to such heavy fighting in its capital, which “has become a ghost city,” said Atiya Abdalla Atiya of the Doctors’ Syndicate.

    Khalid Omar, a spokesman for the pro-democracy bloc that seeks to restore civilian rule, urged both generals to resolve their differences. “There is an opportunity to stop this war and put the county on the right path,” he wrote on Facebook. “This is a war fueled by groups from the deposed regime who want it to continue.”

    U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Washington did not have a “deep relationship” with either side in the conflict because Sudan was under “the brutal dictatorship of Omar al-Bashir” for 30 years.

    “These two warring factions have started what may well be a fight to the finish,” Coons told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

    ___

    Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem, Samy Magdy in Cairo, Michael Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, Angela Charlton in Paris, Frances D’Emilio in Rome and Fay Abuelgasim in Beirut contributed.

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  • AP source: American troops are evacuating US embassy staff from Sudan as fighting persists in the capital Khartoum

    AP source: American troops are evacuating US embassy staff from Sudan as fighting persists in the capital Khartoum

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    AP source: American troops are evacuating US embassy staff from Sudan as fighting persists in the capital Khartoum

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  • Sudan’s army says evacuations of diplomats expected to begin

    Sudan’s army says evacuations of diplomats expected to begin

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    The Sudanese army says it’s coordinating efforts to evacuate diplomats from the United States, Britain, China and France out of the country on military airplanes

    KHARTOUM, Sudan — The Sudanese army said Saturday it was coordinating efforts to evacuate diplomats from the United States, Britain, China and France out of the country on military airplanes, as fighting persisted in the capital, including at its main airport.

    The military said that army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan had spoken to leaders of various countries requesting safe evacuations of their citizens and diplomats from Sudan. The country has been roiled by bloody fighting for the past week that has killed over 400 people so far, according to the World Health Organization.

    Foreign countries have struggled in vain to repatriate their citizens, a task deemed far too risky as clashes between the Sudanese army and a rival powerful paramilitary group have raged in and around Khartoum, including in residential areas.

    The main international airport near the center of the capital has been the target of heavy shelling as the paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces, has tried to take control of the complex, complicating evacuation plans. With Sudan’s airspace closed, foreign countries have ordered their citizens to simply shelter in place until they can figure out evacuation plans.

    Burhan said that some diplomats from Saudi Arabia had already been evacuated from Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport on the Red Sea, and airlifted back to the kingdom. He said that Jordan’s diplomats would soon be evacuated in the same way.

    Even as questions persisted over how the mass evacuation of foreign citizens would unfold, the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced Saturday that it had started arranging the evacuation of Saudi nationals out of the country. Officials did not elaborate on the plans.

    Earlier this week, the Pentagon said it was moving additional troops and equipment to a Naval base in the tiny Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan.

    On Friday, the U.S. said it had no plans for a government-coordinated evacuation of an estimated 16,000 American citizens trapped in Sudan, and continued to urge Americans in Sudan to shelter in place.

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  • US moves military assets to Djibouti for possible Sudan evac

    US moves military assets to Djibouti for possible Sudan evac

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    WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is moving military assets to a Naval base in the tiny Gulf of Aden nation of Djibouti to prepare for the possible evacuation of U.S. Embassy personnel from Sudan.

    Two Biden administration officials say the deployments to Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti are necessary because of the current uncertain situation in Sudan, where fighting is raging between two warring factions..

    The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the administration’s planning for a potential evacuation. That planning got underway in earnest on Monday after a U.S. Embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

    In a statement Thursday, the Pentagon said it will deploy “additional capabilities” to the region to potentially help facilitate an evacuation of embassy personnel from Sudan if required, but provided no details, and did not state the location.

    Security conditions in Khartoum and elsewhere have thus far prevented the State Department from implementing a so-called “ordered departure,” a move that would require staffers to leave the country.

    Since hostilities between the two factions erupted last weekend, the U.S. has been contemplating the evacuation of government employees and has been transporting them from their homes to a secure, centralized location to prepare for such an eventuality.

    The officials said Djibouti, the small country on the Gulf of Aden that is sandwiched between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, will be the staging point for any evacuation operation.

    However, any evacuation in the current circumstances is fraught with difficulty and security risks as Khartoum’s airport remains non-functional and overland routes from the capital out of the country are long and hazardous even without the current hostilities.

    If a secure landing zone in or near Khartoum cannot be found, one option would be to drive evacuees to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. But that is a 12-hour trip and the roads over the 523-mile (841-kilometer) route are treacherous.

    Another might be to drive to neighboring Eritrea, however that would also be problematic given that Eritrea’s leader, Isaias Afwerki, is not a friend of the U.S. or the West in general.

    The last time the U.S. evacuated embassy personnel overland was from Libya in July 2014, when a large convoy of U.S. military vehicles drove staff from the Tripoli embassy to Tunisia. There have been more recent evacuations, most notably in Afghanistan and Yemen, but those have been conducted largely by air.

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  • Snowmelt spurs flooding from Southwest to Rockies, 2 rescues

    Snowmelt spurs flooding from Southwest to Rockies, 2 rescues

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    FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A rapid spring snowmelt after an unusually wet winter is unleashing flooding from the Southwest to the Rockies, causing residents there and in the Upper Midwest to evacuate or stock up on sandbags amid surging creeks and rivers.

    In New Mexico, emergency crews rescued people from at least two vehicles from high water Thursday night in Jemez Pueblo north of Albuquerque, the National Weather Service said.

    But there were no immediate reports of any deaths of serious injuries. A flood warning was in effect for communities along the Jemez River into next week.

    In Flagstaff, Arizona, neighbors on one street have been working side by side since Tuesday with shovels to stave off floodwaters from their homes.

    Three creek-retention basins installed last year helped better navigate water that rushed down from burned mountains above the city, officials said. Still, water engulfed the shoulder of a local highway, and several roads and sidewalks were closed this week as the weather warmed and snow melted, making its way into neighborhoods. Sections of urban trails also were submerged.

