Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared an emergency on Friday for 91 counties in his state, where authorities are battling two major wildfires that have caused record property damage as more than 120 homes and other buildings have gone up in flames.
The Highway 82 and Pineland Road fires &#8211; one sparked by a party balloon, the other by a welder&#8217;s torch &#8211; are by far the fiercest among dozens of blazes ravaging the drought-stricken Georgia countryside and neighboring states of Florida, South Carolina, and Alabama in recent days.
No casualties were reported in Georgia, which has borne the brunt of the wildfires. But a volunteer firefighter died on Thursday evening after suffering an unspecified medical emergency while fighting a brush fire in northern Florida, according to various news media reports.
The conflagrations were primed by a confluence of climate extremes gripping the Southeast, authorities said.
Unusually sparse rainfall this spring following heavy vegetation growth in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene last fall has created a fuel bed of drought-parched timber and brush now posing the kind of wildfire hazards more typical for the Western United States in summer.
&#8220;We are in extreme drought conditions, and wildfire activity has already surpassed our five-year average,&#8221; Georgia Forestry Commission Director Johnny Sabo said in a video message posted online. &#8220;Right now conditions are so dry that even one small spark can quickly turn into a dangerous wildfire.&#8221;
As of Friday night, the Highway 82 and Pineland blazes had scorched more than 39,500 acres (16,000 hectares) combined, incinerating at least 122 homes and other structures, state forestry officials said. The tally of destruction marked the biggest property loss from a single fire event in Georgia&#8217;s history, the governor told a press conference.
Nearly 1,000 more homes remained threatened, he said.
Fires are scattered across Georgia, with the two biggest clustered in the southeast near the Florida border, roughly 250 miles (400 km) southeast of Atlanta, the state&#8217;s capital and largest city.
News footage of the fires showed walls of pine trees engulfed in flames, and Kemp described &#8220;fire that is burning to the top of trees and burning from one treetop to another.&#8221;
With firefighters and water-dropping aircraft struggling to halt the advance of the flames, crews were trying to protect homes still in harm&#8217;s way, Kemp said.
Teams had managed to carve containment lines around 10% of the perimeters of each of the two major fires, forestry officials said.
In a move aimed at hastening and consolidating Georgia&#8217;s disaster response, Kemp declared a state of emergency in 91 of Georgia&#8217;s 159 counties. Sabo announced a 30-day ban on the outdoor burning of refuse, agricultural waste or campfires in the same counties, the first such restriction in the state&#8217;s history.
The origin of the two biggest blazes illustrated how a small ignition source could touch off catastrophic fires.
Investigators determined that the Highway 82 blaze began on Monday, when an aluminum-coated balloon landed on a transmission line, triggering an electrical spark that ignited surrounding vegetation.
The Pineland Road fire, burning since April 18, was touched off by a stray spark from a welding operation that fell to the forest floor, authorities said.
Authorities said they expected extreme fire conditions to persist through the weekend, with gusty winds and little chance of rain in the forecast.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by William Mallard)

Firefighter

Stray Spark And Aluminum Balloon: Georgia Declares State Of Emergency As Wildfires Rage In South

Brian Kemp

Fire

Georgia

Natural Disaster

U.S.

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Tehran, home to more than 10 million people, stands on the brink of a catastrophic water shortage amid Iran’s most severe drought in decades. In 2025, the capital has seen a 100% drop in precipitation compared to the previous year — an unprecedented collapse that has left the region’s reservoirs nearly empty. Iranian officials are now warning that, absent immediate rainfall, parts of the city may face forced evacuation within weeks.
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At the center of the crisis is the Amir Kabir Dam, once a cornerstone of Tehran’s water supply. Today, it holds only <a href="https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iran/07112025">14 million cubic meters of water</a> — just 8% of capacity — enough to sustain the city for about two weeks under current conditions. Tehran depends on five primary dams — Lar, Mamlu, Amir Kabir, Taleqan, and Latyan — but together they are only <a href="https://www.thestar.com.my/news/world/2025/11/07/tehran039s-main-dams-only-11-pct-full-amid-severe-drought#goog_rewarded">8%</a>. Excluding the newly added Taleqan Dam, that figure plunges to 5%, according to Mohsen Ardakani, head of Tehran’s Water and Wastewater Company.
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Tehran’s environmental collapse is only one part of a broader national emergency. <a href="https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/human-rights/stop-executions-in-iran/irans-regime-executes-14-on-oct-14-over-2000-killed-under-pezeshkian/">According</a> to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), more than 2,000 people have been killed in just 14 and a half months of Pezeshkian’s repressive presidency, as the regime tightens its grip.
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Tehran province received only 159 millimeters of rainfall in the last water year, the lowest in a century, and has had no measurable rain since September 23. Current dam reserves have dropped to 252 million cubic meters, down from 420 million cubic meters in previous years, and weather forecasts indicate no significant rainfall is expected before December. Even after tapping underground aquifers to maintain a minimal supply, the crisis remains “critical,” Ardakani warned.
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The Karaj Dam, another key source, is currently at 7% capacity, and clean water could be exhausted within two weeks, according to Mehdi Maghsoudi, director of Karaj Water Affairs.
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President Masoud Pezeshkian admitted, “If it does not rain, we will have to start restricting water supplies in Tehran next month. If the drought continues, we will run out of water and be forced to evacuate the city.”
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With the capital consuming about three million cubic meters of water per day, Tehran has little margin for error. The convergence of drought, state failure, and brutal governance paints a grim picture of a nation on the brink — where both the land and its people are being drained dry.
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei

