At least 13 dead as severe storms sweep through the Midwest
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(NEW YORK) — At least 13 people are dead after severe weather hit parts of Missouri and Arkansas overnight, officials said.
Ten storm-related fatalities were reported in the Missouri counties of Ozark, Butler, Wayne and Jefferson, the state highway patrol said. Three people were confirmed dead in Independence County, Arkansas, the state’s emergency management division said.
At least 29 people were injured in eight Arkansas counties, state emergency officials said.
Additionally, almost 300,000 customers are without power across five states — Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Texas and Arkansas, according to Poweroutage.us.
Millions of Americans across the country are on alert for severe weather with tornado watches in effect for eight states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.
A new tornado watch has been issued for the south that is in effect until 1 p.m. CT — including Alexandria, Louisiana; Shreveport, Louisiana; Greenville, South Carolina; and Tupelo, Mississippi.
Violent, long-track tornadoes are possible — a couple could be intense — along with damaging gusts of up to 75 mph and scattered large hail.
A Tornado Watch from Louisville to Indianapolis is in effect until 10 a.m.
Emergency management is working through the damage Saturday morning, but Robert Myers with the Butler County Emergency Management Agency said daylight will give them a better idea of the amount of destruction.
The Black River Coliseum has been opened as shelter and Myers said that there are people with injuries in nearby hospitals but did not have an exact number.
There is a rare high risk warning issued for violent tornadoes in Mississippi and Alabama on Saturday afternoon and into the evening.
So far there have been 23 reported tornadoes overnight across four states – Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Mississippi as the severe weather outbreak continues into Saturday. Winds gusted up more than 80 mph causing damage in the Midwest from Missouri to Wisconsin.
The Storm Prediction Center said that numerous significant tornadoes, some of which could be long-track and potentially violent, are expected and cities in the high risk areas include Hattiesburg, Jackson, Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.
The most dangerous tornado threat should begin Saturday during the late morning to early afternoon hours in Louisiana and Mississippi before spreading into Alabama late afternoon into the evening, followed by the western Florida panhandle and into western Georgia through late Saturday night.
The severe storms are expected to be weaker on Sunday as the storms reach the East Coast from Florida to the Mid-Atlantic.
Damaging winds, large hail and brief tornadoes on Sunday afternoon will be possible for the Southeast, while heavy rain and damaging wind threat will reach the Northeast Sunday evening into the overnight.
The severe weather outbreak is all part of a major cross-country storm system that is also prompting fire danger and red flag warnings across the Plains.
The event will be on Sunday, March 2, at 3 p.m. at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
Olympians Tara Lipinski, Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton and Johnny Weir are among those participating. The show will raise funds to support victims’ families, first responders and aviation professionals, U.S. Figure Skating said.
More than a dozen of the victims killed in the Jan. 29 plane crash were young skaters, their parents and coaches returning home from a national figure skating development camp in Wichita, Kansas.
The plane, which departed from Wichita, was about to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., when it collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter, sending both aircraft plunging into the Potomac River.
Sixty-four people were on board the plane and three soldiers were on the helicopter. No one survived.
“As we begin to heal from this devastating loss, we look forward to honoring the enduring memories of these athletes, coaches and family members who represented the best of the figure skating community,” U.S. Figure Skating interim-CEO Samuel Auxier said in a Wednesday statement announcing the tribute show.
“We can think of no better way of celebrating their legacies than through the sport they loved,” Auxier said.
Tickets will go on sale on Monday, Feb. 10, on Ticketmaster.
(NEW YORK) — Two major winter storms are bearing down on the U.S. this week and are expected to bring some of the highest snow totals of the season for cities including Chicago and Washington, D.C.
The first storm, which spans from Colorado to Delaware, will hit Tuesday morning through Wednesday morning.
By 7 a.m. ET Tuesday, heavy rain is expected from Dallas to Nashville, Tennessee, while snow will be falling from Louisville, Kentucky, to Richmond, Virginia.
The snow will arrive in D.C. by noon on Tuesday and may last for over 12 hours. Some light snow may make it as far north as Philadelphia.
Four to 6 inches of snow is possible for the D.C. and Baltimore region.
Meanwhile, the heavy rain in the South may cause flash flooding.
By the time that first storm leaves the East Coast, the second storm will have already started in the Midwest.
At 7 a.m. ET Wednesday, widespread snow is expected from Colorado to Iowa to Missouri, while heavy rain will be falling from Houston to Louisiana.
In Chicago, the snow will begin around 9 a.m. Wednesday and may last for over 12 hours. Five to 9 inches of snow is possible in the Windy City.
Then, in the East, a mix of rain and freezing rain expected in D.C. and Philadelphia beginning after 5 p.m. Wednesday and continuing overnight.