    Officials said it was a scenario that came without a playbook.

    “It would be nice to have an exact model of what we need to do, but we don’t,” Flagstaff Vice Mayor Austin Aslan told the Arizona Daily Sun. “We don’t know what the next fire will look like, or where that scar will be. There’s small differences that will direct water to one neighborhood or another.”

    Sandoval County in north-central New Mexico issued an emergency disaster declaration in the wake of severe flooding in communities near the Jemez River.

    No evacuations had been ordered, but residents in an area between Jemez Pueblo and Jemez Springs that regularly floods in the summer rainy season were collecting sandbags as a precaution. A local police chief estimated a dozen homes and other structures along the river could be at risk of being inundated with water.

    “Warm temperatures continue to cause rapid melting of snowpack, causing increased river flows,” the National Weather Service in Albuquerque said Thursday night.

    The deluge also led to spillover from a wastewater treatment plant, which was contributing recycled water into the Jemez River. The U.S. Forest Service advised people not to fish in the river or drink water south of the plant.

    In Salt Lake City, Mayor Erin Mendenhall signed an emergency order late Wednesday aimed at helping residents whose homes were threatened by flooding in the southeastern part of the city. Rapidly melting snow in the nearby mountains sent water coursing through a creek in the neighborhood, prompting the voluntary evacuation of about 100 homes.

    The water was receding as cooler weather moved into the area. Even so, multiple mudslides were reported on canyon roads, including one that forced the temporary closure of Interstate 80 southeast of the city early Thursday.

    On Wednesday, local officials north of Salt Lake City issued evacuation orders for at least 20 homes in Kaysville, where flooding ripped a large gash that damaged a street, sidewalks and driveways in a subdivision that was under construction.

    Meanwhile, heavy snowpack and highs expected to reach 60 degrees Thursday were causing flooding in northwest Colorado, where transportation officials closed Highway 40 between Craig and Steamboat Springs, a popular ski area that has received more than 400 inches (1,016 centimeters) of snow this winter.

    Flooding in the small mountain town of Hayden forced schools to close. Rain was in the forecast Thursday afternoon, with the expectation of turning to snow overnight.

    The Colorado Department of Transportation posted photos online showing Dry Creek spilling over its banks at a bridge there, as well as floodwater threatening several parked recreational vehicles.

    The National Weather Service said some roads might become impassable during the weekend and urged motorists not to drive through flooded crossings.

    There were no reports of major damage, however, in Utah or Colorado as of Thursday.

    In the Northern Plains, a speedy snowmelt and possible April showers stoked fears of heavy flooding. Residents have been assembling thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of sandbags to hold back water.

    The Red River Valley, which includes Fargo in North Dakota and Moorhead in Minnesota, had one of the snowiest winters on record. Heavy rain could cause the river to rise quickly, Moorhead city engineer Bob Zimmerman told Minnesota Public Radio.

    Minnesota’s Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said Thursday at a news conference that the state is ready to respond with financial help for flooding if needed.

    He added that warmer temperatures and rising waters from climate change have factored into the state’s months-long preparation for the spring flooding season.

    Local, state and federal public safety and emergency management partners have ramped up monitoring and preparation efforts, according to the state’s Department of Public Safety.

    North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum has declared a statewide emergency for spring flooding, and he made the National Guard available to help fight floods in the coming weeks, the Bismarck Tribune reported. The city of Bismarck opened sites for residents to fill their own sandbags.

    In northern Montana, the Milk River was expected to rise to its highest level in more than a decade and swamp some rural areas.

    Emergency officials along the river in Glasgow were patrolling the levee protecting the city of about 3,200 people to make sure it held up, said Valley County Disaster and Emergency Services coordinator Rick Seiler. Shelters were being arranged in case low-lying areas need evacuations.

    The flooding was forecast to continue through next week, according to the National Weather Service.

    Heavy rain was falling across the region on Thursday while snow continued to pile up at higher elevations, Seiler said.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis; Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana; Terry Tang in Phoenix; Thomas Peipert in Denver; and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.

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  • In Ukrainian village, a family lives under cloud of shelling

    In Ukrainian village, a family lives under cloud of shelling

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    BOHOYAVLENKA, Ukraine — In a small village in eastern Ukraine the sounds of war echo in the distance while 10-year old Khrystyna Ksenofontova plays. She pets the neighborhood cats, paints and, like everyone else here, hopes the fighting will end soon.

    The small village of Bohoyavlenka, in Donetsk province, lies 20 kilometers (13 miles) from the active front line. Khrystyna’s days are spent scrounging the bits of childhood she still can. Her family refuses to evacuate and lives under a cloud of constant shelling. She wears headphones to block out the booms of the explosions.

    ”(I feel) fear, trembling,” she says. The explosions resound at night most of the time, she says, brushing aside her sandy blond hair. But sometimes they come in the morning, too.

    Her mother, Yulia, and grandmother chose not to leave the village, which had a pre-war population of 1,400, after her father died from a brain injury suffered in an attack that destroyed one of their homes. They prefer to bear the brunt of the war in their hometown rather than be displaced and penniless, Yulia says.

    It’s a common story along the dozens of towns and villages that span the 1,000-kilometer (more than 600-mile) front line in eastern Ukraine. Despite the severity of the fighting, many families have refused to leave their homes, rejecting evacuation attempts and choosing to risk their lives under bombardment. Aid groups concentrate on delivering food and supplying heating to these areas, where supplies are difficult to access.

    The majority of those who stay are the elderly, many of whom rarely ventured outside their homes before the war. It is increasingly rare to find families with young children choosing to live so close to combat lines.

    But Khrystyna still finds moments of delight amid the devastation.

    In the basement, a litter of kittens was recently born. Picking up two, she smiles as their newborn eyes struggle to adjust to the light. She dreams of being a veterinarian.

