Death toll rises from devastating flash flooding in West Virginia as rain threat continues
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(NEW YORK)– The death toll has climbed to seven in the wake of heavy rains and devastating flash flooding in West Virginia, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said on Tuesday, as he warned the threat isn’t over.
“Flood watches continue throughout West Virginia,” Morrisey said on social media. “With the ground already saturated, there is the possibility of further flash flooding. Please continue to heed local warnings and do not attempt to drive through high waters.”
Two people remain missing as of Tuesday, the governor’s office said.
A state of emergency is in effect and the West Virginia National Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are on the ground in Marion County, the governor said.
Flash flooding struck Ohio County in the northern part of the state on Saturday night, dumping about 3 to 4 inches of rain over a short time period, according to the governor’s office.
The flash flooding continued on Sunday in Marion County, dropping 3 inches of rain in the city of Fairmont over a short time period, state officials said.
On Sunday, a residential building in Fairmont partially collapsed.
Footage from the scene showed water rushing out of the severely damaged structure as emergency crews responded to the scene.
Displaced residents are being housed at Fairmont State University, officials said.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds and Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
(POLK COUNTY, Fla.) — A Florida woman was killed by an alligator during a canoeing trip with her husband, who tried to save her during the surprise attack, officials said.
The husband and wife were canoeing in about 2 1/2 feet of water at the mouth of Tiger Creek near Lake Kissimmee in Polk County on Tuesday afternoon when the boat drifted over a large alligator, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The gator thrashed and tipped the canoe over, throwing both the husband and wife into the water, fish and wildlife officials said.
The victim, 61-year-old Polk County resident Cynthia Diekema, ended up on top of the alligator in the water, the officials said.
She was bitten and her husband tried to save her, officials said. Her body has since been recovered.
An investigation is underway, the agency said. An 11-foot-4-inch alligator matching the description of the gator involved was recovered Tuesday night; a second gator, about 10 to 11 feet long, was recovered Wednesday morning, the officials said.
Roger Young, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, called Diekema’s death a “devastating loss.”
Deadly alligator attacks are “extremely rare,” but the “tragedy serves as a somber reminder” of the power of local wildlife, Young said at a news conference Wednesday.
To cut down on the risk of gator attacks, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission urges the public to keep their pets away from the water and to only swim in designated areas during the day.
(GUANTANAMO BAY) — Attorneys representing at least one of 17 alleged Venezuelan gang members who were deported Sunday to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison say the men were sent there two days after a federal judge issued an order prohibiting such deportations.
A federal judge on Friday blocked a Trump administration policy allowing the deportation of migrants to countries other than their own without giving them a chance to argue their removal in immigration court — although it’s unclear whether those deported on Sunday would have been protected by the order.
In his ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy blocked the removal of any individual subject to a final order of removal from the United States to a third country other than the country designated for removal in immigration proceedings unless they are given written notice and the opportunity to “submit an application for protection.”
The ruling was issued two days before the Trump administration sent 17 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
Among the 17 alleged gang members sent to El Salvador was Maiker Espinoza Escalona, who was being held in the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo after being deported from the U.S.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU, told ABC News he has serious concerns about what he called the government’s “sudden allegations” against Escalona that precipitated Escalona’s being sent to CECOT.
“He and others being sent to the Salvadoran prison must be given due process to test the government’s assertions,” Gelernt said.
A White House official told ABC News that the 17 alleged gang members who were deported to El Salvador were not deported under the Alien Enemies Act that was used to send more than 200 alleged gang members to El Salvador last this month, but under different authorities, including Title 8.
The announcement of the “counter-terrorism operation” from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, included no mention of the authority the administration used to deport the 17 individuals.
“DHS’ routine failure to provide meaningful notice and opportunity to present a fear-based claim prior to deportation to a third country has led to hundreds of unlawful deportations, placing individuals at serious risk of persecution, torture, and/or death,” attorneys for the detainees said in a complaint last week.
Escalona, who entered the U.S. on May 14 and requested asylum, filed a sworn declaration in early March in which he stated that he was not a gang member and asked the government not to send him to Guantanamo.
“I believe that I am at risk of being transferred because I have a final order of deportation and am from Venezuela,” Escalona said in the sworn declaration. “I also believe that I am going to be transferred to Guantanamo because of my tattoos, even though they have nothing to do with gangs. I have twenty tattoos.”
Authorities have said they use tattoos to help identify gang members. Escalona, who said in his declaration that he had been in immigration detention in El Paso, Texas, since May 22, listed his tattoos that he said include a cross, a crown, the ghost icon for the social media app Snapchat, his niece’s name, and the word “Faith” in Spanish.
“I do not want to be transferred to or detained at Guantanamo. I am afraid of what will happen to me when I get there,” Escalona said in the declaration. “I want access to an attorney to help me get out of detention and figure out what options I have in my immigration case.”
“If I am transferred to Guantanamo, I will be separated from my family,” he said.
The government opposed Escalona’s request for a temporary restraining order prohibiting his deportation to Guantanano, Gelernt told ABC News.
