7.0 magnitude earthquake reported off Northern California coast, tsunami warning canceled
(PETROLIA, Calif) — A 7.0 magnitude earthquake was reported off the coast of Northern California on Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The epicenter is off the coast near Petrolia, in Humboldt County, the USGS said.
Also, a tsunami warning that had been issued for coastal areas in California and Oregon, including San Francisco, was canceled just before noon local time.
“The tsunami Warning is canceled for the coastal areas of California and Oregon,” the National Tsunami Warning Center wrote on X. “No tsunami danger presently exists for this area.”
The warning had been in effect from Davenport, California, to Douglas/Lane Line Oregon, the National Tsunami Warning Center said.
Police in Berkeley, California, had issued an evacuation order for parts of the city “due to a tsunami coming to West Berkeley.”
“People in the Tsunami Zone are in IMMEDIATE DANGER and MUST EVACUATE NOW,” the police department said. “Stay east of 7th St. This is a lawful order to leave now.”
The earthquake was reported at 10:44 a.m. local time, according to the National Tsunami Warning Center.
Subsequent earthquakes were reported in the region, including a 4.2 magnitude earthquake near Petrolia, according to the USGS.
Shake alerts in the USGS’s earthquake early warning system were delivered as far north as Lincoln City, Oregon, and as far south as Salinas, California, the agency said.
“System was activated and performed as designed. Still trying to ascertain how much warning people received,” the USGS said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said officials with the state’s Office of Emergency Services are “actively responding to the earthquakes this morning in Northern California.”
“Californians should follow guidance from local emergency responders,” he said on social media.
Regarding aftershocks, there is currently a 5% chance of a magnitude 6 or larger earthquake occurring in the next week, and a 34% chance of a magnitude 5 quake occurring in that time frame, the USGS said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(Colts Neck, N.J.) — There have been “multiple” instances of drones entering the airspace at a Navy weapons station in New Jersey, officials there said Friday, as the concern continues to grow over widespread drone sightings in the region.
Naval Weapons Station Earle, which is located in Colts Neck, New Jersey, said it was “aware” of the sightings in the region and “continues to closely coordinate with federal and state agencies to ensure the safety of our personnel and operations.”
“While no direct threats to the installation have been identified, we can confirm multiple instances of unidentified drones entering the airspace above Naval Weapons Station Earle,” Bill Addison, public affairs officer for the naval station, said in a statement to ABC News. “The base remains prepared to respond to any potential risks, leveraging robust security measures and advanced detection capabilities.”
The base did not say when the incidents happened.
Residents in northern New Jersey — especially in Morris and Somerset counties — have shared many videos and stories about drones larger than those used by hobbyists flying overheard at night since mid-November. Colts Neck is located in Monmouth County, in the eastern part of the state.
Sen. Andy Kim, who was sworn into office just this week, spent Thursday night in Hunterdon County, which neighbors Somerset, where he said he saw dozens of drones in a two-hour period.
“People deserve answers,” Kim told reporters after his visit to the county. “We don’t need conspiracy theories or conjecture, we need assurances that the people charged with keeping us safe are on top of this issue, and a line of communication so that people feel like their government is taking this seriously.”
He again reiterated his calls for a federal investigation by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. Kim was one of the four senators in New York and New Jersey — along with fellow Democrats Sens. Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand and Cory Booker — who wrote a letter to federal officials Wednesday calling for action.
“We write with urgent concern regarding the unmanned aerial system (UAS) activity that has affected communities across New York and New Jersey in recent days,” the letter said.
While the letter did not specifically mention Naval Weapons Station Earle, it included a note that the drones have been observed near “critical infrastructure and sensitive locations, including reservoirs and military installations.”
The White House downplayed some of the concerns of residents in a press briefing Thursday with national security communications adviser John Kirby saying “many” of the reported drone sightings appear to be lawfully operated manned aircraft.
“We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or a public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus,” Kirby added. “The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are investigating these sightings, and they’re working closely with state and local law enforcement to provide resources using numerous detection methods to better understand their origin.”
Kim, after seeing the drones with his own eyes late Thursday, said the comments were not necessarily reassuring for residents.
“It’s hard for people to feel secure when there are unexplained drones flying overhead and they’re not getting answers they need from the federal investigation,” Kim said. “This has been going on for weeks and I’m just as frustrated as everyone else in not getting more information and details. That’s why I came out to see for myself, and I’m grateful for local police for taking me around.”
(NEW YORK) — A Manhattan jury found Daniel Penny not guilty in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely, following nearly a week of deliberations.
Penny, a former Marine and architecture student, was initially charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide. Prosecutors alleged that Penny killed Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man who had previously been a Michael Jackson impersonator, when he placed him in a six-minute-long chokehold on a subway car in May 2023, holding Neely for at least 51 seconds after his body went limp. The city’s medical examiner concluded Penny’s chokehold killed Neely.
The defense told jurors that Penny “acted to save” subway passengers from a “violent and desperate” Neely, who was acting erratically, and that Penny continued to hold on because he feared Neely would break free, though he didn’t intend to kill Neely. The defense argued Neely died from a genetic condition and the synthetic marijuana found in his system.
