Flash flooding threat in South as major storm moves across country
ABC News
(NEW YORK) — A large storm over the central U.S. is bringing a range of weather issues, from flooding rain and severe weather to heavy snow in the Rockies.
This early season snowstorm has brought more than three feet of snow to portions of New Mexico.
Angel Fire, New Mexico, is home to a popular ski resort that has picked up 40 inches of snowfall in the last 36 hours. That’s still 8 inches below their record snowfall for one storm.
Las Vegas, New Mexico, has picked up 31.7 inches of snow from this storm, breaking their all-time record snowfall of 27 inches in 1958.
Rociada, New Mexico, had 36 inches of snow; 28 inches of snow fell in Genoa, Colorado; 24.5 inches fell in Colorado Springs, Colorado; 20 inches fell in Kenton, Oklahoma.
Denver, Colorado’s snow total of 19.2 inches makes this their third-largest November snowstorm on record.
Winter Storm Warnings have been allowed to expire across parts of Colorado Saturday morning, as the snow tapers off and quieter weather moves in.
Rafael feeds flood threat
Tropical Storm Rafael is meandering around the central Gulf of Mexico with winds of 50 mph.
After seeing so much activity in the Gulf of Mexico this hurricane season, it’s a relief to see a storm that will not be making landfall as a dangerous storm.
There will be indirect impacts from Rafael as some of the moisture from this storm is pulled into a front as it moves across the south Saturday.
There is a High Risk for Excessive Rainfall in parts of Louisiana today with up to 8 inches of rain in the forecast. That flash flood risk extends as far north as Kentucky today.
Rafael is also churning up the seas enough to bring a dangerous rip current risk to several beaches along the Gulf Coast this weekend.
Waves up to 7 feet have prompted High Surf Advisories through Sunday, with minor coastal flooding also possible in parts of Louisiana.
Wildfire risk
While there are several dangerous wildfires still burning in the west, the conditions have improved enough to limit fire growth this weekend across California.
In the Northeast, a Red Flag Warning remains in effect for portions of 6 states on Saturday due to elevated fire weather concerns.
Wind gusts up to 35 mph and humidity as low as 25% could help to rapidly spread any fires that flare up, so residents are urged to avoid open flames this weekend.
Rain will move into the northeast by Sunday night, offering a bit of relief to an area that hasn’t seen much measurable rainfall in more than a month.
While any rainfall is better than nothing, this is not looking to put a dent in the severe to extreme drought across much of the northeast.
(NEW YORK) — Active shooter drills have become the norm in schools across the U.S., but experts warn they have the potential to cause more harm than good.
Though the exercises seek to prepare students to respond to gun violence in their schools, little evidence exists proving their efficacy, experts told ABC News, days after two people were killed during a shooting at a Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin.
They can, however, cause marked damage to mental health and even serve as an instruction manual for potential school shooters, according to some experts.
“There’s too little research confirming the value of [drills] involving students — but evidence is absolutely mounting on their lasting harms,” Sarah Burd-Sharps, the senior research director at the anti-gun violence advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, told ABC News.
Over 95% of public schools in the U.S. have trained students on lockdown procedures to be used in the event of an active shooter incident, a number that has risen significantly since the early 2000s, according to a 2017 U.S. Department of Education report. At least 40 states have laws requiring these drills, according to data collected by Everytown.
Despite their ubiquity, few standards exist regulating how these drills should be conducted, Burd-Sharps said. As a result, the practices can range widely, she said. In some schools, training may consist of basic education on lockdown procedures. Others, however, have taken it further, simulating a real life active shooting scenario with sounds of gunfire or even school staff members posing as shooters.
Trainings of this kind can be deeply traumatizing to students and have a negative impact on mental health. A 2021 study by Burd-Sharps and others, which examined 114 schools across 33 states, found an approximate 40% increase in anxiety and depression in the three months after drills.
The effects can be especially pronounced among students with preexisting mental health struggles and those who have personal experience with gun violence, such as those who regularly hear gunfire in their communities or who have survived a prior shooting, Burd-Sharps said.
