Still reeling from Helene’s aftermath, a new tropical threat develops in the Gulf
(NEW YORK) — Even as the South continues its recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Helene, another storm system is showing the potential for development in the Gulf of Mexico.
Early October is still not far from last month’s peak of the hurricane season.
Most of the tropical systems in the Atlantic will stay away from the U.S., including Tropical Storm Kirk, but one system in the Caribbean could move into the Gulf by the end of the week.
At this time, it is still too early to say how much it will develop and where it will hit. But some of our most trusted computer models bring this system to Florida by early next week with heavy rain.
Right now, it has a 40% chance of development by the end of the week.
If the system is named, it could be called Leslie or Milton, depends on whether something forms in the Atlantic first.
(NEW YORK) — Schools in a Kentucky country reopened Tuesday under heavy police guard for the first time since a massive search was launched for a suspect in an interstate shooting that injured five people 11 days ago.
As the suspect, 32-year-old Joseph Couch, remained on the loose Tuesday, the Laurel County Public Schools reopened campuses to its nearly 9,000 students.
“We will not live our lives in fear,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news conference Tuesday.
The school district said in a statement that the reopening plan “prioritizes the safety of our students and staff.”
“The reopening plan provides enhanced security measures for bus transportation services, school campuses and extra-curricular activities,” the school district said.
Tuesday’s search for Couch continued to focus in the thick woods of the Daniel Boone National Forest, according to the Kentucky State Police.
Both state and federal teams have combed through at least 28,000 acres of the more than 700,000-acre national forest, but have yet to find any sign of Couch, officials said.
As the search continues in the national forest, officials said they are expanding the hunt for Couch to the communities surrounding the forest.
Beshear said additional state resources are being made available to help with the ongoing search efforts.
The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service are assisting in the search.
The search for the gunman began on Sept. 7, after police responded to reports that a dozen vehicles traveling on Interstate 75 near London, Kentucky, had been struck by gunfire, officials said.
The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said 20 to 30 shots were fired from a hillside near I-75’s exit 49.
Couch was initially named as a person of interest after deputies found his SUV abandoned on a forest road near exit 49, officials said. An AR-15 rifle Couch purchased in the hours before the shooting and investigators believe was used in the incident was also found in the woods near Couch’s vehicle along with a bag with Couch’s name written on it, officials said.
A day after the shooting, Couch was upgraded to the primary suspect. Investigators warned that Couch should be considered armed and dangerous.
In addition to searching the national forest, a tip prompted investigators this week to search a home in Laurel County, but found no evidence of Couch having been there, officials said.
Before the interstate shooting, according to the arrest warrant, a Laurel County 911 dispatcher received a call from a woman who alleged Couch texted her before the interstate shooting and “advised he was going to kill a lot of people. Well, try at least.” The text message was sent to the woman at 5:03 p.m. on Sept. 7, about a half-hour before the interstate shooting started, according to the arrest warrant.
“Couch sent another message to [the woman] that read, in part, ‘I’ll kill myself afterwards,'” according to the arrest warrant.
(CLEVES, Ohio) — Officials in Hamilton County, Ohio, on Wednesday, lifted the evacuation order that was put in place the night before over a chemical leak from a railcar.
Hamilton County’s Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency previously told anyone within half a mile of the rail yard to leave the area immediately.
Authorities confirmed Tuesday night that the leak was styrene, a flammable liquid used to make plastics and rubber, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
“The risk of an explosion is our primary concern,” an official said at a Tuesday night news conference. “We are asking residents within a three-quarter-mile radius to shelter in place as a precaution. Experts have assured us that this is well within the safety norms.”
By Wednesday morning, the rail car was no longer “venting,” officials said at a brief press conference.
No one, including train employees, was injured in the incident, officials said.
Officials said 210 homes in Cleves and Whitewater Townships were located in the designated evacuation zone, though how many people were impacted was not immediately known.
The train consisted of 29 cars, some of which were also carrying styrene, officials said.
“Our first priority upon arriving at the scene was removing anything in close proximity to the leak,” an official confirmed Tuesday.
Only one car was found to have leaked styrene, they said.
Cleves Township is almost 17 miles from Cincinnati, while Whitewater Township is about 22 miles away.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged those in the area to follow the directions of officials in a social media post on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the incident, White House officials said in a statement.
“The President has directed his team to provide any resources that may be needed,” the official said. “We urge residents to heed the warnings of emergency personnel, especially those instructed to evacuate.”
Ohio senator and vice presidential nominee JD Vance said in a statement on X that he and his team were monitoring the incident.
“My team and I are closely tracking a potentially hazardous chemical leak coming from a railcar near Cleves, Ohio,” Vance said. “Local authorities are working diligently to keep everyone safe. We will continue to monitor the situation until it has been resolved.”
(NEW YORK) — Hawaii is on alert for Tropical Storm Hone while extreme heat is expected to expand from the South to the Midwest, leaving 25 million Americans under heat alerts this weekend.
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Big Island of Hawaii as Tropical Storm Hone passes by to the south of the islands.
While it won’t be a direct hit, the storm is still close enough to deliver some potentially dangerous impacts.
The main threat is for heavy rain that could cause flash flooding and landslides, especially on the eastern side of the Big Island where rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches are possible. For the smaller islands, scattered rainfall of 2 to 4 inches is possible this weekend from Hone’s outer bands.
In terms of wind, tropical storm force winds are forecast to begin this evening and throughout the overnight hours into Sunday morning. Gusts will generally be in the 25 to 40 mph range, but there could be some gusts of over 50 mph in some of the higher elevations on the Big Island.
Swells from Hone will also generate high surf and dangerous rip currents for all the islands beginning in the Big Island on Saturday and spreading west to the rest of the islands over the weekend.
Hone may reach hurricane status for a short period of time as it passes south of Hawaii, but it is forecast to stay over open water and eventually weaken back into a Tropical Storm.
Heat alerts for 25 million Americans
This weekend, sweltering heat continues for much of the southern plains, but it will ease up a bit in Texas as the weekend goes on.
The extreme heat drifts north over the next few days, heading through the central plains and into the upper Midwest.
An excessive heat watch is in effect for parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, including Minneapolis on Sunday and Monday.
The heat index could be approaching 110 degrees for several cities in the plains and Midwest on Sunday and Monday.
Extreme heat slides eastward for the beginning to the middle of next week, moving into the Great Lakes and into the south by Tuesday and Wednesday.
Cities like Chicago, Louisville, and Atlanta could be approaching some record high temperatures up to 95 to 100 degrees for the middle of the upcoming week.