Missing hiker found after going days without food, water in Northern California
A Placer County Sheriff vehicle. George Rose/Getty Images
(PLACER COUNTY, Calif.) — A missing hiker was found safe after getting lost for days in steep terrain in Northern California, according to officials.
Placer County Sheriff’s Office crews searched for the hiker, whose name was not released, for days after he went missing on Monday in the Euchre Bar area, near the North Fork American River.
The man was first reported missing when he sent a text to 911 saying that he was lost and without food or water, according to the sheriff’s office.
Dispatchers were unable to reestablish contact with the man after he texted 911, but authorities said they were able to obtain approximate coordinates of his location.
Deputies found the hiker’s vehicle at the trailhead. Aerial resources including a helicopter and drones were deployed but were unable to get to the hiker through the dense tree canopy, authorities said.
A full search and rescue mission was launched, according to the sheriff’s office, including specialized mountain rescue team members.
More than 50 search and rescue members, including nine K9 teams, were deployed over the next two days. Falcon 30 and additional drone teams assisted with aerial searches during the day, while deputies remained staged at the trailhead overnight.
Dive teams also began sourcing the riverbanks on Wednesday. The hiker was found at around 11 a.m. local time by the dive team along the shore of the river.
“The hiker was tired, hungry, and thirsty – but otherwise okay,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“We want to send a huge thank you to all the volunteer Search and Rescue team members, including several from allied agencies. They dedicated countless hours over several days to search in extremely challenging terrain. Their commitment and expertise were instrumental in bringing this case to a positive outcome,” the sheriff’s office said.
(NEW YORK) — Nearly 24 years after the 9/11 attacks, New York lawmakers say the health program created to care for survivors and responders is faltering and they’re demanding answers.
In a new letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand raised concerns about staffing shortages, frozen research grants and ongoing communication blackouts at the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), which provides care to more than 140,000 people exposed to toxic dust at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
“This is unacceptable,” the senators wrote. “Individuals with 9/11-related conditions should not have to rely on repeated uproars from the public and the media to obtain the care they are owed under the law and so desperately need.”
The senators pointed to a pattern of administrative setbacks over the past six months, including a hiring freeze, restrictions on staff travel, and the halting of key steering committee meetings. While some staff have been reinstated, they noted that the program still operates with fewer people than when Secretary Kennedy took office in February The WTCHP was created under the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to provide long-term medical monitoring and treatment to those impacted by the attacks.
Last year alone, enrollment grew by 10,000 people and at least that many more are expected to enroll in the coming year, according to Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act, an advocacy group for 9/11 responders and survivors. But with only 80 staff members currently supporting the program — down from the authorized level of 138 — advocates say delays in care and treatment approvals are growing worse.
“I have always fought to keep the funding and maintaining of the World Trade Center Health Program a bipartisan cause, and while I continue to look for a Republican partner in the Senate, I am proud of the strong partnership I have with Representative Garbarino and his House Republican colleagues,” Senator Gillibrand said in a statement to ABC News.
She added, “Right now, the main issue is the care of the responders and survivors who put their lives on the line when our nation was in its darkest hour. We are seeing deep logistical issues in the program that Secretary Kennedy must address. The ball is in his court for how we can best assess next steps so that responders and survivors continue to receive the lifesaving care that this program provides and that they deserve.”
One critical concern the letter points to is the lack of communication. The senators say in the letter that an ongoing “temporary” communications ban, which is now in its eighth month, has disrupted routine meetings and cut off vital feedback from the 9/11 community. The senators say program staff are also barred from traveling to monitor clinics and contractors, which lawmakers warn could result in billing delays and lapses in care.
Also on pause is the petition process that allows for the consideration of adding new illnesses to the list of covered 9/11-related health problems, including cardiac and autoimmune condition, according to the senator’s letter. The program had promised decisions by March, but none have been announced.
The senators also questioned how a planned reorganization, which involves moving the WTCHP under a new agency called the Administration for Healthy America, will affect staffing, research and oversight.
Many 9/11 health advocates applauded the letter, agreeing it’s time to get the program moving after months of inaction.