Iran’s Despotic Government May Have To Evacuate Tehran Because Of Water Shortage

drought

Iran

World

KABUL (Reuters) -One of Afghanistan&#8217;s worst earthquakes killed more than 800 people and injured at least 2,800, authorities said on Monday, as rescuers struggled to reach remote areas due to rough mountainous terrain and inclement weather.
The disaster will further stretch the resources of the war-torn nation&#8217;s Taliban, already grappling with crises ranging from a sharp drop in foreign aid to deportations of hundreds of thousands of Afghans by neighbouring countries.
Sharafat Zaman, spokesperson for the health ministry in Kabul, called for international aid to tackle the devastation wrought by the quake of magnitude 6 that struck around midnight local time, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles).
&#8220;We need it because here lots of people lost their lives and houses,&#8221; he told Reuters.
The quake killed 812 people in the eastern provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar, administration spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Ziaul Haq Mohammadi, a student at Al-Falah University in the eastern city of Jalalabad, was studying in his room at home when the quake struck. He said he tried to stand up but was knocked over by the power of the tremor.
&#8220;We spent the whole night in fear and anxiety because at any moment another earthquake could happen,&#8221; Mohammadi said.
Rescuers were battling to reach remote mountainous areas cut off from mobile networks along the Pakistani border, where mudbrick homes dotting the slopes collapsed in the quake.
&#8220;The area of the earthquake was affected by heavy rain in the last 24-48 hours as well, so the risk of landslides and rock slides is also quite significant &#8211; that is why many of the roads are impassable,&#8221; Kate Carey, an officer at the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), told Reuters.
Rescue teams and authorities are trying to dispose of animal carcasses quickly so as to minimise the risk of contamination to water resources, Carey said.
Casualties could rise as rescue teams access more isolated locations, authorities said.
&#8220;All our &#8230; teams have been mobilised to accelerate assistance, so that comprehensive and full support can be provided,&#8221; said health ministry spokesperson Abdul Maten Qanee, citing efforts in areas from security to food and health.
Reuters Television images showed helicopters ferrying out the affected, while residents helped security forces and medics carry the wounded to ambulances in an area with a long history of earthquakes and floods.
Military rescue teams fanned out across the region, the defence ministry said in a statement, with 40 flights carrying away 420 wounded and dead.
The quake razed three villages in Kunar, with substantial damage in many others, authorities said. At least 610 people were killed in Kunar with 12 dead in Nangarhar, they added.
It was Afghanistan&#8217;s third major deadly quake since the Taliban took over in 2021 as foreign forces withdrew, triggering a cut to the international funding that formed the bulk of government finances.
Diplomats and aid officials say crises elsewhere in the world, along with donor frustration over the Taliban&#8217;s policies towards women, including curbs on those who are aid workers, have spurred the cuts in funding.
Even humanitarian aid, aimed at bypassing political institutions to serve urgent needs, has shrunk to $767 million this year, down from $3.8 billion in 2022.
APPEALS FOR FUNDING
Humanitarian agencies say they are fighting a forgotten crisis in Afghanistan, where the United Nations estimates more than half the population is in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
&#8220;So far, no foreign governments have reached out to provide support for rescue or relief work,&#8221; a spokesperson of Afghanistan&#8217;s foreign office said on Monday.
Later, a spokesperson for China&#8217;s foreign ministry said it was ready to provide disaster relief assistance &#8220;according to Afghanistan&#8217;s needs and within its capacity&#8221;.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar of India said it had delivered 1,000 family tents to Kabul and was moving 15 tonnes of food material to Kunar, with more relief material to be sent from India starting Tuesday.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said its mission in Afghanistan was preparing to help those in areas devastated by the quake. Pope Leo also sent condolences for the dead.
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake that killed 1,000 people in the eastern region in 2022 was the first major natural disaster faced by the Taliban government.
Humanitarian officials and locals say almost two years after a powerful tremor hit the western city of Herat, many villages are still recovering and living in temporary structures.
Afghanistan is prone to deadly earthquakes, particularly in the Hindu Kush mountain range, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates meet.
Quakes in Afghanistan tend to be so deadly because of building construction that is often vulnerable to shaking, and the number of people living in the Hindu Kush, said Richard Walker, professor of tectonics at the University of Oxford.
(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar in Kabul, Saeed Shah and Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad, Mrinmay Dey and Hritam Mukherjee; writing by Ariba Shahid, Sudipto Ganguly and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Clarence Fernandez and Mark Heinrich)