In New York City and Boston, the snow is forecast to start Wednesday night and then change to rain overnight.
Both storms combined will result in hefty snow totals in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic, and potentially flooding rain for a wide swath of the South.
(WASHINGTON) — In classrooms across the country, children of immigrants are facing heightened fears over news that immigration enforcement officers are now allowed to enter schools, according to educators.
While it’s unclear if immigration raids have actually taken place in schools, the lifting of the prohibition itself by the Trump administration and the highly publicized enforcement activities elsewhere have triggered anxieties in the classroom, educators say.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has not responded to ABC News requests for comment on whether ICE raids have taken place at schools since the implementation of the new policy. However, the end of schoolhouse restrictions on ICE activity and a false alarm incident at a Chicago elementary school has put community members on edge.
The sounds of sirens or a routine lockdown drill can set children on edge, stoking fears about what lies ahead for their families or friends, according to Denise Sheehan, a bilingual teacher in New Mexico.
Sheehan, who works in a school district about 40 minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border, said some students stop coming to school altogether; for others, it’s a challenge for teachers to keep them focused or engaged in the day’s schoolwork when worries hover heavy over the students.
She said that students hear what’s going on in the news – and are racked with questions about raids or documentation, concepts some might not fully understand: “‘Am I going home to an empty house? What’s going to happen to me? Am I going to be here tomorrow? Is my family going to be here tomorrow?’” Sheehan recalled.
The Trump administration has publicized the arrests of thousands of immigrants by federal agents since the president took office, as well as revoking long-standing restrictions that thwarted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from conducting raids on schools and other sensitive areas, such as churches. ICE is now allowed to make arrests in these so-called sensitive areas, but many local officials have made it clear that ICE must have a warrant to enter certain spaces.
In a statement touting the move, the Department of Homeland Security said, “criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.”
The statement continued, “The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
President Donald Trump made immigration a key focus of his campaign, promising mass deportation efforts targeting the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
However, these fears are not new. In fiscal year 2023, under President Joe Biden, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) conducted 170,590 administrative arrests, representing a 19.5% increase over the previous year, and more than any year of the first Trump presidency.
In the United States, more than 16.7 million people live with at least one undocumented family member – about 6 million of whom are children under the age of 18, according to past estimates from the American Immigration Council. Hundreds of thousands of children in the U.S. are undocumented, according to research from Pew Research Center.
The threat of immigration enforcement has the potential to cause emotional, developmental, or economic challenges for millions of children who live day to day with the anxiety of deportation, according to many sources on the mental health of children impacted by immigration.
“Schools are not places that are open to the public. They’re limited in terms of access and that’s because we want to keep children safe so that they can focus on learning, they can focus on growing and developing and just living their lives as children,” said Nicholas Espíritu, the legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, in an interview.
In an online statement urging educators to know the rights of their students as well as their own, the National Education Association warned that mass immigration enforcement panic “will predictably harm school environments, including by causing increased absences, decreased student achievement, and parental disengagement.”
One study from Children found that there are higher rates of depression, anxiety, social isolation, stress, and aggression in children who live with an undocumented person or have a parent who has been deported.
Deportations and detention efforts send further shockwaves through immigrant communities, and “serve only to complete the trauma” facing undocumented communities, another study states.
Schools – once unauthorized targets for ICE – now play a central role in how children will face the potential threat. Some local officials have said they will “welcome” ICE agents into their schools, while others have urged the community to learn their rights ahead of any ICE encounters in school.
“Silence is not OK,” said Sheehan, a representative on the National Education Association Board of Directors, who has been collaborating with her fellow educators on how to respond ahead of any ICE activity in her schools. “During these times, we need to continue to inform our educators. We need to make sure that everybody’s aware of the resources that our district offers, and make sure that there’s a plan.”
From schools, to churches, to supermarkets, there is an absence of familiar faces, as community members say that some residents are staying out of sight for fear of law and immigration enforcement efforts.
“These are churchgoers. These are hardworking individuals. These are the parents of your children’s best friend at school, right? These are individuals that are living in fear,” immigration attorney Ana Alicia Huerta, granddaughter of famed labor rights leader Dolores Huerta, told ABC News.
For the past month, California resident Adriana, who asked to be identified by only her first name for privacy reasons, has been delivering food to families too scared to leave their homes. Walking to her car with a box of donated food, she describes meeting families with little ones who are scared of what is to come.
“Their kids – some of them, they have babies,” said Adriana. “They can’t go out and buy diapers, baby formula. They’re scared to come out.”
For Adriana, the decision to help the families is not about legal status: “It’s about humanity. It’s about our community. Sometimes you see faces, you see you’re not thinking, ‘Oh, this person is legal.’ ‘Oh, this person is not.’”
