Today is
Thursday June 04, 2026
(LOS ANGELES) -- The evacuation zone around a failing chemical tank in Southern California is shrinking after officials said the "worst-case scenario" of a catastrophic explosion has been averted.
The temperature inside the tank is now a steady 92 degrees with the big stream of water turned off, Orange County officials said Tuesday. Once the Methyl methacrylate cools and turns into a solid, the threat of a release goes away, Orange County Fire Department Capt. Wayhowe Huang said at a press conference Tuesday.
No chemical has leaked out, and there is nothing in the air, Huang said.
Things are looking good enough that they were able to turn off one of the master hose streams pouring water on the tank. They will still use the onsite sprinklers. But no need anymore for that big stream of water that we have seen for days, Huang said.
About 16,000 people remain under evacuation orders, Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra said during a press briefing Monday evening. That's down from 50,000 in the city of Garden Grove and several surrounding communities at the height of the crisis when officials thought they faced only two options: an explosion or a chemical spill.
"The most catastrophic and worst-case scenario was mitigated and resolved," Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) Interim Chief TJ McGovern said during the evening press briefing.
Officials said earlier Monday the crisis is not fully averted, but if an explosion or leak were to occur, it would be significantly smaller than the initial worst-case scenario.
The tank is located at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.
Earlier Monday, local authorities said the temperature was declining within the chemical tank, located at an aerospace facility, eliminating concerns of an explosion, local authorities said on Monday morning.
"We are happy to report that the threat of a BLEVE [Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion] is now off the table," McGovern said during an update. "That threat has been eliminated."
Since the temperature inside the tank has decreased, it has allowed the chemical inside to solidify, but it is unclear how much, according to McGovern.
The situation began unfolding on Thursday, a chemical tank filled with toxic chemicals at GKN Aerospace, a manufacturing company that builds engines and landing gear for both commercial and military aircraft, was showing signs of overheating, which could cause it to overheat or spill, officials said.
The 34,000-gallon tank contained methyl methacrylate, an industrial chemical used in plastic manufacturing, according to the OCFA. The chemical is primarily a respiratory irritant. Short-term exposure can cause skin and eye irritation, as well as breathing problems, according to the EPA.
The "unprecedented" situation caused officials to order about 50,000 people in the vicinity to evacuate in case a leak sent toxic fumes wafting through the neighborhood or caused an explosion could result in a dangerous fireball.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency in Orange County in response to the incident.
Authorities said a crack in the tank, discovered by firefighters late Saturday, relieved some of the pressure within the tank, Covey said.
While officials were confident that the crack wouldn't lead to any chemical leaks, they continued to monitor air quality in the region.
Any areas outside of the roughly 10-square-mile evacuation zone "are currently considered completely safe and day-to-day activities can continue as normal," the OCFA said in an update Sunday afternoon.
Within the zone are schools, hospitals, nursing homes, fire and law enforcement stations and critical infrastructure. Multiple roads were also closed in the area.
"We appreciate your support and the patience while we work through this incident together," Covey said.
In a statement on Monday, GKN noted that its technical specialists worked with OCFA "to assess the storage tank more closely" on Sunday evening.
"The team safely and successfully removed external insulation material from the tank in order to help advance efforts to cool its contents," the company said.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, the top prosecutor in Garden Grove, has launched a criminal probe into the ongoing chemical tank incident at GKN Aerospace, ordering the company not to destroy or manipulate any records, his office said.
The probe seeks to determine how a major military and commercial aircraft gear manufacturer could have allowed such a toxic failure to occur, according to the district attorney.
"This is an incredibly volatile situation with extraordinary efforts being made by first responders to prevent a potentially catastrophic disaster," Spitzer said in a statement on Monday.
Spitzer has also established an anonymous tip line and online reporting form, calling on anyone with information to come forward -- including current and former employees of the company who might offer insight into the quality control and safety at the site.
"Given the very real risk to human life as a result of this event, it is crucial that anyone who has information about this incident or the industrial operations of GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, Inc. come forward and report it so that it can be thoroughly investigated by law enforcement," he said.
GKN declined to comment specifically on the district attorney's investigation, but pointed to its Monday statement.
"We are continuing to work around the clock with the OCFA, the EPA and all relevant federal, state and local agencies to mitigate the ongoing risk of a leak. We remain extremely thankful for their dedication and hard work," the company said.
"We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains its safe resolution, so that residents can return to their homes as quickly as possible."
ABC News' Meredith Deliso, Nadine El-Bawab, Jaclyn Lee, Alex Stone, Jenna Harrison, Connor Burton and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) -- Marine scientists have discovered a record number of new species living in the depths of the world's oceans over the past year.
A total of 1,121 new marine species were discovered in a single year, marking a "significant step" in the research needed to understand and protect the oceans, according to the scientists behind The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, the world’s largest mission to accelerate ocean species discovery.