Aftermath of deadly magnitude-6 earthquake in Afghanistan

Afghanistan Earthquake Kills 800, Injures Thousands As Taliban Seeks Global Aid

Afghanistan

earthquake

Taliban

Tropical Storm Erin intensified to become the first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, with Caribbean residents bracing for what forecasters warn could become a dangerous Category 3 storm as early as Sunday.
The National Hurricane Center confirmed Hurricane Erin reached sustained winds of 75 mph Friday morning, with the storm currently located approximately 460 miles east of the nearest Caribbean islands, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/weather/hurricanes/tropical-storm-erin-expected-strengthen-first-atlantic-hurricane-2025-rcna225175" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NBC News reported</a>.
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Hurricane <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Erin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Erin</a> Advisory 17: Erin Becomes the First Hurricane of the 2025 Season. Expected to Pass Near Or North of the Leeward Islands On Saturday. <a href="https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb">https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb</a>
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) <a href="https://twitter.com/NHC_Atlantic/status/1956367281778253889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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According to the <a href="https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2025-08-14-tropical-storm-hurricane-erin-caribbean">Weather Channel</a>, next week, &#8220;Erin is expected to pass between North Carolina and Bermuda,&#8221; with several northern Caribbean islands likely impacted, and forecasters are noting there remains some uncertainty regarding the hurricane&#8217;s impact on the U.S. East Coast.
&#8220;Erin is turning toward the west-northwest as it strengthens. This path will take Erin toward progressively warmer waters, which, in tandem with low wind shear, should allow Erin to become a major hurricane this weekend as it makes a close brush, or travels just north of the Caribbean islands,&#8221; The Weather Channel added.
Given its current trajectory through warm water in the open ocean, the National Hurricane Center projects Hurricane Erin reaching Category 4 status as early as next week.
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JUST IN: Erin has been upgraded to a Category 1 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.
It is the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season.
Erin is forecast to become a Major Hurricane late weekend/early next week, topping out as a Category 4. <a href="https://t.co/FeSdBfnHWd">pic.twitter.com/FeSdBfnHWd</a>
— MyRadar Weather (@MyRadarWX) <a href="https://twitter.com/MyRadarWX/status/1956367640659734666?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Tropical Storm Watches have been issued for several Caribbean islands, including Anguilla, Barbuda, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, Saba, St. Eustatius, and Sint Maarten, meaning tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 48 hours, Fox Weather <a href="https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/prep-file-hurricane-erin-becomes-first-hurricane-2025-atlantic-season">reported</a>.
The system is forecast to dump between two and four inches of rain in its early stages, with isolated areas potentially receiving up to six inches, potentially triggering flash/urban flooding, landslides, and mudslides across the northernmost Leeward Islands, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, and southern and eastern Puerto Rico, per NBC.
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The disturbance that eventually became Hurricane Erin caused significant destruction in the African Cabo Verde islands earlier this week. Images from the island of São Vicente showed extensive flooding with muddy water rushing through streets and damaging homes, killing multiple people, per Fox Weather.
Emergency management officials in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are urging residents to review hurricane plans and secure emergency supplies despite forecasts showing the storm&#8217;s center remaining offshore.