“Given Secretary Kennedy’s record of chaos for the first six months of his administration and with the 24th Anniversary of 9/11 just a few weeks away, Senators Gillibrand and Schumer are calling attention to continuing issues with the World Trade Center Health Program that the Secretary must address,” said Benjamin Chevat, the executive director of Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act.
John Feal, a prominent 9/11 advocate and founder of the FealGood Foundation, said he is also grateful to the senators for their support of survivors.
“We shouldn’t keep having to have this conversation,” Feal said. “Kennedy needs to be held accountable, and I hope he honors this program and protects it from future cuts.”
Gary Smiley, a former firefighter who is a survivor of the attacks on the World Trade Center and now the WTC fire inspector’s liaison, agreed that Kennedy has not done enough for the program.
“The administration has promised us time and time again that this communications pause was temporary. Eight months is not temporary. Eight months is a failure to act,” Smiley said.
ABC News reached out to HHS for a response but did not receive one immediately. However, at a senate hearing in May, Kennedy acknowledged of the program that “We made a couple of mistakes,” and promised to address them.
“With the 24th anniversary of 9/11 approaching,” the senators wrote, “we must do everything in our power to uphold our promises to those still suffering from the aftermath of that day.”
Flood waters left debris including vehicles and equipment scattered in Louise Hays Park on July 5, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. Eric Vryn/Getty Images
(KERRVILLE, Texas) — As the Guadalupe River overflowed in Kerr County on the Fourth of July, officials with a local agency charged with “managing water quality and water quantity” in the Texas Hill Country appeared perplexed by the extent of the unfolding crisis and their role in addressing it, according to emails and text messages obtained by ABC News.
“Wow!! It’s a beautiful thing!” an official initially wrote to an Upper Guadalupe River Authority (UGRA) group chat at 7:09 a.m. — including a screenshot of a graph showing a massive increase in streamflow levels along the river in Kerrville — following drought conditions that Kerr County had faced prior to the flooding.
As others in the group chat shared the increasingly concerning reports they were hearing, it quickly became clear that there was cause for alarm.
“So I know I said it’s a beautiful thing earlier,” the official wrote at 7:38 a.m. “I had just woken up and hadn’t looked at the gages yet. It’s terrible.”
By that time, parts of Kerr County had already been inundated with floodwaters for several hours, flood alerts had been issued, and the Kerrville Police Department had received calls for multiple water rescues.
“When it all settles back down, it will be a totally different river,” an individual identified as maintenance technician Kevin Molenaar wrote.
‘Any word on Camp Mystic?’
The staggering toll of the flooding would not become apparent for days. More than 130 deaths were ultimately reported across the region, with many of the fatalities occurring at Camp Mystic.
On July 4, one official texted Dick Eastland, the camp’s president, “You are in my prayers.”
There was no response.
Eastland, who also served as the treasurer for the UGRA’s Board of Directors, died during the storm alongside multiple young campers and counselors.
“The poor children at the camps and their parents,” an official wrote in a group chat. “And so many people here in RVs for the 4th.”
The communications were released in response to a request filed by ABC News under Texas law.
They paint a picture of confusion and concern throughout Independence Day, with some text messages stating that water gages in Hunt and Kerrville had stopped reading. In other messages, UGRA representatives posted what they had learned from news outlets or on social media.
“There are missing people and possibly missing kids from mystic but that is not confirmed,” an official posted at 9:47 a.m.
Less than two hours later, the official typed, “They are saying now all camp mystic accounted for. Praise the lord.”
An individual identified as natural resources manager Shelby Taber responded, “Glad to hear camp mystic is all safe!”
But by mid-afternoon, the UGRA’s senior leadership appeared to realize the situation at Camp Mystic was more dire — though they did not know specific details.
“Any word on Camp Mystic?” UGRA board president William Rector emailed general manager Tara Bushnoe at 2:41 p.m. “I bet we may find some financial assistance for establishing our Floor Warning System!”
Bushnoe responded at 3:12 p.m. that she only knew what she had seen on a local news website indicating “there are some girls missing” and that the camp had issued a statement that aired on a local newscast.
“I don’t know if a flood warning system would have made enough difference,” Bushnoe wrote. “I think it would have made some, but this happened so quickly. We will have to be careful with our messaging to be respectful of the devastation.”
