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Tag: rescue operations

  • Turkey halts most rescue efforts for earthquake survivors | CNN

    Turkey halts most rescue efforts for earthquake survivors | CNN

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    Istanbul, Turkey
    CNN
     — 

    Turkey has ended most search and rescue operations, nearly two weeks after a huge earthquake killed tens of thousands of people, the country’s disaster management authority said.

    Search and rescue efforts are still underway in 40 buildings in two provinces, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay, the agency’s head Yunus Sezer said, according to state news agency Anadolu.

    Survivors have continued to be found alive under the rubble since the quake struck. On Saturday, a couple and their 12-year-old child were rescued in Hatay, 296 hours after the earthquake, Anadolu reported. The child later died.

    In photos: Deadly quake strikes Turkey and Syria

    Ilan Kelman, professor of disasters and health at University College London, told CNN that, while there is a precedent for people surviving for this many days after previous earthquakes, “it is unusual.”

    “Fundamentally, our bodies can be resilient, but a lot comes down to sheer luck,” Kelman said.

    There is a “hierarchy” of needs in these survival situations, he said. “The rule of thumb is three minutes without oxygen, three days without water, three weeks without food,” he said, meaning “there has to be survivable space…enough oxygen.”

    Hatay was one of the worst affected of the Turkish provinces hit by the February 6 quake. At least 80% of its buildings will need to be rebuilt after being demolished, the province’s mayor Lutfu Savas said Sunday.

    “We need more tents urgently. It will be cold for one more month. People are scared to stay at their homes, but they do not want to leave their animals behind, especially in urban areas,” he said in an interview with Turkish news channel Haberturk.

    Turkey’s latest death toll now stands at 40,689 after 47 more deaths were reported, with the collective count across Turkey and Syria having risen to at least 46,530, Anadolu added.

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  • How ‘extraordinary’ survivors are still being pulled from rubble 10 days after massive earthquake | CNN

    How ‘extraordinary’ survivors are still being pulled from rubble 10 days after massive earthquake | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    More than 10 days after the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, people continue to be pulled from the rubble alive, defying expectations for survival after so many hours.

    “We, of course, thought this wouldn’t be possible, because getting somebody out alive after 10 days would’ve been a really great surprise for us,” rescue worker Özer Aydinli told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta this week.

    Aydinli and his team rescued a 13-year-old boy named Mustafa from the rubble 228 hours – nearly 10 days – after the quake.

    “When [our friends] said, ‘We found a person alive,’ we thought, ‘No, they must be hallucinating.’ We couldn’t believe it. But it is a miracle. … The only thing we can say is that this is a great miracle,” he said.

    Search and rescue teachings have historically emphasized the “golden 48 hours” after a building collapse in which the chance of live rescues is highest. Some studies say the majority of live rescues happen within the first five or six days.

    However, people continue to be rescued alive from the rubble of the February 6 quake, including Mustafa.

    “I have no clue how he survived for 228 hours, because as the excavator was in operation, there was more debris falling around, filling the space above and under him, and so we couldn’t see any intact residential structure, because it was all rubble,” rescue worker Uğur Sevgin told Gupta. “Then, from the rubble, we got him out, digging him out by hand.”

    Amid the rubble, Aydinli said, there was just a pair of eyes and then the call of “Brother!”

    “When we saw it, when we heard it, there were 70, 80 people in the crew, and when we said there was a person alive, all our friends swarmed the area,” Aydinli said. “Nobody moved, and we all cried. And even now, we get tears in our eyes from time to time.”

    Aydinli says Mustafa may have been trapped in the “triangle of life,” explained by a theory that when buildings collapse, ceilings fall on objects or furniture inside, leaving a viable space next to the person.

    “After seeing Mustafa, I absolutely believe that there will be others. It is a miracle,” Sevgin said. “But, of course, it seems scientifically impossible. It has been 10 days and counting.”

    Some rescue teams follow a “rule of fours,” which assumes that trapped people can survive four minutes without air, four days without water and four weeks without food.

    However, research suggests that “rigid, universal timeframes” may be inaccurate, as survival can be extended under rare conditions.

    In Turkey, for example, experts say those who were stuck in collapsed residential buildings may have had access to some source of water or food.

    “You really only need a little bit of air, oxygen, water and probably a little bit of food to survive, hopefully just enough to get to a point where the rescuers can find you,” said Dr. Jarone Lee, an emergency and disaster medicine expert at Massachusetts General Hospital. “But I think it also relates to what kind of injuries happen during the initial sort of collapse and insult, if they only had a minor injury versus a major injury to the internal organs like your liver and such.”

    Lee said a person’s baseline health status is key. Those with pre-existing medical conditions – who may be unable to access their medication or whose medication includes side effects such as dehydration – have a lower likelihood of survival.

    “I do think that the ones that will continue to be found will be the younger, probably kids and other folks who are more robust. … Kids are usually smaller too, and there’s always a chance that they might be in an area of the collapse that they can survive longer just because they are smaller,” Lee said.

    Experts say cold temperatures may prevent dehydration and heat exhaustion among trapped people, but the subfreezing temperatures in Turkey and Syria are doing more harm than good.

    “In trauma patients, cold temperature is not a good thing for the physiology in general. After some degree of hypothermia, cardiac arrest can be a problem. Blood clotting factors do not work well, and other serious physiologic derangements happen,” said Dr. Girma Tefera, medical director of the American College of Surgeons’ Operation Giving Back.

    Advances in search and rescue training and technologies, including the use of dogs, drones and on-site IV rehydration, may also account for the extended survival times.

    Lee said that although he is hopeful there will be many more survivors, these are “extraordinary or rare circumstances” amid the more than 43,000 deaths after the earthquake. “These are in many ways still a handful of survivors in a massive amount of unfortunate devastation and death.”

    Rescue is only the beginning of a survivor’s road to recovery.

    At the Adana City Teaching and Research Hospital, the largest trauma hospital in the region, more than 5,000 patients were treated in the week after the earthquake.

    Dr. Suleyman Cetinkunar, chief of staff at the hospital, told Gupta that the majority of injuries include “limb loss, tissue crushes and brain trauma.”

    In addition to traumatic injuries from the collapse, patients may have “crush syndrome,” when compressed muscle tissues are finally freed and broken down, releasing toxins into the blood. These toxins can injure the kidneys and lead to kidney failure, causing seemingly stable patients to rapidly deteriorate after rescue.

    An earthquake survivor was flown to Adana City Teaching and Research Hospital to receive care.

    During their interview, the team received another call to the helipad to receive a 26-year-old who had crush syndrome and was in need of immediate dialysis.

    “Even just getting out of the rubble is a big step to get them stabilized into the hospital. But they are not out of the woods in any way. There’s a good chance that they still might not survive in the hospital,” said Massachusetts General’s Lee.

    Receiving lifesaving medical care becomes even more difficult as hospital buildings, like most other buildings, were not spared by the earthquake.

    The government and nonprofit organizations have set up field hospitals, tent hospitals and even hospital ships to continue to care for earthquake victims.

    Gupta spoke to doctors who are performing essential orthopedic surgery in tents set up in the parking lot of a ruined hospital in Antakya, Hatay province.

    “I’ve worked in places before where people like this don’t have the operation. They lay at home, languish. Some of them would get bedsores, blood clots, pneumonia and maybe die from that,” Dr. Greg Hellwarth, an orthopedic surgeon from Indiana, told Gupta.

    Dr. Elliott Tenpenny, an ER doctor from North Carolina and director of the International Health Unit for Samaritan’s Purse, showed Gupta around the field hospital where, amid 5.0 aftershocks, they continue to manage critical conditions like blood loss and asthma.

    “It’s not just about the broken bones and the crush injuries. It’s about these patients also,” Tenpenny told Gupta.

    The floating hospital also provides immediate beds, operating rooms and even a maternity ward. Unlike the field hospitals on the ground, hospital ships are relatively protected from the aftershocks that continue to devastate the land, the captain told Gupta.

    Experts say this disaster causes disruptions in the health care system that put people with chronic medical conditions at risk of losing access to lifesaving medications or medical appointments.

    “The consequences of that are going to be in weeks to years, months to years,” Lee said. “The fallout is going to be unfortunately massive from this.”

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  • Three survivors pulled alive from earthquake rubble in Turkey, more than 248 hours after quake | CNN

    Three survivors pulled alive from earthquake rubble in Turkey, more than 248 hours after quake | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    At least three more people, including two minors, have been incredibly pulled alive from the rubble of a devastating earthquake, 10 days after it struck parts of Turkey and Syria.

    A 17-year-old Aleyna Ölmez was dubbed the “miracle girl” when she was pulled alive from the rubble in Turkey on Thursday, 248 hours after the Feb. 6 quake, as rescue efforts shift to recovery operations ten days on from the disaster.

    Her rescue was later followed by that of Neslihan Kilic, 30, and a 12-year-old boy named Osman, who told rescuers that there were more people buried nearby.

    At least 43,885 people have died across Turkey and neighboring Syria following the powerful 7.8 magnitude quake, according to authorities. Efforts to retrieve survivors have been hampered by a cold winter spell across quake-stricken regions, while authorities grapple with the logistical challenges of transporting aid into northwestern Syria amid an acute humanitarian crisis compounded by years of political strife.

    Amid recriminations in Turkey over the scale of damage, at least 54 people have been arrested in the country in connection with buildings that were destroyed or damaged from the earthquake, according to Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ on Thursday.

    Earlier Thursday, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced an appeal for $1 billion in aid towards earthquake relief efforts in Turkey over the course of three months. It came two days after the UN launched a flash appeal for $397 million in earthquake aid for Syria, also covering a three-month period as humanitarian bodies stress the need for psychological and mental health services in the affected regions.

    Turkey’s state news channel TRT Haber crew visited teenager Aleyna Ölmez in the hospital room after the rescue operation and talked to her and her doctors and family members. Speaking from her hospital bed, TRT Haber cameras showed Aleyna’s eyes open, her body covered up to her neck, and tubes inserted for oxygen supplements.

    Alyena was taken directly to Kahramanmaraş Sutcu Imam University Faculty of Medicine after the rescue operation on Thursday.

    A video showed Aleyna’s aunt and grandmother next to her bedside, touching her face and kissing her hands. When the TRT Haber correspondent reached out to Aleyna with a microphone asking how she was doing, Aleyna shook her head and smiled.

    Rescue team miners gather after Aleyna Olmez, dubbed the

    Aleyna’s doctor Prof. Dilber said he was very surprised by Aleyna’s good health condition and told TRT Haber: “She couldn’t eat anything and drank nothing the whole time (when she was under the rubble), but she was still in a good condition.”

    Dr. Dilber added that “since she couldn’t move under the rubble at all, we could say that her inactivity has protected Aleyna a little and she needed energy and she has endured during this time, but I guess we can’t explain it that way.”