National Hurricane Center Monitors Tropical Storm Erin

First 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Barrels Toward Caribbean, Forecasters Warn Of Rapid Intensification

Hurricane

North Carolina

Puerto Rico

Severe Weather

A magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off Russia&#8217;s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, generating a tsunami of up to 4 metres (13 feet), damaging buildings and prompting evacuation warnings in the area and across most of Japan&#8217;s east coast, officials said.
&#8220;Today&#8217;s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,&#8221; Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app, adding that a kindergarten was damaged.
A tsunami with a height of 3-4 metres (10-13 feet) was recorded in parts of Kamchatka, Sergei Lebedev, regional minister for emergency situations said, urging people to move away from the shoreline of the peninsula.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and was centred 126 km (80 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000 along the coast of Avacha Bay. It revised the magnitude up from 8.0 earlier.
The Japan Weather Agency upgraded its warning, saying it expected tsunami waves of up to 3 metres (10 feet) to reach large coastal areas starting around 0100 GMT. Broadcast NHK said evacuation orders had been issued by the government for some areas.
Factory workers and residents in Japan&#8217;s northern Hokkaido evacuated to a hill overlooking the ocean, footage from broadcaster TBS showed.
&#8220;Please evacuate quickly. If you can move quickly to higher ground and away from the coast,&#8221; a newscaster on Japanese public broadcaster NHK said.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System also issued a warning of &#8220;hazardous tsunami waves&#8221; within the next three hours along some coasts of Russia, Japan, Alaska and Hawaii. A tsunami watch was also in effect for the U.S. island territory of Guam and other islands of Micronesia.
Hawaii ordered evacuations from some coastal areas. &#8220;Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected,&#8221; the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management said on X.
An evacuation order for the small town of Severo-Kurilsk, south of the Kamchatka peninsula, was declared due to the tsunami threat, Sakhalin Governor Valery Limarenko said on Telegram.
Several people sought medical assistance following the quake, Oleg Melnikov, regional health minister told Russia’s TASS state news agency.
&#8220;Unfortunately, there are some people injured during the seismic event. Some were hurt while running outside, and one patient jumped out of a window. A woman was also injured inside the new airport terminal,” Melnikov said.
“All patients are currently in satisfactory condition, and no serious injuries have been reported so far.”
The Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences said it was a very powerful earthquake.
&#8220;However, due to certain characteristics of the epicentre, the shaking intensity was not as high &#8230; as one might expect from such a magnitude,&#8221; it said in a video on Telegram.
“Aftershocks are currently ongoing &#8230; Their intensity will remain fairly high. However, stronger tremors are not expected in the near future. The situation is under control.”
Kamchatka and Russia&#8217;s Far East sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically active region that is prone to major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah Nilutpal Timsina and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Satoshi Sugiyama in Tokyo; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Hawaii tsunami evacuation area sign

Powerful Quake Causes Tsunami, Endangering U.S., Russia, And Japan

Alaska

Hawaii

Japan

Russia

The Steve Miller Band recently announced that the rest of their tour is being canceled due to extreme weather events that have been happening around the country.
The band had 31 scheduled upcoming dates beginning August 15 in Bethel, New York, and concluding in Anaheim, California, in November. But now fans won’t have the chance to see the “Jet Airliner” recording artists in any of those cities.
“Dear Steve Miller Band fans,” the statement shared to social media says. “You make music with your instincts. You live life by your instincts. Always trust your instincts…”
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<a href="https://t.co/9PcUoQzDK9">pic.twitter.com/9PcUoQzDK9</a>
&mdash; Steve Miller Band (@SMBofficial) <a href="https://twitter.com/SMBofficial/status/1945635867055313343?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
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“The Steve Miller Band has cancelled all of our upcoming tour dates,” it says. “The combination of extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and massive forest fires make these risks for you our audience, the band and the crew unacceptable. So …You can blame it on the weather… The tour is cancelled.”
The statement concludes, “Don’t know where, don’t know when… We hope to see you all again. Wishing you all peace, love and happiness. Please take care of each other.”
Many fans shot back on social media, saying the cancellation of the whole tour seemed extreme. Some followers posted images of available seats for some of the tour stops, suggesting that it was because of low ticket sales.
“Are you serious? I’m a big fan and got tickets for this tour , but next time please find a [better] excuse,” one person <a href="https://x.com/marchenajr/status/1945662577012363533">wrote</a>.
“I am embarrassed FOR you…” another said.
“You’re canceling all tours …….. because of nature? That is matter-of-fact dumb,” a third <a href="https://x.com/NathanMirlywx/status/1945638489690722554">wrote</a>.
“Our ticket sales aren&#8217;t exactly buoyant, but at least we can get a little virtue signaling in,” another <a href="https://x.com/GlennisWil24642/status/1945818670426378677">said</a>.