    All her friends have gone. The child finds ways to occupy her time by studying — when the power is on she studies online — and taking care of the cats.

    Her grandmother — the mother of Khrystyna’s dead father — weeps, praying for normalcy to return to their lives.

    Yulia strategizes ways to gather food to last the week. Sometimes the family travels to a nearby town where the supermarkets are still open. The shops, hospitals and schools in their village closed several months ago.

    Like many residents in the area, her husband was a coal miner. Before the war he worked in the nearby hilltop town of Vuhledar, which has been the site of fierce fighting for months with Ukrainian forces still holding the town.

    Yulia fears a much anticipated Russian counteroffensive expected in the spring will finally push them to leave. But where? She doesn’t know. She wishes she could see her mother in Russian-occupied Crimea, but that is impossible now.

    “Everyone is worried about it (the potential counteroffensive),” she said. “Who knows, anything could happen.”

    While she speaks, a distant boom thunders. She brushes it off. “It’s normal.”

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  • About 25 train cars derail in Montana, no injuries reported

    About 25 train cars derail in Montana, no injuries reported

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    Authorities say about 25 train cars have derailed in northwestern Montana

    PARADISE, Mont. — About 25 train cars derailed Sunday in northwestern Montana, with no injuries or evacuations reported, authorities said.

    The cars, which were not believed to be carrying anything hazardous, derailed near the town of Paradise along the Clark Fork River, said Bill Brown, a dispatcher with the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office.

    Firefighters and representatives of Montana Rail Link, which was operating the train, were responding and investigating what the cars were carrying, he said.

    Photos posted on social media show some of the cars appearing to dip just into the river.

    The train cars did not release any hazardous materials, Montana Rail Link said in a statement. The company said the cause of the derailment was being investigated.

    “We are committed to addressing any impacts to the area as a result of this accident, prioritizing the safety of our employees and the public, and understanding the reasons for this incident,” the company said.

    Montana’s U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester said in separate tweets that they were monitoring the derailment and were in touch with local officials.

    Federal regulators and members of Congress are urging railroads to do more to prevent derailments after recent fiery wrecks involving hazardous chemicals in Ohio and Minnesota prompted evacuations.

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  • About 25 train cars derail in Montana, no injuries reported

    About 25 train cars derail in Montana, no injuries reported

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    Authorities say about 25 train cars have derailed in northwestern Montana

    PARADISE, Mont. — About 25 train cars derailed Sunday in northwestern Montana, with no injuries or evacuations reported, authorities said.

    The cars, which are not believed to be carrying anything hazardous, derailed near the town of Paradise along the Clark Fork River, said Bill Brown, a dispatcher with the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office.

    Firefighters and representatives of Montana Rail Link, a railroad that operates in Montana and Idaho, were responding and investigating what the cars were carrying, he said.

    Photos posted on social media show some of the cars appearing to dip just into the river.

    Montana’s U.S. Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester said in separate tweets that they were monitoring the derailment and were in touch with local officials.

    Federal regulators and members of Congress are urging railroads to do more to prevent derailments after recent fiery wrecks involving hazardous chemicals in Ohio and Minnesota prompted evacuations.

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  • Small areas reopen near Fukushima nuclear plant, few return

    Small areas reopen near Fukushima nuclear plant, few return

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    TOKYO — Evacuation orders were lifted in small sections of a Japanese town just southwest of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Saturday, in time for the area’s popular cherry blossom season, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida joined a ceremony to mark the reopening.

    The area of about 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) where entry restrictions were lifted is part of Tomioka town, most of which had already been reopened since an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered triple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

    Former residents and visitors celebrated the latest reopening as they strolled along a street known as “the cherry blossoms tunnel.”

    Koichi Ono, 75, was back to the neighborhood where he grew up and lived all his life until he was forced to evacuate. “After 12 years, I can finally return to my life here,” he told NHK television. “The disaster hit when I was just starting my retirement life, so I’m starting all over again.”

    Ono, who learned indigo and vegetable dying while evacuating, wants to open a workshop to serve as a meeting place for people. “I hope more people come and visit.”

    At the ceremony, Kishida pledged to keep working to reopen all no-go zones.

    “The lifting of the evacuation is by no means a final goal, but the start of the recovery,” Kishida said.

    The 2011 disaster caused massive amounts of radiation to leak from the plant, and more than 160,000 residents had to evacuate from across Fukushima, including about 30,000 who are still unable to return home.

    Tomioka is one of 12 nearby towns fully or partially designated as no-go zones. The two sections in Tomioka that reopened for the first time in 12 years represent one-fifth of the worst-hit no-go zone and were selected by the government along with several other locations in the region for intensive decontamination.

    But jobs, daily necessities and infrastructure remain insufficient, making it difficult for younger people to return, and families with small children worry about possible radiation effects.

    “The living environment and many other things still need to be sorted out,” Tomioka Mayor Ikuo Yamamoto told reporters.

    In the newly reopened Yonomori and Osuge districts of Tomioka, just over 50 of about 2,500 registered residents have reportedly returned or expressed intention to go back to live. Only about 10% of the town’s pre-disaster population of 16,000 have returned since large areas of Tomioka reopened in 2017.

    Town surveys show a majority of former residents say they have decided not to return because they have already found jobs and educations and built relationships elsewhere.

    The evacuation order was lifted in several sections of another hard-hit town, Namie, northwest of the plant, on Friday. The reopened area accounts for only about 20% of the town.

    “I have mixed feelings because there are many residents who still cannot return or have no idea when they can return,” said Namie Mayor Eiko Yoshida at an evacuation-lifting ceremony on Friday.

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  • Small areas reopen near Fukushima nuclear plant, few return

    Small areas reopen near Fukushima nuclear plant, few return

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    TOKYO — Evacuation orders were lifted in small sections of a Japanese town just southwest of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Saturday, in time for the area’s popular cherry blossom season, and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida joined a ceremony to mark the reopening.

