54 people rescued from roof of Tennessee hospital due to floodwaters from Hurricane Helene
Oliver Helbig/Getty Images
(ERWIN, Tenn.) — At least 54 people were trapped on the roof of a hospital in Tennessee on Friday after floodwaters due to Hurricane Helene quickly surrounded the medical center.
Everyone was rescued safely, Sen. Bill Hagerty said in a statement.
Unicoi County Hospital — located in the northeastern part of the state on the border with North Carolina — took on so much flooding that those inside could no longer be safely evacuated and had to relocate to the roof.
In addition to the people trapped on the roof, seven people were in rescue boats. The National Guard and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) are currently engaged in “a dangerous rescue operation,” according to Ballad Health, a health care company that runs a chain of hospitals.
“I don’t think very many people have seen something like this before,” Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine said while speaking at Unicoi County High School. “The most important thing is the safety of our employees and patients. Thank God, thanks to the great work of Tennessee and Virginia partnering to help us get this rescue underway, they’re all safe.”
Rep. Diana Harshbarger posted on the social platform X on Friday afternoon that helicopters had arrived to help evacuate people off the roof.
Ballad Health said in a statement on X on Friday that it received notice a little after 9:30 a.m. ET from the Unicoi County Emergency Management Agency that the hospital needed to be evacuated to the water from a nearby river rising quickly.
Although ambulances were quick to help evacuate patients, the hospital became flooded so quickly that the ambulances could not safely approach the hospital.
TEMA coordinated with local emergency management agencies so boats could be deployed to assist with the evacuation. However, water began flooding the hospital building causing an “extremely dangerous and impassable” that prevented boats from reaching the hospital.
What’s more, high winds had previously prevented helicopters from evacuating the hospital.
“We ask everyone to please pray for the people at Unicoi County Hospital, the first responders on-scene, the military leaders who are actively working to help, and our state leaders,” Ballad Health said in a statement. “Ballad Health appreciates the support and effort of Mayors Garland Evely, Patty Woodby and Joe Grandy, each of whom has offered assistance and have maintained ongoing contact with Ballad Health leadership.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul and Mike Noble contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Active shooter drills have become the norm in schools across the U.S., but experts warn they have the potential to cause more harm than good.
Though the exercises seek to prepare students to respond to gun violence in their schools, little evidence exists proving their efficacy, experts told ABC News, days after two people were killed during a shooting at a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin.
They can, however, cause marked damage to mental health and even serve as an instruction manual for potential school shooters, according to some experts.
“There’s too little research confirming the value of [drills] involving students — but evidence is absolutely mounting on their lasting harms,” Sarah Burd-Sharps, the senior research director at the anti-gun violence advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, told ABC News.
Over 95% of public schools in the U.S. have trained students on lockdown procedures to be used in the event of an active shooter incident, a number that has risen significantly since the early 2000s, according to a 2017 U.S. Department of Education report. At least 40 states have laws requiring these drills, according to data collected by Everytown.
Despite their ubiquity, few standards exist regulating how these drills should be conducted, Burd-Sharps said. As a result, the practices can range widely, she said. In some schools, training may consist of basic education on lockdown procedures. Others, however, have taken it further, simulating a real life active shooting scenario with sounds of gunfire or even school staff members posing as shooters.
Trainings of this kind can be deeply traumatizing to students and have a negative impact on mental health. A 2021 study by Burd-Sharps and others, which examined 114 schools across 33 states, found an approximate 40% increase in anxiety and depression in the three months after drills.
The effects can be especially pronounced among students with preexisting mental health struggles and those who have personal experience with gun violence, such as those who regularly hear gunfire in their communities or who have survived a prior shooting, Burd-Sharps said.
Rebekah Schuler, a 19-year-old Students Demand Action leader who survived the 2021 Oxford High School shooting in Michigan, said she and her classmates hadn’t taken active shooter drills very seriously until the attack that killed four students and injured seven others.
After the shooting, many of her classmates transferred, going on to schools that held their own active shooter trainings, she said. Many found these drills retraumatizing, she said, and some would have panic attacks.
“I hadn’t known the seriousness of it, but after the shooting, they were traumatizing to a different level,” Schuler told ABC News of the drills.
Advocacy groups like Everytown, as well as Sandy Hook Promise — the nonprofit formed by the families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — are pushing for stricter guidelines for active shooter drills that serve to better prepare school communities while avoiding negative effects.
In a report, Sandy Hook Promise recommended guidelines for these trainings, including requiring that they are announced in advance, allowing students to opt out and requiring regular reviews of practices.
The organization urged strongly against simulated gunfire, which they say can traumatize participants and risk physical injuries, without improving the exercises’ effectiveness. It’s a stance Burd-Sharps and other experts said is crucial for conducting safer trainings.
“No fake bullets, fake blood, janitors dressed as gunmen. That is deeply traumatizing,” she said. “And it’s not just traumatizing for the kids, it’s traumatizing for the teachers as well.”
Though few laws govern how these trainings are run, some states have begun taking steps to limit the most hyperrealistic practices. In July, New York banned drills that seek to realistically simulate shootings, and guidelines released by the Kentucky Department of Education recommend avoiding “dramatic crisis simulations.”
Active shooter drills also can come with another grim risk: serving as a blueprint for would-be school shooters on how to circumvent safety measures in planning their own attack. For instance, Natalie Rupnow, the alleged shooter at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, was a student at the school.