    The moment Aleyna was brought into the hospital, she was conscious and talking to the doctors. “We have made the necessary interventions. Body imaging was done, and blood tests were taken. She was in a very good condition,” Dr. Dilber told TRT Haber.

    “There was no hypothermia. Blood tests also showed very good kidney functions. Muscle enzymes weren’t too high. Fluid therapy started immediately. After the fluid therapy, Aleyna still spoke to us very well,” he added.

    Hacer Atlas, a member of the search and rescue team who saved the young quake victim told Turkey’s state-run news agency Anadolu that they were able to reach Aleyna after long and tiring efforts.

    “First we held her hand, then we took her out. She is in very good condition, and she can communicate. I hope we will continue to receive good news about her,” Atlas said about the moment when they found Aleyna.

    TRT Haber reported later that Aleyna was brought to the Turkish capital of Ankara by plane.

    Kilic, the 30-year-old woman who was rescued on Thursday, 258 hours after the quake, was also found in Kahramanmaras, where she and her family used to live on the seventh floor of the Ebrar apartment complex, according to her brother-in-law Gazi Yildirim.

    Yildirim told CNN Turk that her husband and two children – two and five years old – were still under the rubble.

    Despite the violence of the earthquake and the long wait to be rescued, Kilic was able to talk and tell rescuers her name when they pulled her out of the rubble, he said.

    Yildirim started crying when he told the CNN Turk reporter that they had already prepared Kilic’s grave.

    “May Allah save others. She has two children and a husband who is still under the rubble,” Yildirim said.

    Hours later, a 12-year-old boy named Osman was also rescued in southern Hatay province.

    According to CNN Turk, Osman too appeared to be in relatively good condition, and was found in a sitting position in a hole surrounded by the beams and rubble. He was taken to a hospital for medical check up.

    Osman told the rescue team that there was another person in the same location. Police searched the area with guide dogs after Osman was rescued and they intensified their operations looking for the second person.

    The three join a small group of quake survivors who have defied predictions that the time for survival had passed earlier this week. On Tuesday, a 77-year-old woman was pulled alive from the rubble in the city of Adiyaman some 212 hours after the earthquake struck, Anadolu reported.

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  • Turkey rescuers say voices are still being heard under the rubble | CNN

    Turkey rescuers say voices are still being heard under the rubble | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Rescue teams in southern Turkey say they are still hearing voices from under the rubble more than a week after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, offering a glimmer of hope of finding more survivors.

    Live images broadcast on CNN affiliate CNN Turk showed rescuers working in two areas of the Kahramanmaras region, where they were trying to save three sisters believed to be buried under the debris.

    In the same region, emergency workers saved a 35-year-old woman who was believed to have been buried for around 205 hours, according to state broadcaster TRT Haber.

    Two brothers – 17-year-old Muhammed Enes Yeninar and 21-year-old brother Abdulbaki Yennir – were also pulled from collapsed buildings on Tuesday, the broadcaster also reported. Further east, in the city of Adiyaman, rescuers pulled an 18-year-old boy and a man alive from the rubble, while Ukraine’s rescue team pulled a woman alive out of the rubble in the southern province of Hatay, according to CNN Turk.

    Eight days after the tremor and its violent aftershocks, more than 41,200 people have been confirmed dead across Turkey and Syria, and survival stories are becoming few and far between.

    UNICEF said it fears that even without verified numbers, it is “tragically clear” that the number of children killed following the quake “will continue to grow.”

    James Elder, a spokesman for the United Nations children’s agency, said 4.6 million children live in the 10 Turkish provinces hit by the disaster, while in Syria, 2.5 million children have been affected.

    A woman sits on the rubble of her destroyed house on Tuesday in Kahramanmaras, Turkey.

    Earthquake victims injured in Kahramanmaras arrive at Ataturk Airport by military cargo plane of Turkish Armed Forces for further medical treatment in Istanbul, Turkey on February 14, 2023.

    As rescue operations start to shift to recovery efforts, UN workers are racing to funnel aid to survivors in Syria through two new border crossings approved by the government in Damascus.

    The United Nations welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s decision on Monday to open “the two crossing points of Bab Al-Salam and Al Ra’ee” between Turkey and northwest Syria “for an initial period of three months to allow for the timely delivery of humanitarian aid.”

    Eleven trucks with UN aid crossed into northwest Syria via the Bab Al-Salam passage on Tuesday, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths tweeted, adding that 26 more trucks passed into the region via the Bab Al-Hawa crossing.

    The news came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday the two new border crossings that will take aid inside Syria from Turkey “are open and goods are flowing.”

    Guterres emphasized that human suffering from this natural disaster should not be made worse by manmade obstacles such as access, funding and supplies.

    The UN is launching a $397 million humanitarian appeal for victims of the earthquake in Syria for three months and finalizing a similar appeal for survivors in Turkey, Guterres announced.

    International aid has been slow to arrive in rebel-held areas in northern and northwestern Syria. The situation has been complicated by years of conflict and an already existing humanitarian crisis that has led to further difficulties for survivors who lack food, shelter and medicine as they battle freezing winter conditions.

    Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said last week that any aid the country receives must go through the capital Damascus. But many Western nations have been reluctant to lift sanctions despite requests from Assad, as the measures were placed on his regime after it led a brutal campaign in which hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed during the years-long civil war.

    Also on Tuesday, a Saudi Arabian plane carrying 35 tons of food, medical aid and shelter landed at Aleppo International Airport, in what is the first shipment of aid from the kingdom to government-held territory since the February 6 earthquake, Syrian state media reported.

    Two more planes of aid are scheduled to arrive in Syria on Wednesday and Thursday, according to Faleh al-Subei, the head of the aid department at the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.

    Meanwhile, Turkey’s Vice President Fuat Oktay has denied reports of food and aid shortages. There were “no problems with feeding the public” and “millions of blankets are being sent to all areas,” he said on live television.

    Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said more than 9,200 foreign personnel are taking part in the country’s search and rescue operations, while 100 countries have offered help so far.

    Syrians pictured in the northwestern province of Idlib on Monday dig graves for their relatives who died as a result of last week's deadly disaster.

    People displaced by the earthquake take refuge in shelters and temporary camps on the outskirts of Jenderes, northwest Syria, on Monday.

    On Monday, UN aid chief Griffiths said the rescue phase of the response was “coming to a close” during a visit to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

    “And now the humanitarian phase, the urgency of providing shelter, psychosocial care, food, schooling, and a sense of the future for these people, that’s our obligation now,” he said.

    After announcing an end to their search and rescue operation last week, the “White Helmets” group, officially known as Syria Civil Defense, on Monday declared a seven-day mourning period in rebel-controlled areas in the north of the country.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) stressed the need to “focus on trauma rehabilitation” when treating populations stricken by the devastating disaster.

    The WHO’s Turkey Representative Batyr Berdyklychev highlighted the “growing problem” of a “traumatized population,” forecasting the need for psychological and mental health services in the affected regions.

    “People only now start realizing what happened to them after this shock period,” Berdyklychev said while speaking at a media briefing from the Turkish city of Adana on Tuesday.

    The WHO is negotiating with Turkish authorities to make sure quake survivors can access mental health services, Berdyklychev added, noting that many people displaced by the quake to other areas of Turkey “will also need to be reached.”

    WHO Regional Director for Europe, Hans Kluge told the briefing that the “immediate priority” for the 22 emergency medical teams deployed by the WHO to Turkey is “working particularly to deal with the high number of trauma patients and catastrophic injuries.”

    CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify where the 18-year-old boy and a man were rescued, which was in the city of Adiyaman.

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  • Several rescue operations suspended in Syria and Turkey as chances of survival diminish | CNN

    Several rescue operations suspended in Syria and Turkey as chances of survival diminish | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Security risks put a handful of search and rescue operations on hold on Saturday, as the death toll of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey surpassed 25,000.

    Germany and Austria have suspended rescue operations in Turkey, citing security concerns.

    Meanwhile, rescue efforts in the rebel-controlled areas in north and northwest Syria have ended, announced volunteer organization Syria Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, on Friday.

    After searching for 108 hours, the group said it believes no one trapped under the rubble is still alive.

    Syria has been ravaged by civil war since 2011, and 4 million people were already reliant on humanitarian aid in the worst-affected parts of rebel-controlled country before Monday’s disaster.

    As many as 5.3 million people in Syria could have been affected by the quake and be in need of shelter support, according to preliminary data from the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, which has been trying to distribute supplies to vulnerable populations.

    However, the country’s political set-up complicated rescue efforts, with some of its most impacted areas controlled by the internationally-sidelined, heavily-sanctioned regime, others by Turkish-backed and US-backed opposition forces, Kurdish rebels and Sunni Islamist fighters.

    It took three days after the quake struck for the first UN convoy to cross through the Bab al-Hawa crossing, which is the only humanitarian aid corridor between Turkey and Syria.

    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma visited rescue teams and civilians in affected regions on Saturday, including injured survivors in a hospital in the city of Latakia.

    On Friday, he had criticized the lack of humanitarian aid from Western countries, stating that they “have no regard for the human condition.” The Syrian government approved sending aid into the rebel-held territories Friday but did not provide a specific timeline.

    Rescue work could take two to three years to complete in Turkey, but five to 10 years to just get underway in Syria, according to Caroline Holt, director of disasters, climate and crises at the International Federation of the Red Cross.

    Syrian-American actor Jay Abdo expressed frustration on Saturday, telling CNN: “Earthquakes, they have no borders. So why do borders and politics deprive Syrian civilians in the northwest of the country from their human rights to be rescued?”

    He called on the international community to “act immediately” as “there’s no time” and “civilians are not receiving any support, aid or attention.”

    The World Health Organization’s director-general arrived in Syria’s earthquake-hit Aleppo city on Saturday on a plane carrying more than $290,000 worth of trauma emergency and surgical kits.

    Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks with a man as he visits quake survivors at a hospital in Aleppo.

    The extent of devastation is “unprecedented,” according to Belit Tasdemir, UN liaison officer at AKUT Search and Rescue Association, who was working in Turkey.

    He told CNN on Saturday that “freezing” temperatures and “extreme fatigue” was beginning to affect rescue workers as they approach the end of the rescue window and the probability of finding survivors becomes lower.

    Some astonishing rescues still provide a glimmer of hope, however.

    Sezai Karabas and his young daughter were found alive in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, 132 hours after the earthquake struck.

    Sezai Karabas and his young daughter were rescued from rubble after 132 hours.

    A 70-year-old survivor, a woman named Menekse Tabak, was pulled out from the rubble in the Turkish city of Kahramanmaras, 121 hours after the quake hit.

    Yet attempts at search and rescue have also been hampered in Turkey.

    The German Federal Agency for Technical Relief stopped its rescue and relief work due to security concerns in the Hatay region, the organization said in a statement Saturday.