Steve Miller Band

Steve Miller Band Cancels 31 Future Tour Dates: ‘Blame It On The Weather’

Steve Miller Band Cancels 31 Future Tour Dates: 'Blame It On The Weather'

Entertainment

Music

Weather

Texas-based country singer Pat Green said his stepbrother and other family members were among the victims of the deadly flooding that occurred over the Fourth of July holiday.
“Over the weekend, during the devastating flooding that hit Central Texas, my family — like so many others — suffered a heartbreaking and deeply personal loss,” the recording artist shared on his Instagram account. “We are grieving alongside countless Texans whose lives have been upended by this tragedy.”
The post continued, “Right now, we kindly ask for privacy and space as we mourn, support each other, and begin to process what comes next for our family. Thank you for your love, prayers, and compassion,” he concluded.
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Green’s younger stepbrother, John Burgess, 39, is one of the confirmed victims, per local outlet <a href="https://www.kwtx.com/2025/07/05/china-spring-native-family-among-those-missing-amid-deadly-flooding-texas-hill-country/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KWTX</a>. According to KHOU, his wife, Julia Anderson Burgess, 39, also died. Their two sons, James and Jack, were still missing as of Monday. The deceased couple lived in Liberty, Texas, but were camping at the Blue Oak RV Park in Kerr County with their boys when the flooding occurred. Their 8-year-old daughter was reportedly at a camp that was not affected by the flooding and is safe.
According to a <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/07/us-news/texas-dad-refused-to-let-go-of-his-babies-during-flood-and-all-were-swept-away-witness-says/">report</a> from the New York Post, a bystander at the RV park pleaded with Burgess to hand over his children to safety, but he would not let them go.
“My husband was in the water trying to ask them, ‘Please throw me your baby!’ The man was holding tight to his babies, and he just got swept away,” Lorena Guillen, owner of the Blue Oak RV Park, said. 
As of Wednesday, at least 173 people are still missing, including 161 unaccounted for from Kerr County, the hardest-hit area. The death toll from the flooding across the state reached 119 on Wednesday, including dozens of children. Five young girls and one counselor remain missing from Camp Mystic, the Christian girls’ camp that took the brunt of the flooding when the Guadalupe River in Central Texas rose more than 30 feet in under an hour in some spots.
Green has been in the music industry since 1995, recording seven total studio albums. His single, &#8220;Wave on Wave,&#8221; from his gold-certified album of the same name, reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 2003. It was featured during campaign rallies for George W. Bush during his 2004 re-election campaign.

Pat Green

Country Singer Mourns Family Lost In Texas Floods

Country singer

Death

Floods

Texas

President Donald Trump plans to travel to Texas on Friday to meet with victims of the devastating Fourth of July weekend flooding that led to at least 110 deaths. 
The president will be joined by first lady Melania Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, he confirmed during a Tuesday cabinet meeting. Parts of the Texas Hill Country along the Guadalupe River were hit with sudden flash floods and more than 170 people are still missing. 
&#8220;I&#8217;ll be going down on Friday with the first lady and we will be taking a trip. And we don&#8217;t want to get in anyone&#8217;s way because, you know, it&#8217;s what happens. The president goes, and everyone&#8217;s around focused. I don&#8217;t want anyone to focus on us,&#8221; Trump said. 
First responders are still searching for potential survivors as Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said Tuesday that 161 people were missing in Kerr County and another 12 throughout other impacted areas. Emergency responders have rescued at least 850 people. 
&#8220;They could have somebody saved still,” Trump said. “And, you know, probably unlikely at this point, but that could be. I mean, they&#8217;re thinking there could be the possibility, but, what a tragic situation.”
Trump also stated that the relationship between federal responders and Texas first responders was very good, noting that numerous federal helicopters were deployed to assist local rescuers.  
Earlier this week, Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Texas, and top administration officials have moved to offer federal help to the region.
 Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared a public health emergency on Tuesday to surge healthcare resources to the region. The Department of Housing and Urban Development also announced a 90-day foreclosure moratorium on Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured single-family mortgages in Kerr County.
Dozens of children attending Camp Mystic, a Christian girls&#8217; camp in Kerr County, died in the flooding. Five girls and one counselor are still missing, according to an update provided on Tuesday. Flood victims included 8-year-old campers Renee Smajstrla and Eloise Peck, 19-year-old camp counselor Chloe Childress, and the camp’s 74-year-old director, Dick Eastland.
Other young victims include twin sisters Blaire and Brooke Harber, who were <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/article/sisters-found-hands-locked-together-following-20630269.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> 15 miles from where the flood waters washed them away from their grandparents&#8217; cabin near the Guadalupe River. Their grandparents remain missing.

