Tornadoes, flash flooding, damaging winds headed to Midwest, South, East Coast
ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A multiday severe weather outbreak is set to bring tornadoes, flash flooding and damaging winds from the Midwest to the South and the East Coast.
The severe weather begins in the Midwest on Friday night. Residents from Peoria, Illinois, to St. Louis, Missouri, to Paducah, Kentucky are in the bull’s-eye for damaging winds and potential tornadoes. This region is labeled level 4 out 5 for severe weather.
On Saturday afternoon and evening, the highest threat for tornadoes moves to the Deep South, focusing on Mississippi and Alabama.
A level 4 out 5 severe risk is in effect for New Orleans; Jackson, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and Birmingham, Alabama, where strong/significant tornadoes and destructive winds are expected.
A level 3 out of 5 severe risk has been issued from Nashville, Tennessee, to Atlanta to the Florida Panhandle.
Severe storms could even stretch as far north as the Ohio Valley on Saturday.
On Sunday, the severe storms will be weaker as they target the East Coast from Florida to Pennsylvania.
Damaging winds, large hail and brief tornadoes will be possible for the Southeast on Sunday afternoon, while heavy rain and damaging winds will hit the Northeast on Sunday night.
Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — A group of Pacific Palisades residents and businesses impacted by the Palisades Fire filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles against the city’s Department of Water and Power, alleging that the city and the agency were unprepared for the Palisades Fire.
The suit was filed in the California Superior Court on Monday and seeks damages for the costs, repair and replacement of damaged or destroyed property; cost for alternative living expenses; loss of wages, earning capacity or profits and any other relief a court deems appropriate.
“Plaintiffs are informed and believe that the water supply system servicing areas in and around Pacific Palisades on the date of the Palisades Fire failed, and that this failure was a substantial factor in causing plaintiffs to suffer the losses alleged,” the lawsuit said.
“Among other failures, the Santa Ynez Reservoir, a 117-million-gallon water storage complex that is part of the Los Angeles water supply system, was empty, leaving fire crews little to no water to fight the Palisades Fire,” the complaint said.
“Further, despite dire warnings by the National Weather Service of a ‘Particularly Dangerous Condition — Red Flag Warning’ of ‘critical fire weather’ which had the potential for rapid fire spread and extreme fire behavior, the LADWP was unprepared for the Palisades Fire,” the suit added.
The group of plaintiffs includes several families, individuals and businesses, according to the complaint.
In a statement issued before the lawsuit was filed, LADWP said it “was required to take the Santa Ynez Reservoir out of service to meet safe drinking water regulations. To commission the support and resources to implement repairs to Santa Ynez, LADWP is subject to the city charter’s competitive bidding process which requires time.”
“The water system serving the Pacific Palisades area and all of Los Angeles meets all federal and state fire codes for urban development and housing,” the statement said. “LADWP built the Pacific Palisades water system beyond the requirements to support the community’s typical needs.”
ABC News reached out to the LADWP for comment and is awaiting a response.
The extent of the economic damage wrought by the unprecedented fires is not yet clear. They will cost insurers as much as $30 billion, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs estimated in a report released this week. After accounting for non-insured damages, the total costs will balloon to $40 billion, the report said.
The investigation into the cause and spread of the Palisades Fire is ongoing, even as firefighters continue their effort to contain that and other wildfires blazing around the Los Angeles area.
The Palisades Fire began in the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7 and has since destroyed about 5,000 structures, according to state officials. The fire has covered more than 23,000 acres and is 18% containment, per Cal Fire’s latest updates.
Eight of the 25 deaths so far confirmed from the Southern California wildfires are linked to the Palisades Fire, the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s Office said on Tuesday.
(NEW ORLEANS) — Just a little over a month since 14 people were killed and dozens more were injured in a truck-ramming terror attack on New Orleans’ Bourbon Street, the victims and first responders of the rampage will be honored at Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, according to the NFL.
For the eleventh time, the Super Bowl will be played in the Big Easy, but the normally festive atmosphere will include a somber tribute to the victims and the heroes of the New Year’s Day tragedy.
While the NFL is keeping details of the ceremony under wraps, league spokesperson Brian McCarthy told ABC News, “We will appropriately honor the victims and first responders.”
The big game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will be played in front of more than 75,000 fans expected to attend the game at the Caesars Superdome and millions more around the world watching on TV.
Among the crowd at the game are expected to be some of the survivors of the attack, firefighters and paramedics who rushed to the chaotic scene to treat the injured, and police who stopped the attack by killing the suspect during a gun battle.
During the Sugar Bowl, a college football playoff game that was delayed a day due to the attack, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell led a moment of silence before the game, also played at the Superdome, and former President Joe Biden addressed the crowd in a video statement, saying, “The spirit of New Orleans can never be kept down.”