    German rescue operators, who had been working in coordination with Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD), said they “will resume their work as soon as AFAD deems the situation to be safe.”

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife Emine Erdogan met victims on Saturday.

    The Austrian Army made a similar decision, citing “increasing aggression between groups in Turkey,” but said they will “keep our rescue and recovery forces ready.”

    Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that those looting and committing other crimes would be punished, and that university dorms would be used to house victims made homeless, with classes going online.

    United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths described the earthquake in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria as the “worst event in 100 years” to hit the regions, and said that a “clear plan” to give “an appeal for a three-month operation” would be set out on either Sunday or Monday.

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  • Survivors are still being pulled from the rubble more than 24 hours after Turkey earthquake | CNN

    Survivors are still being pulled from the rubble more than 24 hours after Turkey earthquake | CNN

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    Istanbul, Turkey
    CNN
     — 

    Survivors are still being pulled from the rubble in Turkey and Syria, more than 24 hours after a powerful earthquake toppled thousands of homes, killing more than 5,000 people.

    Among the survivors was a 14-year-old boy with a black eye who appeared to be conscious as rescuers carried him on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance in the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras.

    “Finally! He has been rescued,” said a reporter with CNN affiliate CNN Turk, which broadcast the rescue live.

    While the boy’s rescue offers a glimmer of hope that others will survive the freezing conditions, the death toll continues to climb as search terms navigate blocked roads, damaged infrastructure and violent aftershocks to reach the affected area.

    The 7.8-magnitude quake hit just after 4 a.m. local time Monday, sending tremors hundreds of miles and creating disaster zones on both sides of the Turkey-Syria border, including areas home to millions of people already displaced by the civil war in Syria.

    Up to 23 million people, including 1.4 million children, could be affected by the quake, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), with director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus calling efforts to help them a “race against time.”

    Here’s what we know:

    In Turkey, the death toll has risen to 3,549, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday afternoon, bringing the total deaths across Turkey and Syria to at least 5,151. Erdogan also declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces for three months.

    The region has experienced several aftershocks, creating treacherous conditions for rescuers and survivors – dramatic video showed buildings collapsing hours after the initial quake, sending dust piles into the air as people ran away screaming.

    The weather and the scale of the disaster were making it challenging for aid teams to reach the affected area, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, adding that helicopters were unable to take off on Monday due to the poor weather.

    People walk past destroyed buildings in Iskenderun, Turkey, on Tuesday.

    Heavy snowstorms have recently hit parts of Syria and Turkey, according to CNN meteorologist Haley Brink, and by Wednesday already cold temperatures are expected to plummet several degrees below zero.

    Photos taken in earthquake-hit cities in southeastern Turkey show families huddling around fires to keep warm. Some sought shelter in buses, sports centers, mosques and underneath temporary tarpaulin tents – structures sturdy enough to withstand further aftershocks or flimsy enough not to cause severe injury should they collapse.

    At least 5,606 structures crumbled during the quake and in the hours after, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) said. Iskenderun State Hospital in the city of the same name was among them, Koca, the health minister said.

    A rescue team works on a collapsed building, following an earthquake in Osmaniye, Turkey, on Monday.

    “We are trying to save the medical workers and patients there,” he added. “These sorts of disasters can only be overcome with solidarity.”

    Authorities in Turkey have advised drivers to stay off the roads to leave them clear for rescue operations. Broken concrete, scraps of metal, and overturned cars remain strewn across many roads and streets, making it difficult for rescuers to reach some areas.

    By late Monday, at least 300,000 blankets, 24,712 beds, and 19,722 tents had been sent to the quake-affected areas, AFAD said.

    In neighboring Syria, a country already suffering the effects of civil war, the devastation is widespread. At least 1,602 were killed across government-controlled areas and opposition-controlled areas, officials said.

    The “White Helmets” group, officially known as the Syria Civil Defense, which operates in opposition-controlled areas, said Tuesday “the numbers are expected to rise significantly because hundreds of families are still under the rubble.”

    Much of northwestern Syria, which borders Turkey, is controlled by anti-government forces, and aid agencies warn of an acute humanitarian crisis that is likely to be felt for months to come.

    Dr. Bachir Tajaldin, Turkey country director at the Syrian American Medical Society, told CNN’s “This Morning” that the situation in Syria is complicated by political instability.

    “The situation in Turkey is coordinated through a very well developed government. They have infrastructure, they have rescue teams,” Tajaldin said.

    “In northern Syria, most of the services are provided by NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and through humanitarian aid. There is no central government to take care of the multi-sectoral response,” he said.

    El-Mostafa Benlamlih, the United Nations’ Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, told CNN the search and rescue mission was being hampered by the lack of heavy equipment and machinery.

    He said the UN’s supply of stock has been distributed and more medicine and medical equipment is needed, and especially fresh water or tools to repair damaged water tanks.

    Rescuers in the Syrian town of Jandaris on Tuesday.

    “Most of the communities depend on elevated tanks of water. Most of these elevated tanks of water were the first ones to fall, or to fall into disrepair. They need replacements or they need repair. We need all of this,” he said.

    Around 4 million people in northern Syria were already displaced and relying on humanitarian support as a result of war, according to James Elder, spokesman for UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. This winter had been particularly tough due to the freezing conditions and a cholera outbreak.

    “Everyone is overstretched in that part of the world … there is an enormous amount do,” he said. “People have fled their homes often standing around in bitterly cold conditions really without access to safe water. So water is key. Blankets, food, psychological support.”

    In photos: Deadly quake strikes Turkey and Syria


    Hospitals in the country are overwhelmed as victims seek help, with some facilities damaged by the quake. And there is particular concern about the spread of illness, especially among children, who were already living in extreme hardship.

    A volunteer with the “White Helmets” said the organization does not have enough help to handle this disaster.

    “Our teams are working around the clock to help to save the injured people. But our capabilities, our powers are not enough to handle this disaster. This disaster is bigger than any organization in northwest Syria,” Ismail Alabdullah told CNN. “This disaster needs international efforts to handle.”

    The international community has been quick to offer assistance to Turkey and Syria as the full scale of the disaster becomes clear.

    By Tuesday morning, planes carrying aid from Iraq and Iran, including food, medicines and blankets, arrived at Damascus International Airport in Syria, Syrian state media SANA reported.

    Japan announced it would send the country’s Disaster Relief Rescue team to Turkey, and on Monday night, the first of two Indian disaster relief teams left for Turkey with dog squads and medical supplies. Pakistan has also dispatched two search and rescue teams to the ravaged country, while Australia and New Zealand committed funds for humanitarian assistance.

    The European Union activated its crisis response mechanism, while the United States said it would send two search and rescue units to Turkey. Palestinian civil defense and medical teams will also be sent to Turkey and Syria to help in rescue operations.

    Meanwhile, 10 units of the Russian army with more than 300 soldiers are clearing debris and helping in search and rescue operations in Syria, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. Russia is the strongest foreign power operating in Syria, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has long allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said emergency response teams from the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC), the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) and the WHO’s Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) are being mobilized to Turkey to assist in the humanitarian response.

    “The UN and partners are closely monitoring the situation on the ground and are looking to mobilize emergency funds in the region,” the UNOCHA said in a report Monday.

    But on Tuesday, UNOCHA spokesperson Madevi Sun-Suon told CNN that aid shipments from Turkey to Syria have been “temporarily disrupted due to road challenges.”

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  • More than 500 dead as 7.8-magnitude earthquake hits southern Turkey and Syria | CNN

    More than 500 dead as 7.8-magnitude earthquake hits southern Turkey and Syria | CNN

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    Istanbul, Turkey
    CNN
     — 

    Rescuers are racing to find survivors trapped beneath rubble either side of the Turkey-Syrian border as the death toll from one of the strongest earthquakes to hit Turkey in 100 years rose beyond 500 people.

    Nearly 3,000 others were injured as the 7.8-magnitude quake shook residents from their beds around 4 a.m. Monday morning, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon and Israel.

    The earthquake’s epicenter was 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.

    Video from the scene in Turkey showed day breaking over rows of collapsed buildings, some with apartments exposed to the elements as people huddled in the freezing cold beside them, waiting for help.

    In Turkey, at least 284 people were killed and more than 2,300 injured, according to Vice President Fuat Oktay. In neighboring Syria, at least 237 people died and more than 630 were injured, Syrian state news agency SANA reported citing a Ministry of Health official. The deaths were reported in Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartus.

    Dozens of people are trapped under rubble, according to the “White Helmets” group, officially known as Syria Civil Defense, a humanitarian organization formed to rescue people injured in conflict. Much of northwestern Syria, which borders Turkey, is controlled by anti-government forces amid a bloody civil war that began in 2011.

    Monday’s quake is believed to be the strongest to hit Turkey since 1939, when an earthquake of the same magnitude killed 30,000 people, according to the USGS. Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare, with fewer than five occurring each year on average, anywhere in the world. Seven quakes with magnitude 7.0 or greater have struck Turkey in the past 25 years – but Monday’s is the most powerful.

    Karl Lang, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech University’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, told CNN the area hit by the quake Monday is prone to seismic activity. “It’s a very large fault zone, but this is a larger earthquake than they’ve experienced any time in recent memory,” Lang said.

    Several buildings were destroyed following the powerful earthquake in southern Turkey on February 6, 2023.

    Journalist Eyad Kourdi, who lives in Gaziantep and was staying with his parents when the earthquake struck early Monday, said “it felt like it would never be over.”

    When the shaking stopped, Kourdi and his parents walked out of their home still wearing their pajamas, he said.

    With several inches of snow on the ground, they waited outside in the rain for about 30 minutes before he could go back inside to grab coats and boots.

    Strong aftershocks have been felt in southern and central Turkey. About 11 minutes after the main quake hit, the strongest aftershock of 6.7 magnitude hit about 32 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the main quake’s epicenter. Another intense aftershock with a magnitude of 5.6 then occurred 19 minutes after the main quake.

    A destroyed apartment and damaged vehicle in Yurt neighborhood of Cukurova district after the earthquake in Adana, Turkey, on February 6, 2023.

    Kourdi said there were up to eight “very strong” aftershocks in under a minute after the 7.8 magnitude quake struck, causing belongings in his home to fall to the ground. Many of his neighbors had left their homes following the quake, he said.

    Photos showing the true scale of the disaster emerged as day broke in Turkey. Entire buildings have been flattened, with metal rods scattered across the streets. Cars have toppled over, while bulldozers work to clear the debris.

    A winter storm in the region is exacerbating the disaster, according to CNN meteorologists.

    “Hundreds of thousands of people are impacted by this. It is cold. It is rainy. Roads could be impacted, that means your food, your livelihood, the care for your children, the care for your family,” CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis said.

    “Anything as far as crops or anything growing across this region will be impacted as well. The ramifications of this are broad and will impact this region for weeks, and months.”