    The area of about 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) where entry restrictions were lifted is part of Tomioka town, most of which had already been reopened since an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered triple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

    Former residents and visitors celebrated the latest reopening as they strolled along a street known as “the cherry blossoms tunnel.”

    “The lifting of the evacuation is by no means a final goal, but the start of the recovery,” Kishida said at the ceremony, pledging to keep working to lift all no-go zones.

    The 2011 disaster caused massive amounts of radiation to leak from the plant, and more than 160,000 residents had to evacuate from across Fukushima, including about 30,000 who are still unable to return home.

    Tomioka is one of 12 nearby towns fully or partially designated as no-go zones. The two sections in Tomioka that reopened for the first time in 12 years represent one-fifth of the worst-hit no-go zone and were selected by the government along with several other locations in the region for intensive decontamination.

    But jobs, daily necessities and infrastructure remain insufficient, making it difficult for younger people to return, and families with small children worry about possible radiation effects.

    “The living environment and many other things still need to be sorted out,” Tomioka Mayor Ikuo Yamamoto told reporters.

    In the newly reopened Yonomori and Osuge districts of Tomioka, just over 50 of about 2,500 registered residents have reportedly returned or expressed intention to go back to live. Only about 10% of the town’s pre-disaster population of 16,000 have returned since large areas of Tomioka reopened in 2017.

    Town surveys show a majority of former residents say they have decided not to return because they have already found jobs and educations and built relationships elsewhere.

    The evacuation order was lifted in several sections of another hard-hit town, Namie, northwest of the plant, on Friday. The reopened area accounts for only about 20% of the town.

    “I have mixed feelings because there are many residents who still cannot return or have no idea when they can return,” said Namie Mayor Eiko Yoshida at an evacuation-lifting ceremony on Friday.

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  • Small areas reopen near Fukushima nuclear plant, few return

    Small areas reopen near Fukushima nuclear plant, few return

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    TOKYO — Evacuation orders were lifted in small sections of Tomioka, a town just southwest of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, on Saturday, in time for the area’s popular cherry blossom season and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida joined a ceremony there to mark the reopening.

    The area of about 4 square kilometers (1.5 square miles) where entry restrictions were lifted is part of Tomioka town, most of which had already been reopened.

    Former residents and visitors celebrated the latest reopening as they strolled along a street known as “the cherry blossoms tunnel.”

    “The lifting of the evacuation is by no means a final goal, but the start of the recovery,” Kishida said at the ceremony, pledging to keep working to lift all no-go zones.

    An earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 triggered triple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Massive amounts of radiation spewed from the plant, causing more than 160,000 residents to evacuate from across Fukushima, including about 30,000 who are still unable to return home.

    Tomioka is one of 12 nearby towns fully or partially designated as no-go zones. The two sections in Tomioka that reopened for the first time in 12 years represent one-fifth of the worst-hit no-go zone and were selected by the government along with several other locations in the region for intensive decontamination.

    But jobs, daily necessities and infrastructure remain insufficient, making it difficult for younger people to return, and families with small children worry about possible radiation effects.

    “The living environment and many other things still need to be sorted out,” Tomioka Mayor Ikuo Yamamoto told reporters.

    In the newly reopened Yonomori and Osuge districts of Tomioka, just over 50 of about 2,500 registered residents have reportedly returned or expressed intention to go back to live. Only about 10% of the town’s pre-disaster population of 16,000 have returned since large areas of Tomioka reopened in 2017.

    Town surveys show a majority of former residents say they have decided not to return because they have already found jobs and educations and built relationships elsewhere.

    The evacuation order was lifted in several sections of another hard-hit town, Namie, northwest of the plant, on Friday. The reopened area accounts for only about 20% of the town.

    “I have mixed feelings because there are many residents who still cannot return or have no idea when they can return,” said Namie Mayor Eiko Yoshida at an evacuation-lifting ceremony on Friday.

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  • Minnesota derailment spills ethanol, prompts evacuations

    Minnesota derailment spills ethanol, prompts evacuations

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    PRINSBURG, Minn. — A train hauling ethanol and corn syrup derailed and caught fire in Minnesota early Thursday and hundreds of nearby residents were ordered to evacuate their homes, authorities said.

    The BNSF train derailed in the town of Raymond, roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of Minneapolis, around 1 a.m., according to a statement from Kandiyohi County Sheriff Eric Tollefson.

    This latest derailment happened as the nation has been increasingly focused on railroad safety after last month’s fiery Norfolk Southern derailment that prompted evacuations in East Palestine, Ohio, near the Pennsylvania border.

    Residents in that town of about 5,000 remain concerned about lingering health impacts after officials decided to release and burn toxic chemicals to prevent a tank car explosion. State and federal officials maintain that no harmful levels of toxic chemicals have been found in the air or water there, but residents remain uneasy.

    The major freight railroads have said they plan to add about 1,000 more trackside detectors nationwide to help spot equipment problems, but federal regulators and members of Congress have proposed additional reforms they want the railroads to make to prevent future derailments.

    BNSF officials said 22 cars derailed, including about 10 carrying ethanol, and the track remains blocked, but that no injuries were reported due to the accident. The cause of the derailment hasn’t been determined. EPA officials said on Twitter that four ethanol cars ruptured and the flammable fuel additive caught fire in the derailment. They continued to burn Thursday morning ten hours after the derailment.

    Photos and live video from the scene show a pile of crumpled train cars surrounded by snow with several tank cars still burning. Trucks line the roads on either side of the derailment and a semitrailer brought in a backhoe to help begin the cleanup once the fire is out.

    BNSF CEO Katie Farmer apologized at a news conference with Gov. Tim Walz and other Minnesota officials Thursday morning and said that the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad works hard to prevent derailments and it will start cleaning up the mess as soon as it is able to get access to the site after the fire is extinguished.