President Trump Holds Cabinet Meeting

Trump Confirms Plans To Visit Flood-Stricken Texas As 170+ People Still Missing

Donald Trump

Executive

flooding

Kristi Noem

Melania Trump

The following is an adapted monologue from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1765-after-big-wins-trump-s-head-on-mount-rushmore?elementPosition=3&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=The+Michael+Knowles+Show&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Carousel">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
There were horrific storms and massive floods in Texas this past weekend. So far, over 100 people are confirmed dead, and that number is almost certainly going to rise. Many people are still confirmed missing, including dozens of girls from a Christian summer camp. Just absolutely horrific. We all pray for everyone, for the family, for the dead, and for the rescue efforts.
One thing we should not do, however, is react in the way that prominent people on the Left have been reacting. Their reactions are repulsive and nauseating. But they get to a real problem at the heart of liberalism.
Here’s just one example. <a href="https://x.com/KyleKulinski/status/1941856657069252610">Kyle Kulinsky</a>, a fairly well known Internet person on the Left, writes:
<blockquote>With the flooding in Texas and all of those precious little girls dying it&#8217;s important to remember this was 100% preventable. Elon and Trump slashed the national weather service and massively reduced the number of weather balloons in the country, destroying our ability to accurately forecast severe weather events. I&#8217;ve personally experienced forecasts being way off multiple times already. They have blood on their hands and they should be arrested for the deaths of those little girls.</blockquote>
Listen to the sanctimony, the self-righteousness from this guy: “&#8230;all of those precious little girls dying,” “They have blood on their hands.”
None of this is true. This was not “100% preventable.” Elon and Trump slashing the National Weather Service? As Michael Shellenberger <a href="https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1941616444724346983?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">points out</a>, the National Weather Service got this right. The issue was not the National Weather Service. There do seem to have been errors in sending out alarms at the state level, but there&#8217;s no evidence that the National Weather Service failed at all. There&#8217;s also no evidence that suddenly, just now, in the first year of the second Trump term, the meteorologists are getting forecasts wrong. Obviously, that has happened so frequently that it&#8217;s a punch line for as long as there have been meteorologists.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show</a></h3>
We also know this isn&#8217;t true — that it’s not attributable to any supposed “cuts” made during the second Trump term — because of Hurricane Harvey. The confirmed death toll so far in this awful storm is now 100. Hurricane Harvey killed at least 68 people in 2017 — many years before the supposed cuts to the National Weather Service by Trump and Elon. What would the Left and Kyle Kulinsky blame that on?
Let’s go back further. Tropical Storm Allison <a href="https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weather/severe/this-day-in-weather-history-june-5-2001-tropical-storm-allison">killed</a> 41 people in 2001, long before anyone really considered President Trump a serious presidential candidate.
Well, let&#8217;s go back even further than that, because the other thing that people are going to blame this on is climate change or global warming. How about the Galveston Hurricane? The storm surges and floods from that storm killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people in 1900, long before any global warming — “climate change” — and long before Trump, and long before any of the things the Left is going to blame this natural disaster on.
Plenty of people on the Left have reacted the same way as Kyle Kulinsky.
This reaction entails a lot of vice. You have to have a lot of personal vice and sin to have this kind of reaction. But ultimately, ideologically, it&#8217;s about a denial of original sin.
The tragedy has to be preventable because the world can&#8217;t be fallen, because there can&#8217;t be any such thing as original sin, because there can&#8217;t be any limits on human potential. We must be able to control everything. We must be able to prevent every bad thing. We must be able to perfect society. It must be true. That is the premise of liberalism.
But it&#8217;s not true because it is a fallen world. And you couldn&#8217;t have prevented any of these things. Not in 1900, not in 2001, not just this past week. Bad things just happen sometimes. And bad things happen to good people. It’s called theodicy. Great thinkers have dealt with this problem for millennia, but modern people — modern liberals in particular — cannot deal with that because there cannot be such a thing as original sin.
‘Bad things can&#8217;t just happen,’ they say. ‘We must be able to stop it. We are human beings. We have the potential to totally control the world. We can make ourselves into gods.’
That&#8217;s the theory, and it’s false.
When you ask liberals what would you have done to prevent the flood? They will say things like, “I would have funded the National Weather Service.”
There&#8217;s no problem with the National Weather Service. 
They might say, “I would have had more carbon tax credits. I would have had more electric vehicles.”
But nothing they’ve proposed will stop natural disasters. They wouldn’t have stopped Hurricane Harvey, they wouldn’t have stopped Tropical Storm Allison or the Galveston Hurricane or any of the others. There has been flooding. There have been natural disasters. There has been evil and sin and death in the world since Adam and Eve were booted out of the Garden.
Yes, there are things we can obviously do to protect ourselves, to try to cope, and to comfort people who deal with the suffering that life entails. But this ain&#8217;t it.
What it comes down to is a fundamental error in modern ideology — in liberalism, most notably: the hubris, the pride to say, “We can prevent evil. We can just totally stop it. We can perfect the world. We can save the world.” That&#8217;s the error.
These people certainly can&#8217;t. None of us can. There is one person who can save the world. And He has.