    A destroyed building after a powerful earthquake jolts Turkey on February 6, 2023.

    Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to the south of the country, Turkey’s interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, said. AFAD, the disaster agency, said it had requested international help through the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC), the European Union’s humanitarian program.

    Nearly 1,000 search and rescue volunteers have been deployed from Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, along with dogs, trucks and aid, according to its governor, Ali Yerlikaya.

    “Sorry for our loss. I wish our injured a speedy recovery,” Yerlikaya wrote on Twitter.

    The governor of Gaziantep, Davut Gul, said on Twitter that “the earthquake was felt strongly in our city,” and advised the public to wait outside their homes and stay calm.

    “Please let’s wait outside without panic. Let’s not use our cars. Let’s not crowd the main roads. Let’s not keep the phones busy,” he said.

    Gaziantep province has a number of small- and medium-sized cities, with a sizable refugee population, according to Brookings Institute fellow Asli Aydintasbas.

    “Some of these areas are rather poor. Some are more richer, urban areas … but other parts that we’re talking about that seem to have been devastated, are relatively lower income areas,” she said.

    Video from the city of Diyarbakir, to the northeast of Gaziantep, shows rescue workers frantically trying to pull survivors out of the rubble.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the quake was felt in many parts of the country.

    “I convey my best wishes to all our citizens who were affected by the earthquake that occurred in Kahramanmaraş and was felt in many parts of our country. All our relevant units are on alert under the coordination of AFAD,” Erdogan wrote on Twitter.

    Search and rescue operations are underway as many are fear trapped in the rubble.

    Messages of condolences and support started pouring in Monday morning as world leaders woke to the news of the deadly earthquake.

    White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States was “profoundly concerned” about the destruction in Syria and Turkey.

    “I have been in touch with Turkish officials to relay that we stand ready to provide any & all needed assistance. We will continue to closely monitor the situation in coordination with Turkiye,” Sullivan wrote on Twitter.

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  • Man wanted for leaving a dead fish at ‘The Goonies’ house saved by Coast Guard in daring rescue | CNN

    Man wanted for leaving a dead fish at ‘The Goonies’ house saved by Coast Guard in daring rescue | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A man wanted by police in Oregon in a bizarre incident at a house featured in “The Goonies” was the subject of a daring Coast Guard rescue when he was tossed from a stolen boat as it capsized, authorities said.

    On Wednesday, police in Astoria, Oregon, received a report that a man had left a dead fish on the porch of the house used in the “The Goonies,” police said in a news release. The 1985 comedy adventure was based on a story by Steven Spielberg.

    CNN affiliate KGW reported that surveillance video at the house showed the man laying the fish on the porch and making a cell phone video of it before walking away. Police searched two days for the man, identified as 35-year-old Jericho Labonte.

    On Friday morning, the Coast Guard received a mayday broadcast from a man piloting a boat at the mouth of the Columbia River, the agency said in a series of tweets.

    Coast Guard video showed two helicopters arriving to find the boat being tossed by waves, the Coast Guard said on Twitter.

    “The surf made rescue by boat dangerous, so the aircrew decided to lower the rescue swimmer and have the owner enter the water for rescue,” the tweet said.

    Video shot from a helicopter showed the rescue swimmer approaching the boat when a wave struck the vessel and caused it to capsize. The man was thrown into the water but the rescue swimmer reached the man and the two of them were lifted into a helicopter.

    “Talk about arriving in the nick of time!” the Coast Guard tweeted.

    The Coast Guard didn’t name the rescued man but posted a photo of him being carried out of the helicopter. He was taken to a hospital in Astoria, treated and discharged.

    After images of the water rescue aired, police said they received a call from the Astoria port security chief saying the vessel in the rescue had been stolen earlier in the day.

    “At about the same time, we received calls from several citizens identifying the rescued victim as Labonte,” the police news release said.

    After a brief search and asking the public for its assistance, Labonte was arrested Friday night at a warming center in Seaside, about 17 miles to the south, according to Astoria police. The exact charges were not immediately known.

    CNN is working to determine whether Labonte has an attorney.

    Police said he was wanted on charges of theft, endangering another person, unauthorized use of a vehicle and criminal mischief.

    Police in Victoria, Canada, had tweeted that Labonte is wanted on warrants for criminal harassment, mischief and fail to comply.

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  • Cruise ship rescues 17 migrants from vessel near the Bahamas | CNN

    Cruise ship rescues 17 migrants from vessel near the Bahamas | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Seventeen migrants were taken onboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship Saturday after it encountered a small vessel adrift on its way to the Bahamas, according to a statement from the cruise line.

    The Liberty of the Seas was sailing to the Bahamas when it encountered a small vessel adrift and in need of assistance, according to Royal Caribbean officials.

    “The ship’s crew immediately launched a rescue operation, safely bringing 17 people onboard. The crew provided them with medical attention and is working closely with the United States Coast Guard,” the statement said.

    RacQuelle Major-Holland, a passenger on the cruise liner, told CNN the captain made an announcement their ship was diverting from its path to Nassau to see whether the small boat needed help.

    “He shared there appeared to be people onboard and he mentioned the maritime law that ships have to check in and rescue if needed,” Major-Holland said Monday.

    She said the small boat was hard to see at first but within about 45 minutes of the announcement, the people were onboard the Liberty of the Seas.

    “The individuals on the boat were waving and … they were smiling and happy to be rescued,” said Major-Holland, a travel blogger from Pickerington, Ohio.

    Video that Major-Holland recorded shows the boat getting closer to the ship. The tiny craft has just a few oars and a piece of tattered green fabric from what appears to be a makeshift flagpole.

    Officials didn’t identify what country the people in the boat were from, but the rescue comes during a surge of Cubans and Haitians attempting to make it to the United States.

    It isn’t new for cruise ships traveling near Florida to come upon boats of migrants. But a series of recent rescues and social media posts about them have brought a fresh wave of attention to these dramatic moments at sea and the migration crisis behind them.

    The small boat in this case was in Bahamian waters and the people onboard reported there was another vessel out as well, a spokesperson from the US Coast Guard District Seven told CNN.

    Because of the location of the vessels, the Bahamian authorities are leading the investigation with assistance from the Coast Guard.

    CNN has reached out to the Bahamian Defense Force for additional information.

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  • More rain is on the way for weather-beaten California, where storms have flooded communities and left at least 19 dead | CNN

    More rain is on the way for weather-beaten California, where storms have flooded communities and left at least 19 dead | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Storm-battered California – still reeling from weeks of deadly flooding, mudslides and rescues – is being hit with more rainfall over the weekend.

    An unrelenting string of atmospheric rivers – long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that can carry moisture thousands of miles – have turned communities into lakes, crippled highways and prompted thousands of evacuations, including earlier this week. At least 19 people have died as a result of the storms.

    Two more are pummeling the state this weekend.

    “This isn’t over; we must remain vigilant. Stay safe, make the necessary preparations, and limit non-essential travel,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “Floods, landslides, and storms don’t care who you are or where you live – it’ll hit you just the same. We have lost too much – too many people to these storms and in these waters.”

    More than 8 million people were under flood watches Saturday night across much of California’s central coastline, as well as the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys.

    A marginal risk of excessive rainfall is in place along the California coast from San Francisco down through San Diego, as well as the mountain ranges of southern California, where up to 2 inches of additional rainfall could lead to flooding and mudslides, the National Weather Service said.

    Residents in Monterey County, on California’s Central Coast, were ordered to evacuate low-lying areas of the Carmel River Saturday afternoon. Sacramento County officials ordered residents of the Wilton area to flee – once again – due to an anticipated rise in the Cosumnes River.

    “People are fatigued about evacuation orders. People are fatigued by seeing those Caltrans signs saying ‘detour’ – they’re just fatigued generally,” Newsom said, speaking from a flood evacuation shelter at the Merced County Fairgrounds.

    President Joe Biden on Saturday approved California’s request for a disaster declaration, freeing up federal aid to supplement recovery efforts in areas of the state affected by storms, flooding and mudslides since December 27, the White House said.

    “This federal aid is key to recovery efforts so Californians can get back on their feet faster,” Newsom said in a tweet thanking Biden for approving the declaration.

    The first system of the weekend arrived at California’s coast Saturday afternoon and was expected to move inland, bringing heavy rain across the state “as another surge of Pacific moisture streams ahead of the main cold front,” the National Weather Service said.

    Lighter rainfall is expected to continue Sunday morning, before another “ramp-up” late Sunday into early Monday ahead of a second system, the weather service said.

    The new round of heavy rainfall comes after numerous areas already saw 50% to 70% of the amount of precipitation that they would usually get in a whole year in 16 days.

    San Francisco has recorded one of its top 15 wettest winters on record.

    Newsom said it was just weeks ago that authorities in Southern California extended a drought emergency to millions of residents. Now, the state is inundated with rain.

    “By some estimates 22 to 25 trillion gallons of water have fallen over the course last 16-17 days – the stacking of these atmospheric rivers the likes of which we’ve not experienced in our lifetimes,” the governor said. “The reality is this is just the eighth of what we anticipate will be nine atmospheric rivers.”

    Though this weekend’s rainfall totals will be less than in previous storms, the threshold for flooding is much lower now because the ground is too saturated to absorb any more water in many areas.

    “The challenges will present themselves over the course of the next few days rather acutely, particularly because everything’s saturated, particularly because the grounds are overwhelmed.” Newsom said. “What may appear less significant in terms of the rainfall may actually be more significant in terms of the impacts on the ground and the flooding and the debris flow.”

    Widespread rainfall totals through Monday will range between 2 to 3 inches along the coast and interior valleys, with 4 to 6 inches possible for the San Francisco Bay area and the nearby Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia mountains. This will likely lead to a few instances of flooding as well as mud, rock and landslides.

    River flooding is also a major concern, particularly around the Russian River in Northern California and the Salinas River near Monterey.

    Monterey County officials warned this week that flooding from the rising Salinas River could turn the area into an island and cut it off from essential services.

    To the east, in Merced County, crews rushed to place rocks in the Bear Creek area ahead of the storm’s arrival, worried that high-water conditions could continue to erode the levee and eventually lead to levee failure in the downtown area of Merced.

    National Guard troops, sheriff's office personnel and firefighters search for missing 5-year-old Kyle Doan Thursday near San Miguel, California.

    The storm is hampering the continued search for 5-year-old Kyle Doan, who was pulled from his mother’s hands by rushing floodwater on Monday.

    “The water levels continue to rise in the area and the weather conditions are unsuitable for any type of search activity today … The search will continue when weather and conditions allow,” the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.

    The child and his mother were on the way to school Monday when floodwater overwhelmed their SUV. The mother managed to remove Kyle from his car seat and held onto him but their hands slipped and they were separated.

    The mother was later pulled safely out of the water. But Kyle has not been found.

