Millions under flood watches, evacuation orders in place as Southern California burn scar areas brace for storm
Social Alerts – Friday & Saturday Map. ABC News
(LOS ANGELES) — Over 22 million people in Southern California are under a flood watch as a West Coast storm could slam burn scar areas, bringing potential mudslides, debris flows and excessive rainfall.
Evacuation warnings are now in place through Friday evening for the following burn scar areas: Canyon, Bethany, Eaton, Palisades, Hurst, Kenneth, Sunset, Lidia, Franklin and Bridge, according to Los Angeles County officials.
“Anyone in these areas should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice,” county officials said.
The storm will bring light to moderate rain for most of Friday, but the main threat for flooding will begin Friday night going into Saturday, with excessive rainfall — accompanied by lightning and some strong wind gusts — possible for some areas.
Beginning late Friday, evacuation orders will be in effect for the following burn scar areas: Canyon, Bethany, Eaton, Palisades, Hurst, Kenneth, Sunset, Lidia, Franklin and Bridge.
According to the Los Angeles Public Works, some streets may be “entirely blocked by debris” and some structures may be at risk depending on location.
These areas could see 1 inch of rain per hour, with rainfall between Friday and Saturday totaling 4 to 6 inches. Areas with the heaviest storms or at higher elevations could see 6 inches of rain or more.
A moderate risk for excessive rainfall and flash flooding is in place for Los Angeles and Santa Barbara areas, mostly for the heaviest rain which is expected on Friday night, Saturday morning and early Saturday afternoon.
The heavy rain will be occurring from 8 p.m. local time Friday to 3 p.m. Saturday. More rain is possible in these areas every day next week, with the threat of mudslides and debris flows continuing due to the already-saturated ground.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Thursday that emergency resources will be pre-deployed ahead of the storm to protect communities in the Los Angeles, Orange and Ventura counties from mudslides and debris flows.
On average, Los Angeles records 0.8 inches of rain the entire month of November, with the record being 9.68 inches in 1965. This storm beginning on Friday could likely be more than a November months’ worth of rain within a day for these areas.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court on August 13, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A judge in New York has rejected Harvey Weinstein’s bid for a new trial, ruling juror complaints about decorum in the deliberation room were adequately addressed.
Weinstein was convicted of the 2006 sexual assault of Mimi Haley, a one-time production assistant on the Weinstein-produced reality show “Project Runway.”
The defense said two jurors subsequently claimed they were pressured to convict.
Judge Curtis Farber decided on Thursday, “The Court’s response to the jurors’ complaints appropriately balanced the competing interests of investigating the allegations while avoiding any unnecessary taint of the deliberating jury.”
Weinstein is now consulting with his attorneys about when he will be re-tried for the rape count he faces in connection with an alleged 2013 assault of Jessica Mann. The judge declared a mistrial on that one count after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it would retry Weinstein on that count.
Weinstein, 73, remains in custody at Rikers Island in New York City after nearly six years of confinement. A representative for the disgraced Hollywood producer said he is “medically fragile and in legal limbo.”
Entrance to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The United States has paused all pending immigration applications from 19 “countries of concern,” meaning that even applicants with pending green card applications will be subject to a pause and review, following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.
A memo from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services posted on Tuesday says that anyone from a country on the administration’s new travel ban list who is in the United States would have their application for asylum or other benefits, including a green card, paused.
“The Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right,” said a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. “We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake. The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern.”
The 19 travel ban countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The pause is in effect until USCIS issues guidance on additional vetting of these nationals, according to a source, who has reviewed the internal USCIS documents.
ABC News previously reported that some swearing-in ceremonies for people from the travel ban list had been abruptly canceled.
Rosanna Berardi, an immigration attorney, told ABC News that USCIS first issued the policy on Nov. 27, a day after two National Guard members were attacked near the White House by a suspect who authorities say entered the U.S. from Afghanistan in 2021. The policy has since been updated and expanded upon, Berardi said.
“USCIS updated its Policy Manual to require officers to apply these ‘country-specific factors’ when deciding green card applications, extensions or changes of status, waivers, and certain work authorization requests,” Berardi said. “What’s less formal are the reported pauses on certain adjudications for nationals of the 19 listed countries. Those appear to come from internal operational directives, not published policy, and they raise serious legal questions about transparency, statutory authority, and the reach of the travel ban proclamation beyond the entry context.”