“The government opposed our request for TRO on the ground that he was not in imminent danger of being sent from the U.S. to Guantanamo, but told the Court they would alert it within 2 business days if he or other Plaintiffs were transferred to Guantanamo,” Gelernt said. “The government has apparently chosen to use a loophole and transfer him on a Friday night, thereby avoiding notice to the Court at this point. He has apparently now been transferred to the notorious Salvadoran prison.”
According to Escalona’s sworn declaration and the ACLU, his partner is currently detained in El Paso and his 2-year-old daughter is under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Army met its annual recruiting target of 61,000 in the first week of June, four months ahead of the scheduled Sept. 30 deadline, after putting in place new initiatives to boost recruitment.
It marks a stunning turnaround for a service that failed to meet its recruiting goals in 2022 and 2023 and struggled in the years since to meet its annual targets.
“The U.S. Army has successfully met its fiscal year 2025 recruiting goals for active duty, signing contracts with more than 61,000 future Soldiers — a full four months before the end of the fiscal year,” the U.S. Army said in a statement. “This achievement represents a significant turning point for the Army and indicates a renewed sense of patriotism and purpose among America’s youth.”
Dan Driscoll, the secretary of the Army, said in a statement that he is “incredibly proud” of the service’s recruiters and drill sergeants.
“Their colossal efforts and dedication to duty helped the U.S. Army accomplish our FY25 annual recruiting goal a full four months ahead of schedule,” Driscoll added. “The U.S. Army is focused on lethality, taking care of our Soldiers, and transforming for a dangerous future — young people across the country want to be part of the U.S. Army, and these results clearly demonstrate that.”
The fiscal 2025 recruiting target was 10% higher than the 55,000 recruits targeted in fiscal 2024, and the Army statement added that “recent recruiting momentum has seen average contracts per day exceeding last year’s levels by as much as 56% during the same period.”
This is the first time since June 2014 that the Army has met its annual recruiting goal so early. The Army said recruiting efforts will continue and that additional recruits will be placed in the Delayed Entry Program in which recruits delay their start dates so the Army can begin the following recruiting year with recruits in hand.
The Army’s surge in recruitment numbers parallels the recruiting surge the other military services are experiencing, something that both President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have attributed to a change in attitude brought about by the Trump administration’s end of policies promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
However, the services’ recruiting turnarounds began last year before the November election following the implementation of new initiatives to help boost recruiting. The Army’s recruiting turnaround is being attributed to the establishment of an academic and physical fitness preparatory course for potential recruits, the professionalization of the recruiting force and an increase in recruiting bonuses.
In an interview with the Associated Press in January, then-Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said the Army was on pace to meet its target of 61,000 for the year as well as have more than 20,000 additional young people signed up for the DEP.
“Concerns about the Army being, quote, woke, have not been a significant issue in our recruiting crisis,” she said. “They weren’t at the beginning of the crisis. They weren’t in the middle of the crisis. They aren’t now. The data does not show that young Americans don’t want to join the Army because they think the army is woke — however they define that.”
Instead, Instead the Army’s recruiting success was a result of new initiatives, such as the Army’s Future Soldier Preparatory Course established in August 2022 that provided 1 in every 4 of Army recruits among the 55,000 who signed up for Army service in 2024. In the interview with the Associated Press, Wormuth said data showed the course might account for as much as a third of this year’s recruiting totals.
The program was established following the Army’s failure to meet its recruiting goals in 2022 and 2023 as a recognition that the Army was turning away potential recruits who had a strong desire to serve in the U.S. military but fell just short of meeting their academic and physical fitness requirements.
Potential recruits who did not meet those requirements were sent to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for up to 90 days for academic and physical fitness training to help them get ready for a new round of testing so they could become recruits.
The Army’s success with the program in 2024 was reflected not only in successfully meeting that year’s goal but also in placing 14,000 recruits in the DEP. The Navy has replicated the Army’s preparatory course and implemented its own training system for potential recruits who initially fall short.
The Army is also moving away from rotating soldiers into assignments as recruiters and professionalizing the career field so it includes those who are motivated to stay in the field.
Recruiting bonuses have been a key way of incentivizing service members to join the military for the last two decades, and those numbers rose significantly during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan particularly to meet in-demand work specialties.
The Army lists recruiting bonuses that could total as much as $50,000 for eligible recruits who would enlist for hard-to-fill jobs and for meeting certain criteria, according to the Army’s recruiting site.
Statistics for this recruiting year are not yet available, but Army statistics from 2024 show that “ 24,185 recruits received an average bonus of $16.9K.”
Those same statistics show that since 2020, the Army’s annual recruiting class has become increasingly diverse, with more minorities joining the active duty service since then and the number of women rising to pre-2020 levels.
For example, the number of white recruits in fiscal 2024 decreased to 40.5% from the 52.7% who joined in 2020 while the number of Black and Hispanic recruits increased.
That trend was reflected in 2024’s total recruiting effort, where 26.1% of recruits were Hispanic, the highest number ever, and the number of Black recruits increased by 6% over the previous year to 25.8% of the total.