    Members of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team, the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team, and California Highway Patrol air units were looking for the boy. Troops from the National Guard were previously involved with the search but have since been released from the mission.

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  • Greece drops some espionage charges against aid workers who rescued migrants from the sea | CNN

    Greece drops some espionage charges against aid workers who rescued migrants from the sea | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Greek court dropped espionage charges against a group of aid workers who rescued migrants from the sea, in a move hailed by rights groups and lawmakers.

    Irish-German citizen Sean Binder and 23 other humanitarian workers had their misdemeanor charges set aside by a court on the island of Lesbos Friday, however felony charges against the group remain pending.

    The court in the island’s capital Mytilene called a halt to the prosecution of the some of the misdemeanor charges due to “procedural irregularities” in the investigation, Binder’s lawyer, Zacharias Kessas, said outside the court.

    “They recognized that there are certain procedural irregularities that made it impossible for the court to proceed on the core of the accusation, so concerning the misdemeanors, somebody can say that the accusations are dropped,” Kessas said.

    “But we cannot feel happy about this because really they just realized what we were shouting for the last four years, so there are still many things to be done in order to reach the final step which is the felonies that are still ongoing, and the investigation is still in process.”

    A statement from Amnesty International Friday said the Lesbos court “sent the indictment back to the prosecutor due to procedural shortcomings, including a failure to translate the indictment.”

    Binder and Syrian refugee Sarah Mardini were arrested in 2018 after participating in several search and rescue operations with non-profit organization Emergency Response Center International near Lesbos, an island in the Aegean Sea.

    The group had faced four charges classified by Greek judicial authorities as “misdemeanors”: espionage, disclosure of state secrets, unlawful use of radio frequencies and forgery, according to a UN Human Rights Office statement.

    The court’s move was welcome by rights group and politicians.

    Lawmakers from the European Union said it was “a step toward justice.”

    The spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Liz Throssell, welcomed the court’s recommendation to drop some of the charges but reiterated the UN’s call “for all charges against all defendants to be dropped.”

    Binder’s elected representative, MEP Grace O’Sullivan, said the prosecution “essentially was full of holes” in a video posted to Twitter.

    “Good news from Greece. We’ve just heard that Sean Binder and the other search and rescue humanitarian workers have had their charges dropped,” she said.

    While the misdemeanor charges were dropped on Friday, an investigation into felony charges against the humanitarian workers remains pending, Amnesty International said in a statement.

    The aid workers stand accused of assisting smuggling networks, being members of a criminal organization, and money laundering – charges that could result in up to 25 years in prison if they are found guilty, according to a European Parliament report published in June 2021.

    Referring to the felony charges that remain pending, O’Sullivan said while they didn’t know how long that would take, “today is actually a step in the right direction. A step towards justice.”

    “All we want is justice. We want this to go to trial and it doesn’t seem like this will happen anytime soon given what happened today,” Binder said outside the courthouse.

    “At the same time, we have been so lucky to have so much support internationally, everywhere, and I think that has forced the prosecution of this court to at least recognize the mistakes made and at least to some extent there has been less injustice.”

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  • They saved refugees stranded at sea. Now they’re on trial | CNN

    They saved refugees stranded at sea. Now they’re on trial | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A trial of 24 rescue workers has begun in Greece, prompting criticism from human rights groups and the European Parliament, which has called the proceedings “the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe.”

    The trial of Sean Binder, Sarah Mardini and 22 other volunteers from the search and rescue NGO Emergency Response Center International began in Lesbos on Tuesday, according to Grace O’Sullivan, an EU lawmaker who said she accompanied Binder to court.

    The two highest-profile defendants, Binder and Mardini, were arrested in 2018 after they took part in several search and rescue operations around the Lesbos island to assist refugees stranded at sea.

    Binder, a trained diver, is a dual Irish and German citizen, while Mardini is a Syrian refugee who herself arrived to Europe via sea.

    Mardini gained international attention after it emerged that she and her sister saved the lives of fellow asylum seekers when the boat they were traveling on from Turkey to Greece encountered difficulty. Mardini’s sister Yusra went on to swim for the Refugee team at the Olympics. The sisters’ story was recently brought to life in the Netflix film “The Swimmers.”

    Mardini returned to Greece in 2016 to volunteer with Emergency Response Center International where she worked alongside Binder.

    The two have been charged with felonies including espionage, assisting smuggling networks, membership of a criminal organization, and money laundering and could face up to 25 years in prison if found guilty, according to a European Parliament report published in June 2021.

    Mardini’s lawyer Zacharias Kesses in 2018 called the allegations “arbitrary,” adding in a video message that the claims have “nothing to do with real evidence.” Binder has also denied the allegations, warning that their case had “frightened people away from doing this kind of work.”

    The case is “currently the largest case of criminalization of solidarity in Europe,” according to the European Parliament report.

    “All we are asking for, all our lawyers have demanded is that the rule of law is respected. That Greek laws are respected,” Binder told journalists on Tuesday after the court hearing wrapped for the day.

    “We want the rule of law, and we will find out Friday if we will get the rule of law or the rule of flaws” Binder continued, saying the prosecution had made “flaw after flaw” in their case.

    In a December 22 statement, Human Rights Watch called on the Greek prosecutor to drop the charges, saying the case “effectively criminalizes life-saving humanitarian solidarity for people on the move.”

    Nils Muižnieks, Director of Amnesty International’s European Regional Office, said in a January 5 statement that the trial “reveals how the Greek authorities will go to extreme lengths to deter humanitarian assistance and discourage migrants and refugees from seeking safety on the country’s shores.”

    “It is farcical that this trial is even taking place. All charges against the rescuers must be dropped without delay,” Muižnieks added.

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  • Thousands urged to flee their homes as storm wallops California, closing down roads, prompting water rescues and leaving 1 dead | CNN

    Thousands urged to flee their homes as storm wallops California, closing down roads, prompting water rescues and leaving 1 dead | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A powerful storm battering California has forced thousands to evacuate – including an entire community – and prompted dozens of water rescues as floodwater inundated roadways, swept away vehicles and caused widespread damage.

    Streets turned into rivers, trees came crashing down, homes lost power, rivers swelled and major roadways were shuttered as the storm unleashed powerful winds and heavy downpours. Parts of the Pacific Coast Highway, a key sea-side California highway, were closed in Southern California due to the flooding, officials said.

    One driver died after entering a flooded roadway in Avila Beach, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.

    Elsewhere in the county, a 5-year-old child was swept away in flood waters near the Salinas River in San Miguel Monday morning. The hourslong search for the child was suspended in the afternoon “because the weather had become too severe and it was not safe anymore for first responders to be conducting the search,” San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Tony Cipolla told CNN.

    More than 34 million people were under flood watches early Tuesday after parts of the central California coast received 1 to 1.25 inches of rain per hour Monday, the Weather Prediction Center said.

    As of late Monday, 2 to 7 inches of rain had fallen across lower elevations and up to 10 inches in the mountains over a 24-hours period, preliminary rainfall reports showed. Montecito received a whopping 9.89 inches over 24 hours, while Fillmore got 6.24 inches and Santa Barbara got 6.13 inches.

    The threat isn’t over yet. The storm is trekking South, shifting the risk of mudslides, flooding and severe storms to the Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and Los Vegas areas on Tuesday.

    More than 30 million people across the Southwest were under a marginal threat of severe weather Tuesday.

    “Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds and perhaps a brief tornado may occur today across parts of southern/central California,” warns the Storm Prediction Center. “Thunderstorms capable of isolated severe gusts will also be possible across parts of southeast Nevada, northwest Arizona, and southwest Utah.”

    In central California, heavy downpours unleashed significant flooding, mudslides and debris flows, prompting calls for residents to flee.

    The entire community of Montecito in Santa Barbara County was ordered to evacuate Monday, along with residents in parts of Carpinteria, Summerland and the City of Santa Barbara.

    “LEAVE NOW! This is a rapidly evolving situation,” Santa Barbara County officials said. Officials warned residents to “be prepared to sustain yourself and your household for multiple days if you choose not to evacuate.”

    Montecito – locked between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean – received the evacuation orders on the five-year anniversary of a mudslide in 2018 that killed 23 people as mud and boulders the size of houses plowed down the Santa Barbara hillsides, splintering more than 100 homes and rupturing a gas main, according to the state’s Office of Emergency Services.

    Video from CNN affiliate KEYT showed cars traversing flooded streets as water raged in a nearby creek in Montecito and mud oozed down a hillside.

    Santa Barbara city officials reported dangerous road conditions with numerous roadways impacted by boulders, debris and flooding.

    Farther north in Santa Clara County, about 32,000 people were under evacuation orders Monday afternoon and more people could be asked to leave Tuesday.

    In nearby Santa Cruz County, Felton resident Rachel Oliveira said she chose to stay home as water from the nearby San Lorenzo River rose, flooding her home.

    “It just came really quick,” Oliveira said. “Like within a matter of minutes it was from across the street all the way into our yard and it went really fast.”

    The storm is the latest in an unrelenting parade of atmospheric rivers to plague the West Coast in recent weeks, leaving California soils too saturated to absorb any more rain, and setting the stage for intense flooding and mudslides.

    Warning that with the “worst of it still in front of us,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday asked the White House for an emergency declaration to support response and recovery efforts. President Joe Biden later approved the declaration.

    A Caltrans worker directs traffic at a freeway entrance as the U.S. Freeway 101 is closed near Montecito, California, Monday.

    Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown asked county residents to shelter in place Monday evening as travel became a nightmare with rockslides, flooded roads and closed highways.

    Crews in Santa Barbara County have responded to more than 200 incident calls due to the heavy rains, according to Captain Scott Safechuck, spokesperson for a Santa Barbara County Incident Management Team.

    Around 10 to 15 homes were damaged due to flooding in the county on Monday, according to Santa Barbara County Fire, which released images showing a flooded neighborhood and a sinkhole that developed.

    To the north, Santa Cruz County saw widespread damage, according to images from Cal Fire. The San Lorenzo River swelled 14 feet in just over four hours Monday morning as heavy rain pounded the region, putting the river in major flood stage.

    Fast moving water in Santa Cruz knocked out a bridge and flooded state parks, video showed.

    A view of damage on the road after heavy rain in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Silicon Valley in California Monday.

    The National Weather Service reported a “possible levee breach” along the Pajaro River Monday morning and warned of “life threatening flash flooding.”

    Meanwhile, farther south in San Luis Obispo County, authorities urged residents south of the Arroyo Grande Creek Levee to evacuate to higher ground immediately Monday evening.

    The deluge prompted numerous water rescues throughout the state Monday, as rising waters trapped drivers.

    In Southern California, at least 18 people were rescued by Ventura County Fire Department, including multiple people who were stranded on an island in the Ventura River, fire officials said.

    As the rainfall intensified Monday night, officers in Ventura County’s Moorpark were working to rescue stranded drivers on State Route 126, according to the California Highway Patrol. State Route 126 was closed from Fillmore City limits to Fairview Canyon.