“We are awaiting formal guidance,” the attorney said.
Berardi said that, taken together, the moves mean “slower processing, more scrutiny, and more uncertainty for affected applicants while litigation challenges are almost certain to follow.”
(NEW YORK) — The largest federal workers’ union this week threw its support behind a Republican government funding bill, ratcheting up pressure on Democrats.
But many of the top labor unions told ABC News that they continue to back the strategy taken up by Democrats, breaking with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents hundreds of thousands of federal workers losing out on pay and staring down the threat of layoffs.
Many labor unions, a key bloc within the Democratic Party, support the push for an extension of Obamacare subsidies and remain eager to fight a president they view as an adversary of workers, some labor analysts and union officials said.
Jaime Contreras, an executive vice president at the 185,000-member Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, said he sympathized with the challenges faced by federal workers but he disagreed with AFGE’s approach.
“They have to do what they have to do for their members,” Contreras told ABC News.
But, he added: “It’s a false choice in my opinion to say we need to give up affordable healthcare for millions and millions of Americans in order to bring federal workers back to work.”
SEIU 32BJ represents about 2,400 federal contractors who work as security officers, food-services workers and other employees, meaning they run the risk of missing out on backpay when the government reopens, Contreras said.
“These workers are bearing the brunt of this shutdown,” Contreras said, later adding: “We’re urging our Democratic friends to hold the line.”
The stay-the-course approach maintained by key labor organizations has likely eased the pressure faced by Democratic lawmakers in the aftermath of the AFGE announcement, some labor analysts told ABC News.
“The federal unions aren’t the biggest players,” Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told ABC News.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, who leads the nation’s largest labor federation, made up of unions representing nearly 15 million members, faulted President Donald Trump for what she considers an attempt to divide workers.
“As federal workers miss paychecks and line up at food banks, President Trump is more focused on pitting workers against each other than ending the shutdown,” Shuler told ABC News in a statement. “It’s time to fund the government, fix the health care crisis, and put working people first.”
Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed Democrats for the impasse, saying while most workers might be able to miss one paycheck, “none of them can get through two paychecks.”
“If Democrats don’t get their act together very quickly, you’re going to see huge problems,” Duffy said.
The National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s biggest labor union representing almost 3 million members, stands by a statement earlier this month that supports addressing healthcare and government funding, an NEA official told ABC News.
United Steelworkers International President David McCall told ABC News he supports a solution “both prioritizing affordable health care and funding the essential services our government provides.”
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the United Food and Commercial Workers referred ABC News to previous statements voicing similar sentiment.
“The Trump administration is putting huge, huge pressure on the federal unions,” John Logan, a professor of U.S. labor history at San Francisco State University, told ABC News. “Large parts of the rest of the labor movement are crying out for the Democrats to fight against the Trump administration and not give up.”
“Despite these cracks — which are understandable — the labor movement is fairly united in its position on the shutdown,” Logan added.
AFGE did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The union drew headlines on Monday when its president, Everett Kelley, called for a “clean continuing resolution,” a position in line with Republicans who have declined to negotiate with Democrats over healthcare and other topics until after lawmakers vote to reopen the government.
“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” Kelley said in a statement. “Today I’m making mine: it’s time to pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today.”
To be sure, at least one major union has sided with AFGE. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has urged lawmakers to pass a clean continuing resolution, reiterating his position on Thursday in remarks made alongside top Trump administration officials at the White House.
“Do not put working people in the middle of a problem. They should not be in there,” said O’Brien, who last year became the first Teamsters union president to speak at a Republican National Convention.
The Teamsters did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
For his part, Trump on Thursday night called on Senate Republicans to eliminate the filibuster to pass the Republican funding bill and reopen the government.
“It is now time for the Republicans to play their ‘TRUMP CARD,’ and go for what is called the Nuclear Option — Get rid of the Filibuster, and get rid of it, NOW!” Trump posted.
The government shutdown, which entered its 30th day on Friday, appears unlikely to end anytime soon. Senate Democrats have voted 13 times to reject a Republican funding bill, and the upper chamber is out on recess until next week.
