Baby born on side of road at Golden Gate Park after parents stuck in traffic
Karollyn and Nate welcomed baby girl Cielle Ray on the side of the road in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026. (Courtesy of Karollyn and Nate)
(NEW YORK) — A baby was delivered on the side of the road near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco after the parents got stuck in heavy traffic while trying to reach the hospital Saturday afternoon, according to authorities.
Parents Karollyn and Nate, who are not sharing their last names at this time, welcomed baby girl Cielle Ray inside their vehicle, American Medical Response said in a statement shared with ABC News.
Paramedics with the San Francisco Fire Department and an American Medical Response San Francisco ambulance crew responded after receiving a report from the family that the birth was taking place at Golden Gate Park, according to the fire department.
First responders also got stuck in traffic while en route, prompting them to park two blocks away and run to the scene to provide assistance, the fire department said.
Luckily, a doula was also stuck in the traffic jam and helped the family deliver the baby girl while emergency crews were on the way, the family said in a statement shared with American Medical Response on Sunday.
Karollyn and Cielle Ray were transported to the hospital following the birth, both healthy and in good condition, officials said.
“We always joked around about giving birth in the car, never thought it would happen to us,” Karollyn and Nate said in the statement. “We took a route that I take every morning to work without issues, and just so happens that the day with the worst traffic is the last day we needed it.”
The couple said they were very fortunate to have the support they did, particularly from the medical professionals and doula who assisted.
“We want to congratulate the family and welcome this new child to the world,” the San Francisco Fire Department said in a statement on X. “Her arrival is a true testament to dedication, compassion and teamwork.”
A tropical depression that formed in the Gulf off the west coast of Florida, July 19, 2026, is expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha. (Sadik Demiroz/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Bertha was churning early on Tuesday about 110 miles south-southwest of Panama City, Florida, moving northwest at about 5 mph, with maximum sustained winds at about 50 mph.
Tropical storm watches and warnings were in effect for parts of the Florida Panhandle to the coast of southeastern Louisiana, including Florida’s Panama City and Pensacola, along with Mobile, Alabama, and Gulfport, Mississippi.
A tropical storm watch was in effect for New Orleans on Tuesday morning.
A tropical depression that formed over the weekend strengthened on Monday night into Tropical Storm Bertha, the National Hurricane Center, prompting a tropical storm watch on Monday for parts of the Gulf Coast.
A tropical storm is defined as a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 39 mph to 73 mph.
On the forecast track, the storm was expected to slowly move along the Gulf Coast through Tuesday before approaching southern Louisiana on Wednesday, still as a rather weak tropical storm.
New Orleans was likely see some showers and gusty winds, some of which could potentially be tropical storm force, starting Tuesday night and lasting through Wednesday into Thursday, but major impacts are not anticipated.
Beyond Wednesday, Bertha was expected to continue moving westward toward Texas while weakening. It was expected to dissipate or turn post-tropical on Thursday night or Friday.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms were expected to possible on Tuesday along the Gulf Coast and Florida panhandle. Storm surge could reach 1 to 4 feet. Life-threatening rip currents were also expected to be also possible.
The rain and thunderstorm activity was forecast to shift toward southern Alabama and Mississippi on Tuesday and Wednesday. Gusty winds would also be possible, along with a widespread 2 to 4 inches of rain, with locally higher amounts up to 8 inches through Friday along the Gulf Coast.
Major rain or flooding from Bertha were not expected.
As of 8 p.m. ET Monday, Bertha had a maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. It continued to move very slowly, at just 3 mph, and the center was located about 110 miles south of Panama City, Florida.
The system was forecast to weaken back to a tropical depression sometime on Thursday and possibly dissipate or become post-tropical by the end of the week, as it was expected to approach the Texas coast.
The National Hurricane Center said the system would likely have a very asymmetric structure, with the bulk of the rainfall and much of the wind expected to occur to the south of the center, meaning it would not be over land.
Flash flooding in Henry County, Indiana, caused this street to collapse, Aug. 12, 2026. (Henry County Sheriff’s Office)
(NEW YORK) — Amid floodwaters already up to the roofs of some homes and turning the streets of multiple cities into rushing rivers, Midwest residents are bracing for more severe storms on Thursday.
“When I looked out my window, I saw my fence floating past my window,” Karlie Frey, a resident of hard-hit Cambridge City, Indiana, told ABC Indianapolis affiliate station WRTV.
After being evacuated from her home on Wednesday via a rescue boat, Frey, who has lived in Cambridge City since 2009, said, “I’ve never seen it get this bad.”
Indiana, which recorded three storm-related deaths this week, was in the path of more severe storms expected to pound the Midwest on Thursday.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun declared a statewide disaster emergency on Thursday.