    In Monterey County in central California, the sheriff’s office and the Coast Guard rescued two people and a dog who were trapped by flood waters, the sheriff’s office said in a post on Facebook.

    Ahead of the storm’s arrival, California Emergency Services Director Nancy Ward warned that “floods kill more individuals than any other natural disaster.”

    “We’ve already had more deaths in this flood storm since December 31 than we had in the last two fire seasons of the highest fire acreage burned in California,” Ward said during a news conference Sunday.

    In an aerial view, floodwaters fill fields Monday in Santa Rosa, California.

    The rains dropped into Southern California Monday night, threatening flash flooding and mudslides from Los Angeles to San Diego – particularly across fire-scarred areas.

    Flash flooding will be likely in many areas in and around Los Angeles through much of the day, tapering off in the late afternoon and evening. Parts of downtown Los Angeles have already seen between 1-3 inches of rainfall with the higher elevations around the city seeing 2-5 inches by early Tuesday.

    While storm-battered areas of central and Northern California will see some respite from the heavy rains early Tuesday, “it will be short lived as the next in the seemingly never ending parade of strong wet Pacific systems pushes more heavy precipitation across all of California on Tuesday,” the National Weather Service warned.

    The additional heavy rainfall on Tuesday is expected to exacerbate ongoing flooding, according to the Weather Service.

    “Nearly all of California has seen much above average rainfall totals over the past several weeks, with totals 400-600% above average values,” the Weather Service said. “This has resulted in nearly saturated soils and increasingly high river levels.”

    Downtown Santa Barbara received 6.37 inches as of early Tuesday – the wettest day on record for the downtown area.

    San Luis Obispo McChesney Field also had its wettest day on record, with daily rainfall of 4.10 inches surpassing the previous record of 3.68 inches. Meanwhile, Moorpark had its second rainiest day on record with 4.02 inches.

    The rain is expected to wind down Tuesday night across much of the state, before another batch of heavy precipitation moves into Northern California and the coastal Pacific Northwest Wednesday.

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  • A pilot and passenger have been rescued after a small plane crashed into power lines in Maryland | CNN

    A pilot and passenger have been rescued after a small plane crashed into power lines in Maryland | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A pilot and passenger who were stuck in a small plane for hours after it crashed Sunday into power lines in Montgomery County, Maryland, have been rescued, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service Chief Scott Goldstein said early Monday morning.

    Both were taken to the hospital with serious injuries, he said.

    The rescue operation began at 5:30 p.m. when crews responded to reports of a small airplane that had flown into the power lines, according to Pete Piringer, chief spokesperson for Montgomery County (MD) Fire & Rescue Service.

    When units arrived on the scene, they found a small plane suspended about 100 feet in the air that had struck the tower.

    The pilot was identified by Maryland State Police as Patrick Merkle, 65 of Washington, DC. The passenger is Jan Williams, 66 of Louisiana, the state police said in a news release.

    The fire department was in communication with the pilot and passenger during the rescue and nearby roads were closed, according to officials. The crash scene is about four miles northwest of the Montgomery County Airpark, state police said.

    Rescuers had to wait for the tower to be “grounded or bonded” before they could get to the passengers, Goldstein said during a Sunday evening news conference.

    That involved crews ascending to put clamps or cables onto the wires to make sure there was no static electricity or residual power, the chief said. The airplane also needed to be secured to the tower structure, he said. Foggy weather conditions in the area made matters more complicated, he added, by affecting visibility.

    The plane “is not going to be stable until it’s chained and strapped in place,” Goldstein said. “Any movement, any accidental movement, could make the circumstance worse.”

    Utility bucket trucks were seen near the plane late Sunday about six hours into the rescue operation, video from CNN affiliate WJLA showed.

    Goldstein said the department regularly checked in with the plane occupants and moderated the use of their cell phones to conserve their batteries.

    After the tower was safe to access and the plane was secured, crews worked “to bring the occupants of the plane out and down to the ground and transport (them) to area hospitals,” Goldstein said.

    Roughly 120,000 customers were without power Sunday evening following the crash, but that number was down to less than 1,000 customers early Monday morning, according to the Pepco utility company, which provides electric service to roughly 894,000 customers in Washington, DC, and surrounding areas in Maryland. Montgomery County is just north of Washington, DC.

    “We have confirmed that a private plane came into contact with Pepco’s transmission lines in Montgomery County,” Pepco tweeted. “We are assessing damage and working closely with Montgomery County fire and emergency services.”

    “We are awaiting clearance to the scene before crews can begin work to stabilize the electric infrastructure and begin restoring service,” the company added.

    Schools in Montgomery County will be closed Monday due to the widespread power outages, district officials said Sunday night.

    The district earlier said that more than 40 schools in the Montgomery County Public Schools system and six central offices were without power, affecting services such as maintenance, buses and food service.

    Two hospitals, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center and Holy Cross Hospital, were operating in limited capacity due to the power outage, Goldstein said.

    Officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and leadership from Maryland State Police are on scene, Goldstein said Sunday night. The FAA put an aircraft restriction in place during rescue efforts, state police said.

    The FAA told CNN the plane is a single-engine Mooney that departed from Westchester County Airport in New York. The agency will investigate the incident along with the National Transportation Safety Board.

    William Smouse, who lives about a mile from where the crash took place, told CNN affiliate WJLA on Sunday evening that he was going out to dinner with his son when he saw “two big flashes” and then multiple fire engines driving by.

    Smouse said the incident was “pretty scary” and that his house is located in an area where planes and jets often pass through.

    “I think about it a lot, where they come in, and, literally, they are like 200 or 300 feet over us,” he said.

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  • More than 100 migrants rescued from overloaded vessel before it hit sand bar in Florida Keys | CNN

    More than 100 migrants rescued from overloaded vessel before it hit sand bar in Florida Keys | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    More than 100 people were rescued from an overloaded boat early Monday before it hit a sand bar in the Florida Keys, according to the US Coast Guard and the US Border Patrol.

    Another 18 Haitian migrants “who were trapped in dangerous ocean currents while attempting to swim to shore” also were rescued by federal, state and local law enforcement, US Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar said Tuesday on Twitter.

    How many migrants were on the vessel, how many were rescued and their conditions remain unclear. Everyone’s nationality also wasn’t immediately known, the Coast Guard said.

    As the vessel hit the sand bar off Whale Harbor, there were “reports of people in the water and our land partners are on scene,” the Coast Guard Southeast said in a tweet.

    Rescue efforts were launched, per the Coast Guard.

    Conditions were rough for rescue crews, with 6- to 10-foot seas and winds of 25 miles per hour, the Coast Guard told CNN. Whale Harbor is in Islamorada, in the Upper Florida Keys.

    The rescue operations began when a good Samaritan reported the vessel to the Key West watch standers at 5 a.m., the Coast Guard said in a tweet.

    On Sunday, the Coast Guard said at least five people died after a homemade vessel capsized near Florida’s Little Torch Key. Nine people were rescued from the vessel, according to the agency.

    Authorities had nearly 7,000 encounters with Haitian migrants in Florida in October, compared to just 1,188 in October 2021, according to US Customs and Border Patrol data. The agency reported nearly 57,000 encounters with Haitian migrants in Florida in 2022, an increase from nearly 49,000 the prior year.

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  • 19 dead after commercial aircraft crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania | CNN

    19 dead after commercial aircraft crashes into Lake Victoria in Tanzania | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Tanzanian commercial flight operated by Precision Air crash-landed in bad weather in Lake Victoria on Sunday, killing 19 people.

    The country’s Prime Minister, Kassim Majaliwa, said officials believe all bodies have been recovered from the airplane.

    “We’re starting to pull out the luggage and personal items from the aircraft. A team of doctors and security agencies have started the process of identifying the dead and notifying the families,” Majaliwa said.

    The airline confirmed the death toll and amended the number of survivors down to 24 in an updated statement on Sunday evening. Earlier, the carrier as well as local officials had said that 26 of the 43 people on board had been rescued.

    “Precision Air extends its deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the passenger and crew involved in this tragic incident. The company will strive to provide them with information and whatever assistance they will require in their difficult time,” the airline said.

    “The names of passengers and crew on board the aircraft will not be released until all next-of-kin have been notified,” it added.

    The flight, including 39 passengers and four crew members, had taken off from Tanzania’s commercial capital of Dar es Salaam and was headed to the town of Bukoba before it plunged into Lake Victoria as it was preparing to land.

    Video circulating on social media taken by onlookers on the shores of Lake Victoria showed the aircraft submerged in the water with emergency responders coordinating rescue efforts from nearby boats.

    Precision Air CEO Patrick Mwanri appeared visibly distressed while speaking to reporters in Dar es Salaam Sunday.

    Mwanri’s voice broke and he had to pause to wipe away tears as he said the plane had departed around 6 a.m. local and had been expected in the northwestern lakeside town of Bukoba at 8.30 a.m.

    “But at 8.53 a.m. our Operations Control Center got a report that that aircraft had not arrived,” he said in a televised statement.

    The accident is believed to have happened on the final approach to the airport whose runway begins right next to Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest freshwater lake.

    Local officials suggested bad weather may have played a part in the accident, saying the area had been under heavy rainfall and strong winds at the time.

    The regional airline has opened a Crisis Management Center and established information areas in Bukoba and Dar es Salaam to communicate with families of the passengers.

    Following news of the crash, Tanzania’s President took to social media to call for calm while rescuers worked at the site of a downed plane.

    “I have received with sadness the information of the crash of the Precision Air flight at Lake Victoria, in the Kagera region,” President Samia Suluhu Hassan wrote on Twitter Sunday.

    “I send my condolences to all those affected by this incident. Let’s continue to be calm as the rescue operation continues and we pray to God to help us.”

    Precision Air is a Tanzanian airline based out of Dar es Salaam.

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  • What we know about India’s deadly bridge collapse | CNN

    What we know about India’s deadly bridge collapse | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The deaths of 135 people in the collapse of a cable suspension bridge in India’s western state of Gujarat is one of the worst public safety tragedies to hit the country in recent years.

    As authorities investigate the incident, questions have been raised about how the narrow walkway collapsed and the role of an electrical manufacturing company tasked with maintaining the colonial-era structure, which only reopened to the public last week after repairs.

    Here’s what we know.

    Some 200 people are estimated to have been on the bridge across the Machchhu River in the town of Morbi when it collapsed into the water below on October 30 at around 6:30 p.m. local time, according to Gujarat authorities.

    At least 30 children were among the 135 killed, officials said. It is unclear how many people remain missing and authorities have not released a figure for those injured.

    A 36-second video clip shared by the Morbi District Administration via CNN affiliate News-18 shows a large crowd of young men gathered on the bridge in the moments before it collapsed.