    “We will have our team here until this is cleaned up,” she said.

    The entire town of Raymond had to be evacuated because it is all within 1/2 mile (0.8 kilometers) of the derailment, and residents of about 250 homes were taken to a shelter in nearby Prinsburg. The people who evacuated are expected to be able to return to their homes later Thursday morning, but Farmer said anyone who has to get a hotel room will be reimbursed.

    Walz and railroad officials said they aren’t especially concerned about groundwater contamination from this derailment because much of the ethanol will burn off and the ground remains frozen.

    “What you see right now is cars on top of each other, they’re burning, and it’s a scary situation. … You see the tanker car burning, your first thought is that that’s a big bomb waiting to explode on that. I hope you know that the safeguards that were put in place … is to make sure they don’t explode,” Walz said. “And they are punctured, they are leaking. The good news probably is with the relatively frozen ground, that the ethanol will burn off.”

    Environmental Protection Agency officials from the same regional office that responded to the Ohio derailment arrived on site and started monitoring the air around the derailment for toxic chemicals by 6:30 a.m. Thursday.

    The Federal Railroad Administration, the Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are all responding to the derailment, and the NTSB said a team will conduct a safety investigation into the derailment.

    It doesn’t appear likely that this BNSF train would have been covered by the additional safety regulations for high-hazardous flammable trains because those rules only apply when a train has either a block of 20 flammable liquid cars or more than 35 total flammable liquid cars on the train. Those rules that require additional safety measures and notice to states were developed after a string of fiery crude oil and ethanol derailments a decade ago.

    But officials said the tank cars involved in Thursday’s derailment were the upgraded triple-hulled DOT-117 cars required by those 2015 rules that are designed to better contain the chemicals in an accident. The railroad said ethanol was the only hazardous material aboard the train.

    Earlier this month, another BNSF train derailed in Washington and spilled 3,100 gallons of diesel fuel near the Swinomish Channel on that tribe’s reservation after a safety device meant to keep a train from crossing onto an open swinging bridge malfunctioned.

    The Association of American Railroads trade group likes to tout that 99.9% of all hazardous materials shipments that railroads haul reach their destinations safety, but this Minnesota derailment and the one in Ohio demonstrate how even a single crash involving hazardous materials can be disastrous. Railroads say that safety has generally been improving over the years, but there were still more than 1,000 derailments last year, according to Federal Railroad Administration data.

    Hazardous materials account for about 7% to 8% of the 30 million shipments that railroads deliver across the country every year.

    BNSF is owned by Warren Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate.

    ___

    Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Steve Karnowski contributed from Minneapolis.

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  • Tourists hoping to see Arizona falls forced out by flooding

    Tourists hoping to see Arizona falls forced out by flooding

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    PHOENIX — Shannon Castellano and Travis Methvin should have spent this weekend seeing world-famous waterfalls on the Havasupai Tribe Reservation in northern Arizona.

    Instead, the two friends from San Diego spent Friday night along with 40 other hikers camped out on a helipad. But sleep was elusive because tribal members warned that an emergency services helicopter could potentially land anytime during the night.

    “Yeah, so we didn’t really sleep,” Castellano said Saturday while driving to a hotel in Sedona. “I just kept one eye open really and one ear open … You just do not expect any of that to happen. So, I think I’m still in shock that I’m not even there right now.”

    Tourists hoping to reach the breathtaking waterfalls on the reservation instead went through harrowing flood evacuations.

    The official Havasupai Tribe Tourism Facebook page reported Friday that flooding had washed away a bridge to the campground. An unknown number of campers were evacuated to Supai Village, with some being rescued by helicopter.

    The campground is in a lower-lying area than the village of Supai. Some hikers had to camp in the village. Others who weren’t able to get to the village because of high water were forced to camp overnight on a trail.

    But floodwaters were starting to recede as of Saturday morning, according to the tribe’s Facebook post.

    Visitors with the proper permits will be allowed to hike to the village and campground. They will be met with tribal guides, who will help them navigate around creek waters on a back trail to get to the campground.

    Tourists will not be permitted to take pictures. The back trail goes past sites considered sacred by the tribe.

    Meanwhile, the tribe said in its statement that it has “all hands on deck” to build a temporary bridge to the campground.

    Abbie Fink, a spokesperson for the tribe, referred to the tribe’s Facebook page when reached for comment Saturday.

    Methvin and Castellano decided to leave by helicopter Saturday rather than navigate muddy trails with a guide. Despite losing money on a pre-paid, three-day stay, Methvin says they can still try to salvage their trip. Having only received permits last month, he feels especially sad for hikers they met with reservations from 2020.

    “They waited three years to get there,” Methvin said. “At least we have the ability to go do something else versus having that whole weekend ruined. It sucks, but it’s making lemonade for us.”

    From Supai to Sedona, several areas of northern Arizona have been slammed this week by storms. The resulting snow combined with snowmelt at higher elevations has wreaked havoc on highways, access roads and even city streets.

    The flooding of the Havasupai campground comes as the tribe reopened access last month to its reservation and various majestic blue-green waterfalls — for the first time since March 2020. The tribe opted to close to protect its members from the coronavirus. Officials then decided to extend the closure through last year’s tourism season.

    At the beginning of this year, President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration initiated by the Havasupai Tribe, freeing up funds for flood damage sustained in October. Flooding at that time had destroyed several bridges and left downed trees on trails necessary for tourists and transportation of goods into Supai Village.

    Permits to visit are highly coveted. Pre-pandemic, the tribe received an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 visitors per year to its reservation deep in a gorge west of Grand Canyon National Park. The area is reachable only by foot or helicopter, or by riding a horse or mule. Visitors can either camp or stay in a lodge.

    Castellano is already planning to try to get a permit again later this year if there are cancellations. “We just want to see i in all its glory, not muddy falls,” she said.

