logo
Terror in classroom as flash flooding sends gushing river onto campus while students flee

Terror in classroom as flash flooding sends gushing river onto campus while students flee

Daily Mail​14-05-2025

Flash flooding has reached new levels in Maryland as water levels breached the second floor of a school, prompting evacuations.
Around 150 school children and 50 teachers fled by boat after Westernport Elementary School was deluged by raging floodwaters on Tuesday.
The water rose so quickly that the students were trapped inside the building, including brothers William and Quinton Wade.
'I'm just happy to be alive,' fourth-grade student William Wade told CBS.
'I went on a motorboat and they drove us over to where there was no water and we saw how high the water was,' he added.
'We went over to the train tracks and we got on like this little truck thingy. We took off our life vests, and they drove us up to a church.'
'Whenever we were going down to get in the boat, the first floor was flooded,' second-grade student Quinton added.
Longtime Westernport resident and mother of the two boys Alley Wade said she has never seen flooding so bad in the rural town, which sits close to the West Virginia border.
'I have never. Now, I believe there was a bad flood in 1996, but I was 4,' she told CBS.
Homes and businesses in downtown Westernport were also inundated with floodwaters after hours of heavy rain.
Officials reassured the public that students and staff were safe as concerned parents and other community members posted on social media wondering how long the emergency situation would last at Westernport Elementary School.
Allegany County spokesperson Kati Kenney said responders used rescue boats to safely evacuate the school. About 150 students and 50 adults were evacuated during 15 boat trips.
Kenney said additional evacuations were underway in nearby areas, with reports of people trapped in cars and houses, but no injuries had been reported as of late Tuesday afternoon.
She said emergency crews from surrounding counties were helping with the response in the small community near the West Virginia line.
Another elementary school was also evacuated, and students at a middle school were sheltering in place, the Allegany County Department of Emergency Services said Tuesday evening. Officials said three emergency shelters had been opened across the county.
Aaron Stallings, rushed to Westernport Elementary to pick up his little sister earlier Tuesday afternoon, but he soon realized his car wouldn't make it. Stallings said he hopped a fence and made his way on foot through the shin-deep water.
'I knew my car was not going to get through, so I had to find an alternate route,' he said.
Stallings said children were being kept on the second and third floors when he made his way inside. Minutes after he located his sister with the help of the principal, the water level on the first floor had already risen again to his knees and was rushing under the school doors.
Once he waded back outside with his sister, Stallings turned around to capture video of the scene, where parked cars and a dumpster were floating through the school's parking lot.
Alley Wade also left work early when she heard about flooding downtown. She and her husband hoped to pick up their two sons, ages 8 and 10, but they couldn't get to the school because roads were already closed. Instead, they spent most of the afternoon standing around in the rain anxiously watching the floodwaters rise.
'It was stressful because I felt so helpless,' Wade said.
The family was finally reunited after the students had been evacuated. Wade said there were a lot of crying kids, but thankfully everyone was safe.
Roads throughout the area were closed due to flooding, including major arteries, according to the Allegany County Sheriff's Office.
Westernport Mayor Judy Hamilton said the town has been prone to severe flooding in the past, but they weren't expecting it today.
'It just seemed to happen all at once,' she said. 'My heart is breaking.'
She said the evacuated students were taken to higher ground and sheltered in a church building, where they would be kept safe by teachers and staff until their parents could pick them up.
Around 150 school children and 50 teachers fled by boat after Westernport Elementary School was deluged by raging floodwaters on Tuesday
With a population under 2,000 people, Westernport is located in the far corner of western Maryland. Its downtown took shape in a valley where George's Creek flows into the North Branch Potomac River.
The National Weather Service reported widespread flash flooding in the area Tuesday afternoon.
'We are closely monitoring the flood conditions that are present across Western Maryland due to heavy rainfall, especially in Allegany County,' Gov. Wes Moore said in a social media post, adding that the state and local authorities were actively responding to the inundation.
Hamilton said the last time Westernport suffered from devastating floods was in 1996.
'But we're strong and we always build back,' she said.
In West Virginia, Gov. Patrick Morrisey declared a state of emergency Tuesday night in Mineral County, along the Maryland border, due to severe storms and heavy rains that resulted in flash flooding. The declaration allows the state to mobilize personnel and resources to the area.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Crop Watch: Corn improves again but soybeans still iffy: Braun
Crop Watch: Corn improves again but soybeans still iffy: Braun