The jury deliberated for more than 24 hours across five days before acquitting Penny of criminally negligent homicide on Monday. They were previously deadlocked on the more serious charge of second-degree manslaughter, which Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed on Friday at the request of prosecutors.
Penny pleaded not guilty to both charges.
The jury submitted several questions to the court during the course of their deliberations, giving some insight into their thinking.
Day 1
A little more than an hour after beginning deliberations, the jury on Tuesday asked for a readback of a portion of the judge’s instructions on the law. The jury was interested in the part about justified use of force.
Day 2
The jury asked to see key videos shown during the trial — police body camera footage, Penny’s interrogation video and a bystander’s video on Wednesday.
Later that day, the jury asked for a readback of testimony. The jury wanted to hear part of the cross-examination of the city medical examiner who concluded Penny’s chokehold killed Neely. Dr. Cynthia Harris, who was the final witness for the prosecution during the trial, determined that Neely died from compression to the neck.
During an intense cross-examination, Harris had pushed back against the defense suggestion that the public sentiment surrounding the trial influenced her conclusion that “there are no alternative reasonable explanations” for Neely’s death other than Penny’s chokehold.
“No toxicological result imaginable was going to change my opinion,” she testified.
Day 3
The jury heard more testimony read back from the cross-examination of Harris.
The jury subsequently requested to see two bystander videos capturing the moments when Penny placed Neely in a chokehold. The jury had already requested one of the two bystander videos the previous day.
Wiley allowed the jury to access a laptop with the videos so they could watch the requested videos as many times as they’d like.
Later that day, the jury requested the definitions of criminal negligence and recklessness.
“We the jury request that Judge Wiley read the definition of recklessness and negligence. Please read it more than once,” the note read. “Could the jury have the definitions in writing?”
The jury was considering two counts – second-degree manslaughter, which carries a maximum 15-year sentence, and criminally negligent homicide, which has a four-year maximum. To convict Penny of manslaughter, the jury must be convinced Penny acted recklessly and grossly deviated from how a reasonable person would behave knowing the risk his conduct posed.
Day 4
The jury told the judge on Friday they were “unable to come to a unanimous vote” on whether Penny committed manslaughter.
“We the jury request instructions from Judge Wiley. At this time, we are unable to come to a unanimous vote on court one,” the note said.
The verdict form asked the jury to decide the first count — second-degree manslaughter — before potentially moving to the second count of criminally negligent homicide. Only if they found Penny not guilty on the first count could they consider the second count.
About 20 minutes after the judge encouraged them to continue deliberating despite their deadlock, the jury sent back another note requesting more information about the term “reasonable person” in their instructions.
“Ultimately what a reasonable person is up to you to decide,” Wiley told the jury in response to their note, referring them to a two-part test in jury instruction.
“Would a reasonable person have had the same honestly held belief as the defendant given the circumstances and what the defendant knew at that time?” Wiley asked, referring to the second part of the test.
Several hours later, Wiley dismissed the top charge of second-degree manslaughter at the request of prosecutors.
The judge encouraged the jury to continue deliberating on Monday the lesser charge of whether Penny committed criminally negligent homicide.
Day 5
The jury announced Monday morning they had reached a unanimous decision on count two — finding Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide.
The courtroom broke out in a mix of cheers, clapping, and jeers as soon as the verdict was read.
Neely’s father cursed in anger shortly after the verdict and was forcibly removed from the courtroom by a court officer. Others in the gallery shouted, and one woman broke down in tears.
Penny, walking out of the courtroom, flashed a brief smile before returning to his stone-faced demeanor. His lawyers embraced one another while seated at the counsel table.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office prosecuted the case, thanked the jury and vowed to respect their verdict.
“The jury has now spoken. At the Manhattan D.A.’s Office we deeply respect the jury process and we respect their verdict,” he said in a statement.
McGee’s home was destroyed by Hurricane Helene (left). Her sons inspect the damage after the hurricane (right). Courtesy of Angela McGee
(ASHEVILLE, NC) — When Angela McGee fled her home in Asheville, North Carolina, on the night of Sept. 27 to escape the ravages of Hurricane Helene, she never imagined the destruction the powerful storm would bring.
McGee and four of her eight children who were with her that night grabbed essential items from their trailer near the Swannanoa River in the western part of the state and, through torrential rain and mudslides, made it to higher elevation.
When the storm passed and McGee returned, she found her home razed to the ground and priceless sentimental items gone forever.
“My kids’ baby pictures…I will never be able to flip through the photo album to be able to show my kids,” McGee, 42, told ABC News. “Not being able to show them their certificates, three of my kids [graduated], and not having their diplomas. I’ve lost a lot of my furniture, stuff I work hard for, I lost, and I can’t get it back. The more I think about it, the more I cry about it.”
McGee is one of hundreds of thousands of socially vulnerable North Carolinians who were the hardest hit by Hurricane Helene — the deadliest hurricane to hit the continental U.S. since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — which claimed more than 200 lives.