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  • Flooding, landslides as atmospheric river departs California

    Flooding, landslides as atmospheric river departs California

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    LOS ANGELES — Southern California residents weary of a storm-soaked winter were hit Wednesday by parting shots from the season’s 11th atmospheric river, which flooded roadways, caused landslides and toppled trees throughout the state.

    Water pooled on roadways, rocks and mud littered others, and there were reports of potholes that disabled numerous cars. Flooding closed several miles of Pacific Coast Highway through Huntington Beach, south of Los Angeles on the Orange County coast.

    Three clifftop apartment buildings were evacuated when earth slid away from their backyards in coastal San Clemente, the Orange County Fire Authority said. Residents were also cleared out of a nearby building as the severity of the slide was studied.

    Orange County had already declared a local emergency when a similar hillside collapsed on March 3 in Newport Beach, leaving a house uninhabitable and endangering others.

    Statewide, more than 143,000 utility customers remained without power Wednesday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom surveyed flood damage in an agricultural region on the central coast, noting that California could potentially see a 12th atmospheric river next week.

    “Look back — last few years in this state, it’s been fire to ice with no warm bath in between,” the Democrat said, describing “weather whiplash” in a state that has quickly gone from extreme drought and wildfires to overwhelming snow and rain.

    “If anyone has any doubt about Mother Nature and her fury, if anyone has any doubt about what this is all about in terms of what’s happening to the climate and the changes that we are experiencing, come to California,” the governor said.

    California’s latest atmospheric river was one of two storm systems that bookended the U.S. this week. Parts of New England and New York were digging out of a nor’easter Wednesday that caused tens of thousands of power outages, numerous school cancellations and whiteout conditions on roads.

    Remaining showers across Southern California were expected to decrease through Wednesday evening as the storm headed toward parts of the Great Basin. The weather service said California will see minor precipitation this weekend, followed by another substantial storm next week.

    For downtown Los Angeles, the National Weather Service said just under two feet of rain (61 centimeters) has been recorded so far this water year — making this the 14th wettest in more than 140 years of records.

    An overnight mudslide onto a road in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles County trapped two cars, KNBC-TV reported. Another hillside in the neighborhood also gave way, threatening the foundation of a hilltop home.

    Statewide, about 27,000 people remained under evacuation orders and more than 61,000 were under warnings to be ready to evacuate due to weather impacts, according to the California Office of Emergency Services. Emergency shelters housed 676 people Tuesday night.

    Weather in the northern and central sections of the state had dried out earlier, following Tuesday’s heavy rain and fierce winds that blew out windows on a San Francisco high-rise and gusted to 74 mph (119 kph) at the city’s airport.

    The governor issued emergency declarations for three more counties on Tuesday, raising the total to 43 of the state’s 58 counties.

    Despite California’s rains winding down, flood warnings remain in effect on the central coast for the Salinas and Pajaro rivers in Monterey County and other rivers in the Central Valley as water runs off land that has been saturated by storms since late December.

    Runoff from a powerful atmospheric river last week burst a levee on the Pajaro River, triggering evacuations as water flooded farmland and agricultural communities. Nearly half of the people under evacuation orders were in Monterey County.

    The first phase of repairs on the 400-foot (120-meter) levee breach was completed Tuesday afternoon and crews were working to raise the section to full height, county officials said.

    Damage continued to emerge elsewhere in the state. In the Sequoia National Forest, the Alta Sierra Ski Resort said it would be closed for at least two weeks because of extensive flooding and infrastructure damage, citing the U.S. Forest Service. There is also “massive slide potential” on the highway serving the resort, the resort tweeted.

    California was deep in drought before an unexpected series of atmospheric rivers barreled into the state from late December through mid-January, causing flooding while building a staggering snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.

    Storms powered by arctic air followed in February, creating blizzard conditions that buried mountain communities under so much snow that structures began collapsing.

    The water content of the Sierra snowpack is now more than 200% of the April 1 average, when it normally peaks, according to the state Department of Water Resources.

    Hollywood stars splashed down a rain-soaked red carpet in Los Angeles at Tuesday’s premiere of “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” where rainfall totals are double the normal average.

    The film’s stars — including Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu and Rachel Zegler — tiptoed over the saturated rug as they unsuccessfully tried to stay dry.

    “My feet are wet,” said Zegler. “I’m a little bit bummed, I’m not gonna lie.”

    ___

    AP Photojournalist Krysta Fauria contributed to this report.

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  • As atmospheric river exits, another awaits to hit California

    As atmospheric river exits, another awaits to hit California

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    WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Wet, miserable weather continued across huge swaths of California on Sunday as an atmospheric river that caused major flooding flowed eastward, and as a new system threatens the region with another onslaught of rain, snow and gusting winds as soon as Monday night.

    The National Weather Service said the next torrent could exacerbate the severe flooding that overwhelmed the area in recent days, causing a levee failure that prompted widespread evacuations Saturday in farming communities near the state’s Central Coast.

    The next system is not expected to bring as much rain, but forecasters cautioned that “considerable flooding” could occur in lower elevations from additional rain and snowmelt that could swell creeks and streams.

    “Definitely prepare for some more flooding impacts. The ground is very saturated. We’re already seeing some impacts from some light amounts even today,” National Weather Service forecaster Eleanor Dhuyvetter said.

    The rain and snow is expected to extend from Central California to Oregon, as well as northern Nevada.

    Of particular concern are the expected strong winds. The weather service is predicting wind gusts of up to 50 mph (80 kph) in some places — which could potentially snap tree branches and damage power lines.

    But the new storm is moving fast, meaning it won’t have time to dump as much rain.

    Over the past two days, more than 20 inches (50 centimeters) of snow fell at a measuring station in the Sierra Nevada, and the new system is expected to pack even more. The snowpack is now nearly twice the average — the highest amount of snowfall in about four decades, according to UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab.

    The snowpack stores much-needed water for a state seeking to emerge from a three-year drought.