Reuters

time7 hours ago

  • Reuters

Crop Watch: Corn improves again but soybeans still iffy: Braun

NAPERVILLE, Illinois, June 9 (Reuters) - Health conditions across the U.S. Crop Watch corn and soybean fields began this season at multi-year lows. Recent weather has lent a bump to the corn ratings, though soybean scores remain just so-so overall. However, one of the Illinois Crop Watch soybean fields might qualify as the ugliest the producer has ever seen, placing extra emphasis on the near-term weather outlook. The week ahead could feature an opportunity for improvement to both corn and soybeans, though the temperature outlook may present some limitations. Temperatures across the U.S. Corn Belt last week were mostly below-average and all locations except the Dakotas received at least 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) of rain. The 11-field, average Crop Watch corn condition rose to 3.8 from 3.68 in the prior week. That is above the same week a year ago but below the comparable weeks in the previous three years. However, the 0.23-point increase over the last two weeks is well above a normal two-week delta for Crop Watch corn ratings. Improvement in the latest week was driven by Kansas and the Dakotas. The 11 Crop Watch producers assign weekly condition scores to their corn and soybean fields using a scale of 1 to 5. The ratings are similar to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's system where 1 is very poor, 3 is average and 5 is excellent. Only eight soybean fields were available for conditions last week, averaging 3.56. This week's average of the same eight fields drops to 3.5 on a reduction in southeastern Illinois, which is one of the nation's top soybean-producing regions. That field received over 3 inches of rain last week, piling on to the ample totals from previous weeks. The field conditions stand at 1.5 and the producer describes the situation as follows: 'Cannot stress enough how wet it is, the ground looks slimed.' Excess moisture is also plaguing crops in Ohio. The Crop Watch beans there were planted last Wednesday, though the field has taken 6 inches of rain since, and the plants have not yet emerged. This week, the 10-field average soybean condition score, sans Ohio, stands at 3.4. Aside from troubles in southeastern Illinois and Ohio, Crop Watch beans are looking super-strong in Indiana and western Iowa, and solid in both Kansas and eastern Iowa. Nearly all the Crop Watch producers expressed a desire for some drier conditions in the days ahead, though the forecast as of Monday was mixed on those prospects. They also noted the need for some warmth and sunshine, which is in the forecast for most areas for at least a couple of days this week. Crop Watch producers assessed that the week-ahead weather outlook was more positive than negative. But for some areas, particularly in the northwest Corn Belt, upcoming temperatures may still be a bit too cool. Producers will be watching for how the ongoing Canadian wildfire smoke might impact crop growth, as the particles can block much-needed solar radiation and potentially lead to cooler-than-expected temperatures. Karen Braun is a market analyst for Reuters. Views expressed above are her own. Enjoying this column? Check out Reuters Open Interest (ROI), opens new tab, your essential new source for global financial commentary. ROI delivers thought-provoking, data-driven analysis of everything from swap rates to soybeans. Markets are moving faster than ever. ROI, opens new tab can help you keep up. Follow ROI on LinkedIn, opens new tab and X., opens new tab

Los Angeles wildfires were 10 times bigger than utility's AI forecast
Los Angeles wildfires were 10 times bigger than utility's AI forecast