Many of the same inequities that contribute to economic and health disparities when natural disasters hit also make it more difficult for some communities to recover and receive aid.
Some communities more socially vulnerable to disasters
According to an October report from the U.S. Census Bureau, more than half a million North Carolinians living under disaster declarations during Hurricane Helene were already highly vulnerable to disasters.
This equates to about 577,000 people across 27 counties in North Carolina living in areas that suffered catastrophic flooding, wind damage, power outages and property destruction after Helene.
The Census Bureau said social vulnerability can include those who suffer from poverty, are in advanced age, have communications barriers or don’t have access to internet.
Other experts who are working in the area say they are other vulnerable communities such as those who are disabled.
Lisa Poteat, interim executive director of The Arc of North Carolina — a statewide nonprofit organization that focuses on advocacy and services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families — said people with disabilities are among those who are hit harder during disasters. She said she’s seen lots of needs from the disabled community as a result of Hurricane Helene.
“Folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities, for instance, often are reliant on their families or others around them for support, so it’s been critical that we get information to those groups,” she told ABC News.
“As you can imagine, many people with intellectual disabilities have trouble reading and sometimes don’t communicate well. So when we’re sending out blast in emails or texts. It’s often not helpful unless there’s someone there who can interpret or read or help them understand what’s going on.”
She added that many North Carolinians in the west live creekside, riverside and high up in the hills in isolated areas, making them very “self-reliant” but also difficult to reach.
FEMA struggles to reach hard-hit areas
Following the destruction of her home, McGee eventually managed to reach a fire station in Black Mountain, east of Asheville.
She said she and her children were forced to live out of her car for four days with not much food and water, no phone signal and no money, surviving with the help of other evacuees.
McGee said she went to the information desk at the fire station every day to ask when assistance was coming, and she was told it would be a while before officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could reach them. McGee was frustrated by the news.
“It took FEMA, like, a whole week to get to us…And I don’t understand that. I’m mad about that,” she said. “‘Oh, FEMA can’t get in here because it’s so damaged, they will have to fly in here to get to us.’ That’s why they say that FEMA took a long time to get to us. There’s no [excuse] for that.”
Craig Levy, deputy federal coordinating officer for FEMA officials in North Carolina, acknowledged that getting to the devastated communities was difficult for aid workers.
Levy told ABC News that FEMA faced several challenges trying to get to people in need, including landslides, roads that were washed out and rough terrain only accessible by helicopter. He said FEMA had Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams partner with the active-duty soldiers to hand out food, water and emergency supplies in isolated areas.
“One of our teams teamed up with those soldiers as they were going into an isolated area in order to reach a community, and that particular community had a very high number of elderly and homebound individuals that needed the assistance, and we were able to get in there,” he said. “We brought with us a portable satellite data terminal so that we could get online, help those folks register and help them also get the word out a little bit if they hadn’t been able to reach loved ones.”
Levy acknowledges the challenges faced in getting help to those who likely faced hardship long before Hurricane Helene made landfall.
He says FEMA has and will continue to try to adapt their services accordingly. For those without internet access, challenges with technology or with language barriers, Levy says FEMA’s Disaster Survivor Assistance Team goes door to door to register residents for assistance and translates resource materials into as many different languages as are spoken in the region being served.
Levy states that FEMA sets up disaster recovery centers in community spaces, such as government office buildings or near grocery stores, to meet residents in need where they are.
FEMA hopes that recent individual assistance reform allows residents to receive money up front a lot sooner, expand access to resources for the uninsured and for accessibility improvements to housing.
As of Nov. 25, McGee is still waiting for FEMA assistance and has been trying to push for updates on her request.
Helping vulnerable communities look forward
As extreme weather events become more frequent, advocates say official emergency response efforts need to account for those most vulnerable and the challenges they face before, during and after a tragedy.
This response, advocates say, should also address the root causes for social vulnerability, as well. Ana Pardo, an activist at the North Carolina Justice Center, says disaster preparedness and economic preparedness go hand-in-hand.
“Allowing families to make enough of a living from their labor to be prepared and to have some economic resilience in the face of a disaster is part of disaster preparedness,” Pardo told ABC News. “We’ve stretched people and put them in a corner for so long that they don’t have anything of their own to rely on right now.”
But when emergency and recovery response falters, some residents hope to step up for their neighbors in need.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), a federally recognized Indian tribe in western North Carolina, say they were spared from much of the devastation, allowing them to create distribution centers and gather donations to deliver supplies to a large swath of the state devastated by Hurricane Helene.
“I have never seen our community come together as a whole and support each other and support our neighbors,” Anthony Sequoyah, the Secretary of Operations for EBCI, told ABC News.
Pardo said she’s emotional just thinking about the volunteers who came to the region to muck out homes filled with mud and to gut wet drywall to prevent mold buildup in flooded buildings.
“We’ve had hundreds of people coming through every week to dig mud off the streets and try to save the businesses that are in our town,” said Pardo. “There’s just been such an outpouring of care and resources and effort.”