    As much as a foot (30 centimeters) of rain fell in the Big Sur area of the state over a two-day period, weather data.

    Authorities suggest that residents have a plan in case further evacuations orders are issued.

    Across Monterey County, more than 8,500 people were evacuated Saturday, including roughly 1,700 residents — many of them Latino farmworkers — from the unincorporated community of Pajaro.

    “We are still in disaster response mode,” said Monterey County spokesman Nicholas Pasculli on Sunday. He said the county is staging high water rescue teams around the county and opening more shelters in anticipation of more flooding as the new storm rolls in.

    The flooding has impacted drinking water facilities in Pajaro. Officials said residents should not drink tap water for cooking or drinking until further notice.

    Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, is closed at several points along Big Sur as well as near Pajaro due to flooding.

    The atmospheric river, known as a “Pineapple Express” because it brought warm subtropical moisture across the Pacific from near Hawaii, was melting lower parts of the huge snowpack in California’s mountains.

    Because of the massive flooding over the early weekend, more than 50 people had to be rescued by first responders and the California National Guard. One video showed a Guard member helping a driver out of a car trapped by water up to their waists.

    The extent of property damages was still uncertain but Luis Alejo, chair of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, sought help from the state and federal governments.

    “The need will be great! Will take months for our residents to repair homes!” he wrote in a tweet Saturday.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared emergencies in 34 counties in recent weeks, and the Biden administration approved a presidential disaster declaration for some on Friday morning, moving to expedite more federal assistance. President Joe Biden spoke with Newsom on Saturday to pledge federal support for California’s emergency response, the White House said.

    Weather-related power outages affected more than 17,000 customers in Monterey County late Saturday, according to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. By late Sunday morning, about 7,000 were still without electricity.

    The governor’s office said it was continuing to monitor the situation in Pajaro.

    The Pajaro River separates the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey. Officials had been working along the river’s levee system in the hopes of shoring it up when it was breached around midnight Friday into Saturday. Crews began working to fix the levee around daybreak Saturday as residents slept in evacuation centers.

    Built in the late 40s to provide flood protection, the levee has been a known risk for decades with periodic signs of significant trouble. In the 1990s the levee was breached several times, prompting flooding that led to evacuations and disaster declarations. Emergency repairs to a section of the berm was undertaken in January. A $400 million rebuild is slated to begin in 2025.

    This week’s storm marked the state’s 10th atmospheric river of the winter, storms that have brought enormous amounts of rain and snow to the state and helped lessen drought conditions that had dragged on for three years. State reservoirs that had dipped to strikingly low levels are now well above the average for this time of year, prompting state officials to release water from dams to assist with flood control and make room for even more rain.

    ___

    Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz, California, and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York contributed.

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  • Storm breaches California river’s levee, thousands evacuate

    Storm breaches California river’s levee, thousands evacuate

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    WATSONVILLE, Calif. — A Northern California agricultural community famous for its strawberry crop was forced to evacuate early Saturday after the Pajaro River’s levee was breached by flooding from a new atmospheric river that pummeled the state.

    Across the Central Coast’s Monterey County, more than 8,500 people were under evacuation orders and warnings Saturday, including roughly 1,700 residents — many of them Latino farmworkers — from the unincorporated community of Pajaro.

    Officials said the Pajaro River’s levee breach is about 100 feet (30.48 meters) wide. Crews had gone door to door Friday afternoon to urge residents to leave before the rains came but some stayed and had to be pulled from floodwaters early Saturday.

    First responders and the California National Guard rescued more than 50 people overnight. One video showed a member of the Guard helping a driver out of a car trapped by water up to their waists.

    “We were hoping to avoid and prevent this situation, but the worst case scenario has arrived with the Pajaro River overtopping and levee breaching at about midnight,” wrote Luis Alejo, chair of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, on Twitter.

    Alejo called the flooding “massive,” saying the damage will take months to repair.

    The Pajaro River separates the counties of Santa Cruz and Monterey in the area that flooded Saturday. Floodwaters that got into the region’s wells might be contaminated with chemicals, officials said, and residents were told not to drink or cook with tap water for fear of illness.

    Officials had been working along the levee in the hopes of shoring it up when it was breached around midnight Friday into Saturday. Crews began working to fix the levee around daybreak Saturday as residents slept in evacuation centers.

    Oliver Gonzalez, 12, told The Associated Press that he, his mother and his aunt were rescued around 5 a.m. Saturday in Parajo. He grabbed his laptop, cellphone and some important documents but so much was left behind in their rush to leave.

    “I’m kinda scared,” he said several hours later from an evacuation center in nearby Watsonville. “My mom’s car was left in the water.”

    Anais Rodriguez, 37, said first responders knocked on her home’s door shortly after midnight. Her family packed about four days’ worth of clothing and drove out to safety. She and her two children, her husband and her parents — along with their dog, Mila — arrived at the shelter about an hour later with few answers about what this would mean for their community going forward.

    Weather-related power outages affected more than 17,000 customers in Monterey County late Saturday, according to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office on Saturday said it was monitoring the situation in Pajaro.

    “Our thoughts are with everyone impacted and the state has mobilized to support the community,” the governor’s office wrote on Twitter.

    The Pajaro Valley is a coastal agricultural area known for growing strawberries, apples, cauliflower, broccoli and artichokes. National brands like Driscoll’s Strawberries and Martinelli’s are headquartered in the region.

    In 1995, the Pajaro River’s levees broke, submerging 2,500 acres (1,011 hectares) of farmland and the community of Pajaro. Two peopled died and the flooding caused nearly $100 million in damage. A state law, passed last year, advanced state funds for a levee project. It was scheduled to start construction in 2024.

    State Sen. John Laird, who spearheaded the law and represents the area, said the project is fully funded now but it just came down to bad timing with this year’s rains.

    “It’s tragic, we were so close to getting this done before any storms,” he said.