Death Toll Rises After Flash Floods In Texas Hill Country

Texas Floods And Liberal Hubris

Bible

Catholicism

Michael Knowles

National Weather Service

Opinion

At least 104 people, including dozens of children, are dead after devastating flooding in Texas over the Fourth of July weekend as recovery efforts continue. 
Officials said Monday that the death toll could still rise as dozens are still reported missing. Among the dead are 28 children, including around two dozen who were attending Camp Mystic, a private Christian summer camp for girls near the Guadalupe River in Kerr County.
Authorities <a href="https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/texas-search-rescue-flood/3879504/#:~:text=Officials%20say%20at%20least%2041,River%20corridor%20on%20July%204." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that 84 of the deaths were in Kerr County, while the other 20 were in Travis, Williamson, Burnet, Tom Green, and Kendall counties. 
“We will remain 100 percent dedicated, searching for every single one of the children who were at Camp Mystic, as well as anybody else, and the entire riverbed to make sure that they’re going to be recovered,” Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott said on Sunday. 
Ten girls from Camp Mystic and a counselor are still missing. The camp’s 74-year-old director, Dick Eastland, was killed in the flooding. 
“If he wasn’t going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,” George Eastland, the director’s grandson, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DLwKvu9A6Jd/?img_index=1">wrote</a> on Instagram. “That’s the man my grandfather was. A husband, father, grandfather, and mentor to thousands of young women, he no longer walks this earth, but his impact will never leave the lives he touched.”
Another one of the victims was Chloe Childress, an 18-year-old camp counselor. 
“Chloe Childress lived a beautiful life that saturated those around her with contagious joy, unending grace, and abiding faith,” her family <a href="https://www.khou.com/article/news/state/texas-news/texas-flood/camp-mystic-counselor-chloe-childress/285-c7f2cb2a-75cd-445f-82c7-37509ce92e8d">said</a> on Monday. “Returning as a counselor to the place she loved so dearly, Chloe was looking forward to dedicating her summer days to loving and mentoring young girls at Camp Mystic.”
A pair of 8-year-old twin sisters attending Camp Mystic, Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, were also killed in the flooding. 
&#8220;Hanna and Rebecca brought so much joy to us, to their big sister Harper, and to so many others,” their parents <a href="https://www.fox4news.com/news/texas-flooding-camp-mystic-hanna-rebecca-lawrence">said</a>. “We will find ways to keep that joy, and to continue to spread it for them. But we are devastated that the bond we shared with them, and that they shared with each other, is now frozen in time.  Thank you for the love and support.&#8221;
Other victims included campers and people who were caught in their vehicles and homes by the sudden flash flooding. Emergency responders successfully rescued around 850 people. According to the Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Scott Ruskin was responsible for saving 165 of them.

Deaths Reported After Flooding In Texas Hill Country

Texas Flooding Claims More Than 100 Lives, Christian Campers Among The Dozens Missing