“Because 3 in 4 school shooters are a current or former student, by drilling multiple times a year, you are giving the roadmap of what’s going to happen during an active shooter incident to a potential shooter,” Burd-Sharps said, citing a 2016 New York Police Department report.
Experts recommend focusing training efforts more on teachers than on students, and concentrating more efforts around prevention strategies — particularly convincing parents to lock up their guns and teaching students who they can safely go to if they observe concerning behavior among their peers.
“When you compound actual shootings that kids see on TV all the time with these drills, and with lockdowns in response to new incidents, it’s actually not surprising that many American school kids are in crisis. The last thing they need is additional trauma from drills multiple times a year,” Burd-Sharps said.
Photo by Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione, who is accused of second-degree murder for allegedly gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, could face additional charges, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Asked why Mangione was charged with second-degree murder, Bragg told ABC News that prosecutors wanted to bring charges quickly and first-degree murder “has a number of delineated circumstances.”
“Murder 2 is the intentional killing of a person, punishable by 25 years to life under New York law,” Bragg said Wednesday.
“Murder 1 has a number of delineated circumstances, including, for example, a serial murder, murder of a witness, murder of a police officer,” he explained.
“As we learn more about motives and other things like that … there may be additional charges,” Bragg said.
Mangione is also charged in New York with criminal possession of a forged instrument and several counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, is accused of shooting Thompson outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel on Dec. 4 while the CEO was heading to an investors conference.
Thompson’s murder ignited online anger at the health insurance industry and some people online have celebrated the suspect.
“Celebrating murder is abhorrent,” Bragg said. “I sit across the table from families who’ve had a loved one killed. And to think of people celebrating that … is beyond comprehension to me.”
“What I would say to members of the public … [who are] celebrating this and maybe contemplating other action: We will be vigilant and we will hold people accountable,” Bragg said.
The ghost gun allegedly in Mangione’s possession when he was arrested has been matched to three shell casings recovered at the murder scene, according to the NYPD.
Bragg, who has focused on cracking down on ghost guns during his time as DA, stressed, “They are lethal in the same way as a traditional gun. What is so scary about them is you can buy a 3D printer and you can print them right from your kitchen table.”
“[It’s] something we’re seeing more and more in use,” he said.
Fingerprints recovered from a water bottle and a Kind bar near the crime scene have also been matched to Mangione, police said.
Mangione was apprehended in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday after nearly one week on the run. He’s also facing charges in Pennsylvania, including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun.
Mangione plans to challenge his extradition to New York.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said it will seek a governor’s warrant to try to force Mangione’s extradition. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement that she’ll sign a request for the governor’s warrant “to ensure this individual is tried and held accountable.”
Bragg said, “We will get the defendant here and bring him to justice through our court proceeding.”
“We’re prepared to go forward,” he said. “We’re on the path to accountability and justice.”
Megan Piphus, a musician and the first Black female puppeteer on “Sesame Street,” and her pupper Mini lead vocal exercises during the recording of nonprofit Saving Our Daughters’ first album; ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Saving Our Daughters brought star power into the recording booth to help empower some young women working on the group’s first album.
The nonprofit, founded in 2014, is dedicated to supporting young girls of color in overcoming barriers. The girls, known as “Student Cinderellas,” are a part of the collaborative album called “Cinderella Sweep.”
They’re teamed with women of color from the entertainment industry who play the role of “Celebrity Godparents.” Saving Our Daughters recruited musician Megan Piphus, the first Black female puppeteer on “Sesame Street,” who wrote a song called “Stop Me Now” as she started work on her next children’s music project.
“After writing it, I immediately thought of the work that I’ve gotten to do with Saving Our Daughters,” she said. “And so, we then thought, what if we made this entire project for young girls, and then partnered with Saving Our Daughters to get the girls to actually be on the album.”
She noted that there were no women who looked like her doing puppetry when she started doing it as a 10-year-old, but she still drew inspiration from people she admired.
“Now I’m in a position to be able to mentor young girls and provide them a view, a representation of what it looks like for a girl of color to be in the entertainment industry, to be a producer, to be a singer,” she said.
Piphus also brought her puppet Mini to the session, adding an extra layer of fun to the girls’ vocal warmups.
“I want the girls to listen to this album and really think past any limits in their mind and dream beyond their wildest dreams,” Piphus said.
Saving Our Daughters also got Broadway actress Jasmine Forsberg, star of the musical “Six,” to join the group.
“Music is all about finding your voice,” Forsberg said. “It is a universal language, and it’s a beautiful opportunity for girls around the world to be able to come together and express themselves through song.”
She’s thankful for the “incredible artistic mentors” she had when she was a little girl.
“I always knew that when I grew up, I wanted to be able to pay that forward,” Forsberg said.
The initiative seemed to inspire some of the girls.
“My dream is to be a professional dancer or be a CEO of finance or beauty,” one said.
Another suggested she has multi-pronged ambitions.
“I want to be a singer, a doctor and a fashion designer when I grow up,” she said.
One appeared to want to follow in Forsberg’s footsteps.
“When I get older, I think maybe like a Broadway star, because they sing and sometimes also dance,” she said at the session.
Regardless of where their paths lead, Piphus is hopeful that this experience sticks with them.
“There’s so much memory, I think, involved in music, and so I’m hoping that the sound and the messaging is something that they will remember for a lifetime,” she said.