Rebekah Schuler, a 19-year-old Students Demand Action leader who survived the 2021 Oxford High School shooting in Michigan, said she and her classmates hadn’t taken active shooter drills very seriously until the attack that killed four students and injured seven others.
After the shooting, many of her classmates transferred, going on to schools that held their own active shooter trainings, she said. Many found these drills retraumatizing, she said, and some would have panic attacks.
“I hadn’t known the seriousness of it, but after the shooting, they were traumatizing to a different level,” Schuler told ABC News of the drills.
Advocacy groups like Everytown, as well as Sandy Hook Promise — the nonprofit formed by the families of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting — are pushing for stricter guidelines for active shooter drills that serve to better prepare school communities while avoiding negative effects.
In a report, Sandy Hook Promise recommended guidelines for these trainings, including requiring that they are announced in advance, allowing students to opt out and requiring regular reviews of practices.
The organization urged strongly against simulated gunfire, which they say can traumatize participants and risk physical injuries, without improving the exercises’ effectiveness. It’s a stance Burd-Sharps and other experts said is crucial for conducting safer trainings.
“No fake bullets, fake blood, janitors dressed as gunmen. That is deeply traumatizing,” she said. “And it’s not just traumatizing for the kids, it’s traumatizing for the teachers as well.”
Though few laws govern how these trainings are run, some states have begun taking steps to limit the most hyperrealistic practices. In July, New York banned drills that seek to realistically simulate shootings, and guidelines released by the Kentucky Department of Education recommend avoiding “dramatic crisis simulations.”
Active shooter drills also can come with another grim risk: serving as a blueprint for would-be school shooters on how to circumvent safety measures in planning their own attack. For instance, Natalie Rupnow, the alleged shooter at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, was a student at the school.
“Because 3 in 4 school shooters are a current or former student, by drilling multiple times a year, you are giving the roadmap of what’s going to happen during an active shooter incident to a potential shooter,” Burd-Sharps said, citing a 2016 New York Police Department report.
Experts recommend focusing training efforts more on teachers than on students, and concentrating more efforts around prevention strategies — particularly convincing parents to lock up their guns and teaching students who they can safely go to if they observe concerning behavior among their peers.
“When you compound actual shootings that kids see on TV all the time with these drills, and with lockdowns in response to new incidents, it’s actually not surprising that many American school kids are in crisis. The last thing they need is additional trauma from drills multiple times a year,” Burd-Sharps said.
(CUMBERLAND, Md.) — A 28-year-old prison inmate has been killed in his own cell by another prisoner who was serving time in the same facility, police said.
The inmate, identified as Robert Warren — a state prison inmate serving time at the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland., Maryland — was declared deceased in his cell on Monday by emergency medical service personnel, according to a statement from the Maryland State Police released on Wednesday.
A suspect, also an inmate, has been identified but police have not released his identity since he has not yet been charged at this time. Authorities are expected to release more information once the suspect has been charged, police said.
Maryland authorities did not say how the man was killed or how long they suspect he had been dead for when his body was discovered in his cell but they did confirm that Maryland State Police investigators are “continuing an investigation into the death of a state prison inmate in Allegany County.”
“The Maryland State Police Homicide Unit was contacted by investigators from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services Internal Investigative Unit (DPSCS IID) about an inmate death,” according to the Maryland State Police. “Autopsy results from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Warren’s death as a homicide.”
State Police Homicide Unit investigators are continuing the investigation and assistance is being provided by State Police crime scene technicians and investigators with the DPSCS Internal Investigative Unit.
“Upon completion, the investigation will be presented to the Allegany County State’s Attorney’s Office for review regarding charges,” police said.
(LOS ANGELES) — The multiple wildfires raging in California are being described by eyewitnesses as “apocalyptic.” While the cost in human suffering is immeasurable, it may take weeks or longer for the true economic toll to be realized.