President Donald Trump is planning to attend Sunday’s Super Bowl, according to White House officials. It will mark the first time a sitting president will appear at the game.
A spokesperson for the city of New Orleans referred ABC News to the NFL about Sunday’s plans to honor the victims and first responders of the Jan. 1 attack.
Over the past week, players on the Super Bowl teams, as well as the New Orleans Saints, have been surprising survivors of the attack with tickets to the big game.
On Monday, Saints linebacker Demario Davis teamed up with a furniture company to gift Stevey Kells, a nurse who rushed to provide first aid to victims of the attack, with tickets to the game.
It’s a resilient city. That response began with the first responders, those who were on scene and those who had to react quickly, and she was there,” Davis told reporters after presenting Kells the tickets. “So, it means a lot. To be able to give back to somebody who’s given so much, was awesome. That’s what it’s all about.”
Eagles players also gifted Super Bowl tickets to Ryan Quigley, a former Princeton University football player and Eagles fan who was injured in the attack and whose friend, 27-year-old Martin “Tiger” Bech, was killed.
Eagles player Brandon Graham surprised Quigley with two Super Bowl tickets last week after the team invited Quigley and Bech’s sister to the Eagles practice facility in Philadelphia.
“We wanted to tell you the real reason we brought you. It’s OK if you’re not feeling it, but we would love to have you down for the Super Bowl,” Graham told Quigley in a video the team shared on its Facebook page.
In the video, Quigley said his best friend, Bech, was the “biggest fan” of the Eagles.
“We went to every home game last year,” Quigley told Graham in the video. “All year… I told him if we make it, ‘I promise I’m gonna take you to the Super Bowl.’ So, I’d love nothing more than to still take him.”
The Super Bowl will unfold under tight security with more than 2,700 state, federal and local law enforcement members securing the game, according to officials.
“We have reviewed and re-reviewed all the details of what happened on Jan. 1,” NFL Chief of Security Cathy Lanier said during a news conference on Monday. “We have reviewed and re-reviewed each of our roles within the overarching security plan, and we have reassessed and stressed tested — our timing, our communication protocols, our contingency measures and our emergency response plans multiple times over, over the past several weeks.”
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at least 700 Homeland Security personnel will be on the ground in New Orleans to bolster security at the game and more will be added if the need arises. Noem said that at this point, there have been no specific credible threats reported.
“This Super Bowl exemplifies how we come together to safeguard our traditions, how we come together to make sure that the public is well-informed and gets the chance to celebrate something that is very special to us, our culture, to our people and our families,” Noem said.
Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(LOS ANGELES) — Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is appealing her dismissal, nearly a week after Mayor Karen Bass removed her from the top post in the wake of the devastating Palisades and Eaton fires.
Crowley sent a letter to the Los Angeles City Council on Thursday, informing them she is proceeding with an appeal of Bass’ removal of her as fire chief.
According to the Los Angeles City Charter, the appeal would require the approval of two-thirds of the 15 city council members to overturn the firing.
In response, a spokesperson for Bass’ office said in a statement, “Former Chief Crowley has the right to appeal her dismissal.”
Bass removed Crowley from her position on Friday, saying firefighters were sent home instead of being used when the deadly fires broke out last month.
“We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch,” Bass said in a statement. “Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after action report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal.”
Ronnie Villanueva, a retired LA Fire chief deputy of emergency operations, was appointed interim chief.
Crowley exercised her civil service rights to stay with the department at a lower rank with duties to be assigned by the new interim chief, according to the mayor’s office.
The former chief said it was an “absolute honor to represent and lead the men and women of one of the greatest fire departments in the world.”
“I am extremely proud of the work, sacrifice and dedication of our LAFD members, both sworn and civilian,” she said in a statement on Saturday.
Crowley’s dismissal as chief was met with criticism by Freddy Escobar, the president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City.
“Chief Crowley is a strong leader who has the respect of our firefighters and wasn’t afraid to tell the truth,” he said in a statement on Saturday. “She’s being made a scapegoat from a devastating fire without the benefit of a full investigation into what actually happened.”
Bass has faced tremendous pressure and questions surrounding her decision to attend an event in Ghana when the fires broke out on Jan. 7, despite days of warnings about the unprecedented weather event that drove the fires.
Crowley openly criticized Bass in a local TV interview on Jan. 10, saying Bass had failed the city, citing funding and staffing of the fire department.
Bass said she has not cut the fire department budget while in office.
At least 29 people died as multiple wildfires — fueled by severe drought conditions and strong winds — raged across Southern California in January.
The largest of the fires in Los Angeles County — the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood — began on Jan. 7 and spread to 23,707 acres. The fire remained active for 44 days. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The second largest of the fires — the Eaton Fire, north of Pasadena — also began on Jan. 7 and spread to 14,021 acres. It remained active for 44 days and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne, Nadine El-Bawab and Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report.