    This week’s storm marked the state’s 10th atmospheric river of the winter, storms that have brought enormous amounts of rain and snow to the state and helped lessen the drought conditions that had dragged on for three years. State reservoirs that had dipped to strikingly low levels are now well above the average for this time of year, prompting state officials to release water from dams to assist with flood control and make room for even more rain.

    Across the state on Saturday, Californians contended with drenching rains and rising water levels in the atmospheric river’s aftermath. In Tulare County, the sheriff ordered residents who live near the Tule River to evacuate, while people near the Poso Creek in Kern County were under an evacuation warning. The National Weather Service’s meteorologists issued flood warnings and advisories, begging motorists to stay off deluged roadways.

    In San Francisco, an 85-foot (25.91 meter) eucalyptus tree fell onto the Trocadero Clubhouse early Saturday morning. The 1892 clubhouse, a San Francisco historical landmark, was left severely damaged, with part of the roof crushed and the inside flooded.

    Funnel clouds were spotted in the Jamestown area — the heart of California’s Gold Rush — on Saturday afternoon and the weather service issued a tornado warning — later canceled — for the Sierra Nevada foothills as severe thunderstorms, hail and high winds blanketed the region. Another set of tornado warnings were briefly issued in Fresno Count y, nearly 100 miles (160.93 kilometers) south of Gold Country. Flash flooding warnings were in effect late Saturday in Tuolumne County, with roads submerged around Sonora and neighboring communities.

    There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

    Newsom has declared emergencies in 34 counties in recent weeks, and the Biden administration approved a presidential disaster declaration for some on Friday morning, a move that will bring more federal assistance. President Biden spoke with Newsom on Saturday to pledge the federal government’s support in California’s response to the emergency, the White House said.

    The atmospheric river, known as a “Pineapple Express” because it brought warm subtropical moisture across the Pacific from near Hawaii, was melting lower parts of the huge snowpack built in California’s mountains.

    Yet another atmospheric river is already in the forecast for early next week. State climatologist Michael Anderson said a third appeared to be taking shape over the Pacific and possibly a fourth.

    California appeared to be “well on its way to a fourth year of drought” before the early winter series of storms, Anderson said Friday. “We’re in a very different condition now,” he added.

    The National Weather Service on Saturday forecasted an intensified bout of rain and snow Monday through Wednesday, with considerable flooding possible along the state’s central coast, San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys and the southern Sierra Nevada foothills into midweek.

    Another round of heavy, wet snow is expected to hit the Sierras and areas of high elevation mid-week, the weather service said. Officials reported about 32 inches (81 centimeters) of snow had fallen by Saturday morning at the Mount Rose ski resort on the edge of Reno, Nevada.

    __

    Dazio reported from Los Angeles.

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  • Florida flight returns to Cuba after birds cause engine fire

    Florida flight returns to Cuba after birds cause engine fire

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    A flight to Florida from Cuba was forced to turn back Sunday after it struck birds that caused an engine to catch fire and filled the cabin with smoke

    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A flight to Florida from Cuba was forced to turn back Sunday after it struck birds that caused an engine to catch fire and filled the cabin with smoke, a news report said.

    Southwest Airlines flight 2923 headed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, returned to Havana after striking the birds, WSVN-TV reported.

    No injuries were reported.

    The plane departed José Martí international Airport in Havana enroute to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Sunday afternoon. The aircraft was gaining altitude and “experienced bird strikes to an engine and the aircraft’s nose,” the airline said in a statement to the television station.

    A passenger told WSVN that the impact sent fumes through the airplane and caused emergency oxygen masks to deploy.

    “It was like a burn smell, and it was hurting my face. My eyes got real red, my chest started to burn,” Steven Rodriguez said.

    After safely landing in Cuba, some passengers evacuated onto the wings through emergency exits and others used inflatable slides to leave the plane, WSVN reported.

    The airline transported passengers and crew members to the airport terminal and planned to put the customers on a different flight to Fort Lauderdale, the station reported.

    Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking additional information.

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  • Fire at Indonesian oil depot kills 17; thousands evacuated

    Fire at Indonesian oil depot kills 17; thousands evacuated

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    A large fire has broken out at a fuel storage depot in Indonesia’s capital, killing at least 17 people, injuring dozens of others and forcing the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents after spreading to their neighborhood

    ByACHMAD IBRAHIM Associated Press

    JAKARTA, Indonesia — A large fire broke out at a fuel storage depot in Indonesia’s capital on Friday, killing at least 17 people, injuring dozens of others and forcing the evacuation of thousands of nearby residents after spreading to their neighborhood, officials said.

    The fuel storage station, operated by state-run oil and gas company Pertamina, is near a densely populated area in the 0Tanah Merah neighborhood in North Jakarta. It supplies 25% of Indonesia’s fuel needs.

    At least 260 firefighters and 52 fire engines were struggling to contain the blaze in the nearby neighborhood, fire officials said.

    Video of the fire broadcast on television showed hundreds of people in the community running in panic while thick plumes of black smoke and orange flames filled the sky and firefighters battled the blaze.

    A preliminary investigation showed the fire broke out when a pipeline ruptured during heavy rain, possibly from a lightning strike, said Eko Kristiawan, Pertamina’s area manager.

    He said the fire would not disrupt the country’s fuel supply.

    Satriadi Gunawan, who heads Jakarta’s fire and rescue department, said people living in the residential area were still being evacuated and were being taken to a nearby village hall and a mosque.

    “The fire caused several explosions and quickly spread to residential houses,” Gunawan said.

    He said at least 17 people were dead, including two children, and 50 had been hospitalized, some with severe burns.

    Indonesia’s minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir, expressed his condolences to the victims and their families and ordered Pertamina to thoroughly investigate the fire and focus on quickly assisting the community.

    “There must be an operational evaluation in the future. I’ll continue to monitor this case,” Thohir said in a video statement.

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