AccuWeather estimated $52 billion to $57 billion in damage as of Wednesday afternoon, but state officials warned that the number is expected to rise as the unprecedented fires put thousands more homes at risk.
The five wildfires tearing through the County of Los Angeles hit many California homeowners who were already struggling to find a company willing to insure their properties. At least 10 major insurers have either left or reduced coverage in California in the past four years. During that time, the number of homeowners signing up for the state’s insurer of last resort has doubled, officials said.
In the past two years, insurers including Allstate, American National, The Hartford and State Farm stopped issuing new fire policies for California homeowners. In some instances, residents said, the insurers would not renew existing policies because of the ongoing risk of damage from wildfires.
“The scenes from the area are heartbreaking, and our thoughts are on the individuals and communities impacted, as well as those that remain under threat,” State Farm said in a statement to ABC News. “We want our customers to know that, when it is safe to do so, they can and should file a claim. Agents can also help and, if needed, give customers more time to pay their premium. Our teams are standing by to assist.”
Allstate stopped issuing new homeowner policies in the state in 2022 and said last year that it would reverse its decision if it was allowed to account for the costs of reinsurance when setting rates.
The Hartford stopped writing new homeowners policies in the state on Feb. 1, 2024. American National stopped offering policies in the state on Feb. 29, 2024. Those companies did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the fires or on coverage going forward.
Just days before the first wildfire broke out Tuesday in LA’s affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the California Department of Insurance unveiled new regulations that would soon require insurers to increase home coverage in areas prone to wildfires. The policy would not be retroactive and would only apply to new policies going forward.
Part of a home insurance reform package, the regulations will also allow insurers to charge homeowners higher premiums to protect themselves from catastrophic wildfire claims, the documents said. It will be the first time in the state’s history that insurers can include the cost of reinsurance in their premiums, though it is a common practice in other states.
Critics of the rule say it could hike insurance premiums by 40% and doesn’t require new policies to be written at a fast enough pace.
The new rules are set to take effect at the end of January following a 30-day review period; but for many Californians, that regulation will come too late.
One example is the Levin family.
The fast-moving wildfires threatened Lynn Levin Guzman’s childhood home in Eaton, California. The 62-year-old emergency room nurse said, in a post on TikTok, that she snuck back to an evacuation zone to attempt to protect the home by spraying it with water from a hose because her parents’ fire insurance was cancelled.
“They’re 90 years old. They’ve lived in this house for 75 years, and they’ve had the same insurance,” Guzman told ABC7 Eyewitness news, “and the insurance people decided to cancel their fire insurance.”
“So, thank you California insurance companies for supporting residents who pay taxes and love California,” she said.
“And they wonder why people are leaving California,” she added.
An apparent lack of viable insurance options has a growing number of California homeowners flocking to the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort. Meant to be a stopgap rather than a permanent replacement, it does not offer comprehensive policies. According to state officials, the number of policies under the FAIR Plan has more than doubled from 2020 to 2024 to 452,000.
President-elect Donald Trump called out the insurance industry on Truth Social on Wednesday, posting, “The fires in Los Angeles may go down, in dollar amount, as the worst in the History of our Country. In many circles, they’re doubting whether insurance companies will even have enough money to pay for this catastrophe.”
President Joe Biden also on Wednesday approved a major disaster declaration for California, making federal funds available for those who’ve lost property. That assistance includes low-cost loans to cover some uninsured property losses, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The FAIR Plan predicts that it will be able to pay out.
“We are aware of misinformation being posted online regarding the FAIR Plan’s ability to pay claims,” FAIR Plan spokesperson Hilary McLean said in a statement.
“It is too early to provide loss estimates as claims are just beginning to be submitted and processed,” McLean wrote, noting that the plan is prepared for this kind of a disaster and has payment mechanisms, including reinsurance, to cover claims.
State officials say they are considering passing a temporary year-long moratorium on non-renewals in areas recently burned.
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement, “Insurance companies are pledging their commitment to California, and we will hold them accountable for the promises they have made.”