    The video appears to show some of the men shaking the bridge from side to side before the structure gives way, plunging the people standing on it into the river.

    Gujarat Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi said on October 31 that a cable appeared to have snapped.

    Photos from the aftermath show people gathering on the riverbank beside the mangled metal walkway, which hung at a sharp angle into the water.

    Survivors and witnesses of the deadly incident described scenes of chaos.

    “People were hanging from the bridge after the accident, but they slipped and fell into the river when it collapsed,” Raju, a witness who gave only one name, told Reuters. “I could not sleep the entire night as I had helped in the rescue operation. I brought a lot of children to the hospital.”

    Narendrasinh Jadeja, whose friend lost seven members of his family, including four children, told Reuters: “I cannot express how angry and helpless I am feeling.”

    Rescue personnel conduct search operations in Morbi, October 31, 2022.

    The Morbi Suspension Bridge was built during British rule around 1900 and is 230 meters (755 feet) long and just 1.25 meters (4 feet) wide.

    For decades, it’s been a popular tourist attraction in the riverside town, whose cobblestone streets carry the architectural legacy of colonial rule.

    The bridge was closed for six months of renovations in April, according to the managing director of Oreva, a Gujarat-based electrical appliances manufacturer that oversaw the maintenance work.

    At a reopening ceremony on October 26, the managing director told reporters the structure would not need any major work for “eight to 10 years,” according to a video of the event posted to social media.

    A shoe lies near a damaged suspension bridge in Morbi, India, November 1, 2022.

    A five-person special investigation committee has been established to investigate the incident, Gujarat Home Minister Sanghavi said on October 31.

    Search and recovery operations by hundreds of personnel from state and national disaster relief teams and the Indian military remain ongoing.

    Nine people have been arrested and are being investigated for culpable homicide charges, state police said on October 31. All of the suspects are associated with Oreva.

    They include two managers, two ticket clerks, two contractors and three security guards, according to senior police officer Ashok Kumar Yadav.

    Since the deadly incident, public scrutiny has turned to Oreva, a company based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city.

    Oreva started out as a clockmaker before diversifying into electronics, according to its website, which describes the firm as the “World’s Largest Clock Manufacturing Company” and “one of the Major Brands in India.”

    CNN has reached out to Oreva several times, but has not received a response.

    Mourners take part in a funeral procession while carrying the coffins of victims who died after a bridge across the river Machchhu collapsed at Morbi in India's Gujarat state on October 31, 2022.

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Morbi on November 1. Families of the victims will receive compensation from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, he said.

    Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said the state government would provide the equivalent of about $5,000 in compensation per family of the deceased and about $600 each for the injured.

    Cremations of the victims are expected to begin on November 1.

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  • Sanibel Island residents return to see if their homes survived devastating Hurricane Ian as Biden surveys damage | CNN

    Sanibel Island residents return to see if their homes survived devastating Hurricane Ian as Biden surveys damage | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Residents of Florida’s Sanibel Island are warned they could be shocked when they return by boat Wednesday to their hard-hit community to set eyes for the first time on the devastation wrought a week ago by Hurricane Ian whose damage zone President Joe Biden is also due to visit today.

    “It is going to be emotional when they see their properties up close and the amount of damage that this storm inflicted upon them,” City Manager Dana Souza told CNN of how residents and business owners may react on Sanibel Island, where Ian wiped out parts of the causeway, severing its connection to the mainland.

    The opening of Sanibel to residents comes the same day President Joe Biden is visiting Florida to see Ian’s destruction first-hand. The President, who received an aerial tour of the damage in Fort Myers, was also briefed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Florida officials on the response to the storm and recovery efforts.

    “Today we have one job and only one job,” Biden said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “That’s to make sure the people of Florida get everything that they need to fully, thoroughly recover.”

    FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES

    At least 110 people have been reported killed as a result of the storm – 105 of them in Florida and five in North Carolina. And it’s not clear how many people are still missing as officials work to compile a list of those who remain unaccounted for, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said Monday.

    More than 1,000 search and rescue personnel have combed through 79,000 structures across the Sunshine State, DeSantis told reporters Tuesday, with more than 2,300 rescues logged.

    Statewide, about 290,000 customers still have no power Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us, many of them in hard-hit Lee and Charlotte counties. Many schools also remain shuttered, some hospitals are still struggling to provide care, and boil-water notices remain in place in some areas.

    DeSantis toured the damage on Sanibel Wednesday for the first time. “You can go over it in a helicopter and you see damage, but it does not do it justice until you are actually on the ground, and you see concrete utility poles sawed off right in half, massive power lines everywhere, massive amounts of debris,” he said.

    As Sanibel Island residents access their properties, the area is still “extremely unsafe,” Mayor Holly Smith said. And houses that look fine from the outside may prove to be too damaged to live in.

    Wednesday was the first time Julie Emig, 64, and Vicki Paskaly, 68, returned to their home on the island. The couple – who have been married since 2020, but together since 1992 – bought their “dream home” two years ago and initially evacuated thinking they would be gone for just three days.

    “Pulling up here we can already see the vegetation is in tatters. It’s really hitting home now,” Vicki told CNN as she and her partner pulled up to their home by boat.

    The couple’s garage was full of mud. Lines on the wall show water downstairs reached about 6 feet, and on their lower level, the refrigerator was now on the counter and the kitchen island was on its side.

    “It’s just gone, our beach is gone, the building’s trashed, the trees are gone, it was all so lush in there,” Paskaly said.

    “It’s surreal, it’s a dream and I know we’ll wake up to a nightmare,” Emig said.

    Dan and Tony Tabor were lucky. The couple returned to their Sanibel home prepared for the worst, with water, bleach and drywall cutters in tow to begin the rebuilding process.

    Instead, they found it practically untouched by the storm, with the screens on their porch still in place and plants left outside still upright. If they wanted to, they said, they could spend tonight in the home. “We are so happy,” Tony Tabor said, but “I feel so guilty, because our neighbors have seen so much damage to their houses.”

    Meanwhile, it could be some time before hundreds of residents of Naples, in Collier County, can get back in their homes, City Manager Jay Boodheshwar, told CNN.

    “There was a significant amount of homes, in fact, an entire neighborhood was submerged at least with 3 feet of water. Some areas got 6 to 7 feet of water,” Boodheshwar said. “I would guess it’s probably hundreds of households that are going to be experiencing a period of time when they’re not going to be able to be in their homes.”

    Collier County issued a mandatory curfew Wednesday beginning at midnight – Naples’ begins at 10 p.m. – and ending at 6 a.m. Thursday, according to a Facebook post from Collier County Emergency Management.

    “The purpose of the curfew is to protect the safety of the citizens of Collier County and their property as they begin the process of recovering from the effects of Hurricane Ian,” the post read, adding that the curfew does not apply to emergency responders, employees at health care facilities, any essential workers that provide important services or those seeking medical assistance.

    Those in violation of the curfew will be subject to a second-degree misdemeanor, the agency said.

    Many homes in the once-tranquil community on Sanibel Island “are not livable,” Sanibel Fire Chief William Briscoe has said.

    “There are places off their foundation, and it’s very dangerous out there,” he said previously. “There are alligators running around, and there are snakes all over the place.”

    Most of the electrical poles and transmission lines remain down, along with wastewater systems, Souza said. “Without those necessary infrastructure, it is difficult to sustain a community of 7,000 people year around,” Souza added.

    “It will be some time before we can resume normal life on Sanibel,” he said.

    Ian damaged the Sanibel Causeway that connects Fort Myers to the island community.

    The island’s year-round population is about 7,000 people, growing to 35,000 during the high season that typically would begin in about a month, Souza said.

    But it could take a month or longer just to restore power to some areas of Sanibel and Pine islands, Lee County Electric Cooperative spokesperson Karen Ryan told CNN.

    “It will be much easier to restore power once we can gain access to the island,” she said.

    DeSantis directed transportation authorities to prioritize the repair of the Sanibel Causeway.

    “Access to our barrier islands is a priority for our first responders and emergency services who have been working day and night to bring relief to all Floridians affected by Hurricane Ian,” he said in a statement.

    Pine Island residents should be able to access their community by car later Wednesday, Gov. DeSantis announced, when crews are expected to complete a temporary fix for a part of a damaged bridge washed away in the storm.

    At Salty Sam’s Marina in Fort Myers, owner Darrell Hanson and many of his employees – about 120 at this time of year and up to 200 at the height of tourist season – are working to salvage what they can, some of them dealing with the loss of their livelihoods and personal property.

    “In the parking lot, we must have had about 12 feet of water. Everything on the first floor was … destroyed,” said Hanson, who has so far been unable to access his own home on Sanibel Island. “All our gift stores and restaurants and everything, they’ve lost all their inventory. It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars that each business lost.”

    “But the employees have all come together,” he said, choking back tears. “They’re all out there working their butt off.”

    Employee Ty Landers, who works on a pirate cruise at the marina, rode out the storm at his family’s home in Fort Myers. Fortunately the home and his family are safe, he said.

    But some of his coworkers weren’t so lucky.

    “Many of our employees, even on the pirate ships, my crewmates, they lost their houses, they lost everything,” Landers told CNN. “Hopefully when the time’s right they’ll come back. But right now their lives fell apart, and they’re putting it back together.”

    Salty Sam's Marina, which employs about 120 people this time of year, was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ian.

    In Charlotte County, north of Fort Myers, public schools will be closed until further notice after several of its 22 schools were damaged by Ian.

    “The storm lasted here for over 12 hours, just hammering away. Nothing is safe right now,” Charlotte County public schools spokesperson Mike Riley said.

    Florida hospitals have also been struggling. Emergency departments sustained damage, staffing is impacted as hospital workers were displaced or lost their vehicles, and some facilities lost reliable access to water.

    “We were ready, we had our generators all ready. We had plenty of fuel. What we couldn’t anticipate and didn’t anticipate was the loss of water from our utility companies,” said Dr. Larry Antonucci, president and CEO of Lee Health.

    Members of the Miami-Dade Task Force 1 Search and Rescue team look Tuesday through debris for victims in Matlacha, Florida.

    Many areas remain under boil water notices since the storm made landfall, damaging critical infrastructure, as well as homes.

    Residents of Lee and Charlotte counties – the two counties with the highest death tolls from the hurricane – will be able to get temporary blue coverings with fiber-reinforced sheeting at no cost for their roofs to help reduce further damage, according to a Charlotte County news release.

    Jessica Hernstadt, a resident of Fort Myers Beach in Lee County, said the community “looked like an apocalyptic disaster” when she made her way there after Ian slammed the shore, with cars, pots, pans and clothing littering the area.

    Homes the storm tore from their foundations blocked the streets leading to her house, which she found ablaze when she arrived, she told CNN in an interview Wednesday.

    Later, combing through the ashes, Hernstadt found just one item unscathed: a candlestick holder her great-grandmother carried in her pockets as she emigrated from Poland to the US.