Reuters

time15 hours ago

  • Reuters

Los Angeles wildfires were 10 times bigger than utility's AI forecast

June 9 (Reuters) - Southern California Edison's internal wildfire forecasts underestimated the potential size of the Eaton Canyon fire in Los Angeles by a factor of ten in the days leading up to a deadly conflagration in January, according to documents reviewed by Reuters. The miss suggests potential weaknesses in the utility's fire modeling capabilities that factored into its response to the January wildfire threats, despite being upgraded with improved computing, datasets and artificial intelligence. At the time, wildfires whipsawed through Los Angeles' western flank near Santa Monica and Eaton Canyon in the east as they consumed more than 34,000 acres (13,750 hectares) - or some 53 square miles - turning entire neighborhoods to ash. Although no official cause for the Eaton Canyon blaze has been released, numerous lawsuits have claimed SCE's decision to keep power flowing to some lines and towers in the Altadena area led to the circumstances that triggered it. SCE has said the cause and circumstances around the fire are under investigation and will be for some time, and defended its modeling capabilities. "We are confident with our fire spread modeling and weather forecasting," Raymond Fugere, SCE's asset intelligence director, told Reuters in an interview. Fugere said SCE's simulations could have shown higher estimates for acres burned in hard-hit areas. Variations in wind patterns and available fuels in hard-hit areas may not have been fully accounted for in the fire spread modeling, he said. "But overall, we do feel confident with our modeling because it is giving us very actionable information to be able to make decisions," he said. SCE's simulations predicted a Jan. 7 ignition in Eaton Canyon that could scorch about 1,000 acres within eight hours without fire suppression, according to an SCE fire potential forecast obtained by Reuters through a public records request. SCE told Reuters those fire spread simulations were factored into the utility's power shutoff decisions as strong seasonal winds and dry conditions escalated the looming wildfire threat. The Eaton fire ignited as forecast on Jan. 7, but ultimately consumed some 14,000 acres, destroying around 9,400 homes and buildings, and killing 17 civilians – making it the centerpiece of one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. Joseph Mitchell, a scientist and wildfire expert witness for California utility regulators, said SCE's predictions missed the mark mainly because its models were only running simulations that extend eight hours after an ignition. The bulk of the Eaton fire's damage happened well after the eight-hour mark. Michael Wara, a wildfire policy expert at Stanford Law School, said the wildfire modeling may also have erred because it is better tuned to simulating fire in dense shrubs and woodlands, instead of blocks of homes and businesses. "Altadena was a wildland fire for about 20 minutes, and then it became an urban conflagration ... where houses are burning houses down, and where gardens are the fuel type not ... mixed conifer forests," Wara said. SCE, a unit of Edison International (EIX.N), opens new tab, acknowledged it is evaluating changes to its wildfire risk models, including whether to use 24-hour fire spread simulations in the future. "The January 2025 wildfires raise important questions regarding the spread of wildfires into built urban environments," the company said in a May 16 filing with regulators. SCE has previously acknowledged that 24-hour simulations might capture more extreme events where firefighting resources are limited, according to regulatory filings with the California Public Utilities Commission prior to the fires. But SCE's Fugere said the longer simulations produce more uncertainty. SCE's forecast was the biggest test yet of upgraded forecasting capabilities since California Governor Gavin Newsom launched the "Wildfire Innovation Sprint" in 2019 – an initiative to encourage the use of AI to predict disasters and safeguard lives and property. Since then, SCE has built four supercomputer clusters capable of generating 13 billion simulations across 400 weather scenarios and 29 million ignition points, according to regulatory filings. The company also began using the services of Technosylva, a La Jolla, California-based company, which received $383,000 in state funding in 2019 to develop forecasting tools for utilities and emergency responders. Technosylva Chief Executive Bryan Spear told Reuters his company's risk models captured the magnitude of the Los Angeles wildfire five days in advance, allowing firefighters to make better preparations for the looming catastrophe. SCE's equipment has not been blamed for starting the massive Palisades fire, but the utility's forecast also vastly underestimated its potential size. The separate blaze started on the same day as the Eaton Canyon fire. SCE's forecast projected up to 1,000 acres burned in the Pacific Palisades area, according to the document. Actual wildfire destruction there included 23,448 acres burned, 12 civilian deaths and nearly 7,000 structures destroyed, according to Cal Fire. Together the Eaton and Palisades fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures and caused most of the $250 billion in economic losses estimated by AccuWeather. SCE plans to spend another $8 million on upgrading fire science and modeling this year, up from $2 million in 2018, company disclosures show.

BREAKING NEWS ESPN's coverage of NBA Finals thrown into chaos by tornado warning in Oklahoma City
BREAKING NEWS ESPN's coverage of NBA Finals thrown into chaos by tornado warning in Oklahoma City

Daily Mail​

timea day ago

  • Daily Mail​

BREAKING NEWS ESPN's coverage of NBA Finals thrown into chaos by tornado warning in Oklahoma City

ESPN and ABC is facing the potential of having to produce Game 2 of the NBA Finals remotely due to the lingering threat of a tornado hitting Oklahoma City. The Thunder are hosting the Indiana Pacers on Sunday night, but severe weather has left the crew scrambling for a quick solution. According to The Athletic's Andrew Marchand, the broadcaster is preparing for the possibility that its production trucks outside the arena may not be available due to the adverse weather conditions. It is claimed that Disney-owned ESPN and ABC may have to control the pictures and production of the TV coverage from either Bristol or LA, with the local crew unable to work. The on-screen talent - fronted by Mike Breen - would still present the coverage from courtside at Paycom Center, but there are safety fears for those working outside the arena. Local news channels reported earlier on Sunday that the area is bracing itself for severe storms, that could bring tornadoes, large hail and 100mph wind gusts. Thousands of local residents have been ordered to take shelter, but it is expected that Game 2 of the NBA Finals will still go ahead as planned. The Indiana Pacers took the first game of the best-of-seven series on the road in stunning circumstances on Thursday, with Tyrese Haliburton sinking the game-winning bucket with just 0.3 seconds left on the clock. The Thunder were heavy betting favorites heading into the NBA Finals, but the Pacers have once again proven they will not roll over easily.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store