“Very true.” Rector wrote back. “I think working behind the scenes is going to be the most appropriate action at this time. We, however, need to be concerned that the county does not try to sieze [sic] control.”
Contacted by ABC News regarding the messages, officials with the UGRA did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Vulnerable to flash floods’
ABC News previously asked the UGRA for any flood after-action reports it may have created over the last 25 years following other storms along the Guadalupe River, but a law firm representing the authority said that they “have no responsive information.”
Documents released over the last month show that concerns over the risks posed by the Guadalupe River in Kerr County were widely known ahead of the Fourth of July floods, with the UGRA being particularly cognizant.
As ABC News previously reported, the authority submitted an application last year to state officials seeking a $1 million grant from the Texas Flood Infrastructure Fund for a project called the “Kerr County Flood Warning System” that would have included “high water detection systems at 10 low water crossings.”
“Since 1932, approximately 35 lives have been lost in floods in Kerr County. Many of those lost were in vehicles attempting to cross flooded roads,” the application noted alongside a timeline of deaths between 1987 and 2016.
However, in October 2024 the UGRA declined to continue applying for funding from the Infrastructure Fund, with Bushnoe writing in a letter at the time that although Kerr County was “vulnerable to flash foods,” the project would have been “only eligible for a 5% grant.”
“We will continue to explore options to implement a Kerr County flood warning system and financial assistance opportunities,” Bushnoe’s letter said.
The letter did not note who decided that the project would have only been eligible for a 5% grant.
The UGRA later reached an agreement with a company called Kisters to develop a different flood warning system that would have consisted of a “centralized dashboard to support local flood monitoring and emergency response.”
The agreement, which was signed exactly one month before the July 4 floods, indicated that the project was expected to cost more than $70,000.
A kick-off meeting was scheduled for mid-July, but the plans were put on hold after the floods. It remains unclear what happened to the plan crafted in 2024 for the $1 million flood warning system.
Kisters did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment following the floods.
‘We’ll be getting lots of calls’ July 4 was supposed to be a day of celebration in Kerr County, with a major Independence Day fireworks event called “Fourth on the River” scheduled to take place just a stone’s throw from the Guadalupe River.
Instead, it became one of the most tragic days in Central Texas history, with scores of people unaccounted for after sunset.
At the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, some staff members discussed the significance of the catastrophe among each other.
“I am hopeful they find more survivors tonight, but I assume the worst for the missing,” natural resources specialist Travis Linscomb texted another staffer at 11:48 p.m.
“Hopefully this will push the early flood warning topic to the forefront and we get more done this time around,” Linscomb added. “Unfortunately it seems like it takes major loss of life to get the ball really rolling on it like Blanco 2015 did,” an apparent reference to another flood a decade ago.
As the calendar turned to July 5, the UGRA team grappled with how to explain their role as inquiries came in, according to the communications.
“I have a feeling we’ll be getting lots of calls from very angry people asking why we let this happen because they want someone to blame and I’m going to have no idea what to tell them,” one official wrote at 7:21 a.m.
The lack of an effective flood warning system in Kerr County would become top of mind in the hours, days and weeks after the banks of the Guadalupe overflowed. A committee of Texas legislators is now investigating the circumstances surrounding the July 4th floods.
“Some of the comments I’m seeing are saying things along the lines of ‘how is there now [sic] flood warning system in 2025?'” an employee wrote to Linscomb early in the morning on July 5. “I want so badly to tell them that there is soooooo much more to it than just snapping your fingers and making it happen. Red tape, money, equipment that may not even survive a flood (like we saw today), etc.”
“I can’t imagine just being asleep then waking up to your rv floating away with you and your family in it and there is absolutely nothing you can do,” the employee said. “The fear and helplessness people must have felt is gutwrenching.”
(FORT STEWART, Ga.) — An active shooter incident with casualties has been reported at Fort Stewart in Georgia, Fort Stewart Hunter Army Airfield said.
The incident took place in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area.
Fort Stewart has initiated a lockdown. Law enforcement is on the scene and the situation is ongoing, officials said.
Fort Stewart is about 40 miles southwest of Savannah.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on social media, “We are keeping the victims, their families, and all those who answer the call to serve in our hearts and prayers.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