Greg Abbott

As the nation continues to mourn the tragic loss of life from the catastrophic flooding that hit Central Texas over the July 4 holiday, Democrats are looking for someone to blame. As usual, it’s all being pinned on President Trump.
Celebrities and commentators have been piling on the president, accusing him not only of ignoring the threat of “climate change” but also claiming that Trump cutting jobs at the National Weather Service exacerbated the tragedy. 
Meanwhile, many social media users are pointing out that the NWS had extra staffers working in the time leading up to the flooding.
“What a horror story in Texas,” comedian Rosie O’Donnell, who moved to Ireland following Trump’s reelection, said in a TikTok <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1941900226828108079">video</a> posted Sunday. “When the president guts all of the early warning systems and the weathering forecast abilities of the government, these are the results that we’re going to start to see on a daily basis.”
“It’s because he put this country in so much danger by his horrible, horrible decisions and this ridiculously immoral bill that he just signed into law,” the actress continued. “As Republicans cheered, people will die as a result and they’ve started already.”
“Shame on him. Shame on every GOP sycophant,” O’Donnell said.
Many commenters on X pointed out the inaccuracies of O’Donnell’s statements.
“NWS had EXTRA staffers during the storm and warnings were [issued] hours in advance. This is TDS,” the account Libs of TikTok <a href="https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1941900226828108079">wrote</a> alongside screenshots of articles about NWS adding extra staff and copies of the flash flood warnings.
“Everyone knows she doesn’t care about the people in Texas. She saw any opportunity to blame Trump, and that is her sole purpose,” another person <a href="https://x.com/Denosko1/status/1941906396250882198">added</a>.
“Children are dead in Texas, and your first instinct is to use their tragedy to rant about Trump — from your villa in Ireland? You don’t need a platform — you need perspective,” <a href="https://x.com/DeCesareStephen/status/1941915141957677255">echoed</a> a third.
O’Donnell wasn’t the only one using the tragedy to vilify President Trump. Attorney and liberal media editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski posted and then deleted a similar sentiment on Threads, which was screenshot and circulated on X.
“The people in Texas voted for government services controlled by Donald Trump and Greg Abbott,” his original message <a href="https://x.com/Legal_Fil/status/1942072754431271216">said</a>. “That is exactly what they are getting.” 
A Texas pediatrician was let go from her job after laying the blame on Texans as well. 
“May all visitors, children, non-MAGA voters and pets be safe and dry,” she wrote. “Kerr County MAGA voted to gut FEMA. They deny climate change. May they get what they voted for. Bless their hearts,” Dr. Christina B. Propst posted on Facebook, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-pediatrician-fired-after-saying-maga-flood-victims-got-what-they-voted-for">reported</a>.
Connecticut senator Chris Murphy posted on X, “Accurate weather forecasting helps avoid fatal disasters. There are consequences to Trump’s brainless attacks on public workers, like meteorologists.”
At least 80 people, including 28 children, have been declared dead from the raging flood that struck Central Texas on July 4. Ten girls from Camp Mystic are still missing. 
Jason Runyen, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office, said they increased the staff from two to five people in advance of the storm. 
“There were extra people in here that night, and that’s typical in every weather service office — you staff up for an event and bring people in on overtime and hold people over,” Runyen said.
President Donald Trump issued a disaster declaration for Kerr County on Sunday. He <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-shares-plan-to-visit-site-of-texas-flood-damage">also said</a> he’d be visiting the scene of the tragedy later this week.

US-FLOOD-WEATHER

Libs Dragged For Blaming Texas Flood Disaster On Trump

Celebrities

Rosie O'Donnell

A new bipartisan proposal would significantly overhaul FEMA and ensure that there is no political discrimination in the distribution of emergency aid.
The proposal, from Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rep. Rick Larson (D-WA), would make FEMA an independent agency that directly reports to the president, transfer significant responsibility to the states for handling natural disaster responses, and officially prohibit political discrimination. Graves, the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, released a <a href="https://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fema_discussion_draft_text.pdf?utm_campaign=198289-345" target="_blank" rel="noopener">draft</a> of the bill on Thursday.
&#8220;We have clearly seen that FEMA is not working as it should for Americans who’ve been impacted by disasters. Congress has passed FEMA reforms over the years, but it simply hasn’t been enough,&#8221; Graves said. &#8220;This draft bill includes substantive changes that will transform FEMA and our emergency programs to be much more state and locally driven – not micro-managed into ineffectiveness by the federal government.&#8221;
One of the key components of the draft legislation is that it would add &#8220;political affiliation&#8221; as a protected status under current federal law. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-senator-vows-to-stop-fema-from-discriminating-against-republicans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously introduced</a> legislation in the Senate that would do the same thing.
This proposal comes after The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-fema-official-ordered-relief-workers-to-skip-houses-with-trump-signs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in November that FEMA supervisor Marn&#8217;i Washington ordered relief workers in Lake Placid, Florida, to skip the homes of people &#8220;advertising Trump.&#8221; Washington and three other FEMA employees were fired over the instructions, which caused over 20 homes to be skipped by FEMA workers.
The draft legislation would also seek to return more agency to the states &#8220;by replacing the slow and bureaucratic rebuilding process with faster, project-based grants&#8221; and reducing &#8220;their dependence on costly consultants,&#8221; according to the committee. The lawmakers also hope to streamline the application process for requesting assistance by reducing paperwork and providing quicker responses.
Graves and Larson also want to incentivize states to make their own investments in mitigation, robust state rainy day funds, and private insurance policies.
The proposal comes as President Donald Trump has called for dramatic reforms to FEMA and floated the idea of getting rid of the agency completely. In an executive order, he called for the creation of a federal council to look at the possibility of getting rid of FEMA and shifting over responsibility to the states.
On Thursday, Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton was fired and replaced with Department of Homeland Security official David Richardson. Hamilton&#8217;s ouster comes one day after he said that he personally didn&#8217;t think that it would be a good idea to get rid of FEMA.

Storm Helene Causes Massive Flooding Across Swath Of Western North Carolina

Lawmakers Renew Efforts To Protect Disaster Victims From Political Discrimination

Congress

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