“Hoosiers’ safety is my top priority. Our state response is fully mobilized, resources are moving where they’re needed, and we will continue working around the clock to support every impacted community,” Braun said in a social media post on Thursday.
Braun is expected to meet with first responders in Cambridge City and survey the damage there to “ensure state resources are available to support the response and recovery efforts,” the governor’s office said in a statement.
Meanwhile, rescue operations resumed on Thursday for one person in Delaware County, Indiana, who was among four people who reportedly went into the Mississinewa River on Wednesday during significant flooding, authorities said. Three others were rescued from the river on Wednesday night, officials noted.
Flood watches also remained in effect in Iowa, Kentucky and North Carolina, where showers and storms are possible on Thursday, keeping the threat of more flooding in place.
Like in recent days, storms expected from Des Moines, Iowa, to Lexington, Kentucky, and Knoxville, Tennessee, have the potential to train, or remain stationary, over the same areas, and could produce rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour.
The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center said severe isolated storms on Thursday are expected to occur across Iowa and Illinois, including the cities of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Springfield and Peoria.
The storms are expected to be accompanied by damaging winds, large hail and possible tornadoes.
Dangerous heat will also be a factor from the Midwest and Plains to the Southeast, all the way down to South Florida. More than 100 million people in over 15 states are under heat alerts on Thursday as a heat dome remains parked over the country’s Mid-South region.
Extreme heat warnings are in effect for Wichita, Kansas City, St. Louis and Paducah, Kentucky. Heat indices, which include humidity, will make it feel 111 in St. Louis and 110 in Kansas City.
Meanwhile, authorities are continuing to assess the damage from storms, floods, and at least five tornadoes, including three in southwest Chicago suburbs, that devastated the Midwest over the past two days.
Images from flooded areas of Cambridge City and elsewhere in Henry County showed floodwaters up to the roofs of some homes and many flooded streets impassable.
In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Cambridge City Town Council President Jim McLane described the flood in his small town of 1,700 people as “pretty devastating.”
McLane said he has lived in the area for 60 years and had never seen flooding “anything remotely compared to this.” He said flood waters rose “several feet higher than most people have seen it here before.”
McLane described a seven-to-eight-block area of flooded homes in Cambridge City, and said dozens of people had to be rescued by boat.
Henry County Sheriff John Sproles said more than 50 people were rescued on Wednesday from a flooded apartment complex in Henry County.
Henry County officials are also investigating a possible tornado that moved through New Castle, Indiana, on Wednesday, toppling trees and ripping the roof off a commercial building.
Sproles said he is concerned about additional rainfall hitting the area.
“Any more rain is really going to put us into much more significant problems,” he said.
Eric Stiles, who owns a plumbing company in Indiana, posted a video this week of damage caused by severe storms that hit Munster, Indiana, on Tuesday. The footage showed a line of massive trees uprooted in one residential neighborhood.
“It’s like driving through a war zone,” Stiles said in the video.
This screen grab from a video shows the manhole where the incident occured, on May 19, 2026, in New York. (WABC)
(NEW YORK) — The family of a Westchester grandmother who died after falling into an open manhole in Midtown Manhattan filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the utility responsible for the manhole, alleging its workers failed to properly seal the cover.
Donike Goncaj, 56, fell into the manhole at 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue on May 18 and died of scald burns and thermal inhalation from the steam. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court on Thursday, says she suffered “severe, horrifying, and catastrophic injuries.”
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Goncaj’s death an accident.
The utility, Con Edison, concluded a truck ran over the manhole and dislodged the cover and noted in a statement in May that “while this is a rare occurrence, manhole covers can get displaced by heavy vehicles.”
The lawsuit, filed by Goncaj’s son on behalf of her estate, and her domestic partner, alleged ConEdison “should have known that dislodged and displaced manhole covers presented a recurring and foreseeable danger to pedestrians” and accused the utility of negligence, carelessness and reckless disregard for their mother’s safety.
Someone falling to their death in a manhole “ordinarily does not occur in the absence of negligence,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit contended that ConEd and its contractors “had a duty to maintain” the manhole “in reasonably safe conditions,” including warning pedestrians and providing a ladder or staircase to exit it.
ConEd did not immediately comment on the suit. In May, it said it was investigating the situation and working with the city in its probe.
“Our thoughts remain with her family, and safety remains our top priority,” ConEd said in a statement a day after the incident.
According to the lawsuit, Goncaj’s domestic partner, Jashar Kameraj, witnessed her falling into the scalding hot manhole and tried to rescue her, to no avail.
Kameraj and Goncaj’s son are seeking unspecified damages.
-ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