    “It was the simplest, most prized possession that I had, and it gave me a sense of hope, especially today being Yom Kippur,” she said Wednesday, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. “We will survive. Our town will survive, and there’s hope to rebuild.”

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  • Death toll soars to 76 in Florida after Hurricane Ian demolished entire communities | CNN

    Death toll soars to 76 in Florida after Hurricane Ian demolished entire communities | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Newly homeless Floridians are struggling to restart their lives while rescuers scramble to find any remaining signs of life among the wreckage of Hurricane Ian.

    In some cases, emergency workers are juggling both unimaginable tasks.

    “Some of the guys on Pine Island, they lost everything, but they’re doing what they can,” said emergency physician Dr. Ben Abo, who was preparing to join first responders on a rescue mission Sunday near decimated Sanibel Island and Pine Island.

    “It brings tears to my eye to see how hard they’re working.”

    But because Hurricane Ian washed out Sanibel Island’s lone road to mainland Florida, “we’re helicoptering in and doing our grid search,” Abo said.

    More than 1,100 people have been rescued from inundated parts of southwest and central Florida since Ian crashed into the state last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office said. More than 800 were rescued in Lee County alone, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said Sunday.

    But as the search for survivors continues, rescuers are also finding more bodies. Officials say Ian killed at least 76 people in Florida and four more in North Carolina.

    Those lucky enough to survive face an arduous road to recovery. More than 689,000 homes, businesses and other customers in Florida still did not have power as of Sunday evening, according to PowerOutage.us. Many are without clean tap water, with well over 100 boil-water advisories in places around the state, according to Florida Health Department data.


    Hurricane Ian could be the most expensive storm in Florida’s history, devastating communities from the state’s western coast to inland cities like Orlando.

    While Florida has more flood insurance policies than any other state, only about 13% of homes there have flood insurance, and only 18% who live in the counties that had mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders in place ahead of Ian, according to an analysis by actuarial firm Milliman.

    On Sunday, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Americans don’t have to live in a flood zone to benefit from flood insurance.

    “I think anybody who lives near water should certainly purchase flood insurance because it’s your No. 1 tool to help protect your family and your home after the storm,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said.

    “If you live near water or where it rains, it can certainly flood, and we have seen that (with) multiple storms this year.”

    She said FEMA is in the process of updating its flood zone maps. “While in certain areas we require flood insurance, everybody has the ability to purchase flood insurance,” Criswell said

    “It is certainly in your best defense to help protect your property in the aftermath of any of these storms.”

    But the most severe lashing took place in southwestern coastal cities like Fort Myers and Naples, where some neighborhoods were annihilated.

    “We’re flying and we’re operating in areas that are unrecognizable,” US Coast Guard Rear Adm. Brendan McPherson said.

    “There’s no street signs. They don’t look like they used to look like. Buildings that were once benchmarks in the community are no longer there.”

    Many of the Ian-related deaths have been reported in southwestern Florida’s Lee County, which includes Fort Myers and Sanibel Island, where at least 42 people died.

    Local officials are facing criticism about whether mandatory evacuations in Lee County should have been issued sooner.

    Officials there did not order evacuations until less than 24 hours before the storm made landfall, and a day after several neighboring counties issued their orders.

    DeSantis defended the timing of Lee County’s orders, saying they were given as soon as the storm’s projected path shifted south, putting the area in Ian’s crosshairs.

    “As soon as we saw the model shift northeast, we did exactly what we could to encourage people to” evacuate, Lee County Commissioner Kevin Ruane said Sunday.

    “I’m just disappointed that so many people didn’t go to shelters, because they’re open.”

    Ruane called the reporting about a possible delay in issuing a mandatory evacuation “inaccurate.” He said the county did what it was supposed to do, without providing any evidence that the reporting was inaccurate.

    “I think the most important thing that most people need to understand is we opened up 15 shelters. During Irma there were 60,000 people in our shelters. There’s 4,000 people in the shelters right now,” Ruane said Sunday.

    “Unfortunately, people did get complacent … As far as I’m concerned, the shelters were open, they had the ability, they had all day Tuesday, they had a good part of Wednesday as the storm was coming down – they had the ability to (go to a shelter).”

    The US Coast Guard made plans to evacuate people from Lee County’s Pine Island on Sunday, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

    In addition to the 42 deaths in Lee County, Hurricane Ian also contributed to the deaths of 12 people in Charlotte County, eight in Collier County, five in Volusia County, three in Sarasota County, two in Manatee County, and one each in Polk, Lake, Hendry and Hillsborough counties, officials said.

    President Joe Biden continued to pledge federal support for Florida, saying Hurricane Ian is “likely to rank among the worst … in the nation’s history.”

    The President and first lady Jill Biden are set to travel to Puerto Rico Monday to survey damage from Hurricane Fiona, then head to Florida on Wednesday.

    After Hurricane Ian finished its devastating crawl over Florida, residents tried to venture back to their damaged or destroyed homes and sifted through debris.

    Residents from Sanibel and Captiva islands were cut off from mainland Florida after parts of a causeway were destroyed by the storm, leaving boats and helicopters as their only exit options.

    Civilian volunteers rushed to help residents on Sanibel, where some homes were obliterated.

    Andy Boyle was on Sanibel Island when the hurricane hit. He said he lost his home and two cars, but feels lucky to be alive.

    “A lot of people have very expensive, well-built homes on Sanibel, and they felt with their multi-million dollar homes built like fortresses, they would be fine,” he said.

    Boyle was riding out the storm at home when the dining room roof collapsed. “That’s when we started to get concerned,” he said.

    He described waving down National Guard aircraft the next day outside his house, and seeing the scenes of devastation around the island.

    “When you go to the east end of the island, there’s just a lot of destruction. The houses surrounding the lighthouse are all gone. When you go to the west end of the island, the old restaurants up there, they’re all gone. The street going to Captiva is now a beach,” Boyle said.

    In Naples, Hank DeWolf’s 4,000-pound boat dock was carried through a condo complex and is now in his neighbor’s yard. And the water brought someone’s car into his own backyard. He doesn’t know who it belongs to or how to remove it.

    Another neighbor, Joanne Fisher, told CNN she’s coping with some shock in the storm’s aftermath, but she is in clean-up and salvage mode. Her oven is filled with mud, and water still spills out of the kitchen cabinets.

    “I’m almost ready to cry right now talking to you,” Fisher said. “But it’s okay because we’re alive and we’re here. And that is the most important thing.”

    Residents were also evacuated from the Hidden River area of Sarasota County after a compromised levee threatened to flood homes, the sheriff’s office said Saturday.

    A man surveys his damaged trailer home Saturday in Matlacha, Florida.

    Further complicating recovery is the lack of electricity and spotty communication in impacted areas.

    It could take up to a week from Sunday before power is restored in storm-damaged counties, said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of Florida Power & Light Company.

    And some customers may not be back on the grid for “weeks or months” because some buildings with structural damage will need safety inspections.

    In Cape Coral, just southwest of Fort Myers, 98% of the city’s power structure was “obliterated” and will need complete reconstruction, Fire Department Chief & Emergency Management Director Ryan Lamb told CNN’s Jim Acosta.

    Around 65% of all power outages in Florida from the storm had been restored as of early Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us.

    Florida is also working with Elon Musk and Starlink satellite to help restore communication in the state, according to DeSantis.

    “They’re positioning those Starlink satellites to provide good coverage in Southwest Florida and other affected areas,” DeSantis said.

    Emergency responders in Lee County will be among those receiving Starlink devices.

    In Charlotte County, residents are “facing a tragedy” without homes, electricity or water supplies, sheriff’s office spokesperson Claudette Smith said.

    “We need everything. We need all hands on deck,” Smith told CNN Friday. “The people who have come to our assistance have been tremendously helpful, but we do need everything.”

    Hear why this expert believes Hurricane Ian damage could have been prevented

    Hurricane Ian may have caused as much as $47 billion in insured losses in Florida, according to an estimate from property analytics firm CoreLogic. That could make it the most expensive storm in the state’s history.

    After pummeling Florida, Ian made its second landfall in the US near Georgetown, South Carolina, Friday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane.

    Workers and owners of a large shrimping boat prepare their vessel for towing back into the water Saturday after it was swept ashore in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

    In North Carolina, the four storm-related deaths include a man who drowned when his truck went into a flooded swamp; two people who died in separate crashes; and a man who died of carbon monoxide poisoning after running a generator in a closed garage, according to Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.

    No deaths have been reported in South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said Saturday.

    The storm has flooded homes and submerged vehicles along South Carolina’s shoreline. Two piers – one in Pawleys Island and another in North Myrtle Beach – partially collapsed as high winds pushed water even higher.

    Edgar Stephens, who manages the Cherry Grove Pier in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, stood yards away as a 100-foot section from the pier’s middle crashed into the ocean.

    Stephens said the Cherry Grove Pier is a staple for community members and tourists alike.

    “We’re a destination,” he said, “not just a fishing pier.”

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  • Sanibel and Captiva islands cut off from Florida mainland after Ian’s storm surge washes away three parts of Sanibel Causeway | CNN

    Sanibel and Captiva islands cut off from Florida mainland after Ian’s storm surge washes away three parts of Sanibel Causeway | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    At least three sections of the Sanibel Causeway were washed away by storm surge from Hurricane Ian, according to video from CNN affiliates WBBH and WPLG, severing the Sanibel and Captiva islands’ only connection to Florida’s mainland.

    The videos from the causeway show two portions of the ramp to both bridges washed away, as well as a stretch of roadway that crossed an island in the middle of the causeway.

    A portion of the Sanibel Causeway Bridge “was damaged/washed out,” Lieutenant Gregory S. Bueno with the Public Affairs Division of Florida Highway Patrol told CNN. All lanes of the bridge are currently closed and the severity of the closure is listed as “major,” according to Florida 511.

    Hurricane Ian damage: Causeway connecting Florida mainland to island crumbled into ocean

    Law enforcement and personnel from the Lee County Department of Transportation are on scene at the causeway, officials said in an update Thursday morning, and bridge inspectors were working to asses all bridges in Lee County. Residents are advised to remain off the roads “unless absolutely necessary.”

    The county, which includes Fort Myers in addition to Sanibel and Captiva islands and Cape Coral, suffered “catastrophic damage” from the storm, officials said in their update, noting that 98% of the county remains without power.

    Urban search and rescue crews from local agencies are “actively engaged in search and rescue efforts,” with federal search and rescue teams being deployed. In the meantime, the 15 shelters opened prior to the storm’s arrival remain open.

    An estimated 6,400 people lived in the City of Sanibel as of April 2021, per the US Census Bureau. The islands are home to a number of hotels and resorts, as their beaches draw a significant amount of tourists each year.

    A 2017 City of Sanibel count measured annual bridge traffic over the causeway at over 3 million vehicles.

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