The whopping number of discoveries marks a 54% jump in identifications in a single year, the researchers said.
Among the new species discovered include corals, crabs, shrimps, sea urchins and anemones -- some found living at depths of more than four miles beneath the ocean surface.
The "Ghost Shark" Chimaera, a distant relative of sharks and rays, was discovered in the Coral Sea Marine Park off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Chimaeras are among the most mysterious inhabitants of the deep ocean, the researchers said. They predate dinosaurs and diverged from rays and sharks into their own distinct evolutionary lineage nearly 400 million years ago.
Symbiotic bristle worms were found living within a "glass castle" on volcanic seamounts in Japan. The "castle" is actually intricate chambers of a glass sponge, whose skeleton is made of crystalline silica.
The ribbon worm, a predator marked by striking pigmentation, was discovered close to the surface, between depths of 3 and 16 feet.
A striking new species of shrimp -- the Mediterranean shrimp -- was also found in a sea cave off Marseille, France, the researchers said. It is marked by a vivid orange banding and intricate appendages.
The species were identified amid 13 expeditions across some of the world's most remote and least-explored ocean regions, as well as nine discovery workshops, the researchers said.
"This year, Ocean Census has shown what is possible when scientific ambition is matched by global collaboration at scale," Mitsuyuku Unno, executive director of the Nippon Foundation, said in a statement. "Through expeditions reaching polar depths to tropical seas, and the science to turn samples into discoveries, this team is revealing the extraordinary richness of ocean life.”
Up to 90% of ocean species remain undiscovered, previous research has suggested.
Documenting the breadth of species living in the oceans is necessary for policymakers and marine managers to properly protect the ocean, the researchers said.
The average time between a species' initial discovery and its formal "description" in scientific literature is historically about 13.5 years, which puts species at risk of extinction before they are even catalogued, the researchers said.
"With many species at risk of disappearing before they are even documented, we are in a race against time to understand and protect ocean life," Michelle Taylor, head of science at Ocean Census, said in a statement. "For too long, thousands of species have remained in a scientific "limbo" because the pace of discovery couldn't keep up."
To address this, marine scientists are now recognizing "discovered" as a formal scientific status that can immediately be recorded.
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(VENICE, Italy) -- One of the world's most iconic cities could be heavily impacted by climate change and sea level rise in the coming years, leading researchers to search for solutions on how to protect it.
Venice, the historic Italian city known for its canals that serve as water traffic corridors, has been said to be sinking for nearly a century. The site within the vicinity of the Venetian Lagoon has flooded increasingly over the past 150 years, according to a paper published in Scientific Reports on Thursday.
Historically, there have been 28 events in which seawater flooding impacted at least 60% of the city, according to the paper. Eighteen of those events have taken place in the last century.
Piero Lionello, a professor of atmospheric physics and oceanography at the University of Salento in Italy and native Venetian, has noticed an uptick in flooding events throughout his lifetime, he told ABC News.
"The rate has been quite impressive the last three decades," he said.
Climate experts are now calling for long-term planning to protect the city from rising sea levels over the next several centuries.
The Venetian Lagoon is a "special system" because it is so connected to the Adriatic Sea, said Lionello, the lead author of the paper.
Proposed strategies to prevent flooding as sea levels rise include movable barriers, ring dikes -- which are circular or oval-shaped embankments designed to protect localized areas from floodwaters -- or even closing the Venetian Lagoon and relocating the city, according to the paper.
Currently, the city is defended by a trio of movable barriers at the edge of the Venetian Lagoon. The MOSE project, installed in the 1990s, is a system of mobile flood barrier shields as tall as a five-story building that can be raised to separate the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea during high tides.
The system allows the waterways of Venice to function normally during high tide and has prevented flood disasters from storm surge. But it won't be sufficient in the future, Lionello said.
"The present system, it will certainly be become inadequate," he said.
The existing movable barriers may be effective against sea level rise up to 1.25 meters, or about 4.1 feet, according to the paper. But this benchmark is likely to be exceeded by the year 2300 under a low-emissions scenario due to rising global temperatures and ground subsidence -- the gradual sinking of the ground -- the researchers said.
Dikes may be necessary to protect Venice's city center from the rest of the lagoon, according to the paper. The dikes would consist of walls surrounding the city, separating it from the lagoon, Lionello said.
Construction of dikes could cost between $600 million and $5.3 billion, according to the paper.
A "super levee" that could cost more than $35 billion to construct may be needed to close the lagoon and protect the land that is already below sea level.
If sea levels rise enough, it may be necessary for the city's residents and historic landmarks to be moved inland, the researchers said. Relocating the city could be necessary beyond a 4.5-meter, or nearly 15-foot, sea level rise, which is projected to occur after 2300 under a high emissions scenario, according to the paper. Relocating the city could cost up to $118 billion, according to the researchers.
This solution is the most "provocative" and would involve moving individual buildings and monuments inland, Lionello said.
"You can preserve a building. You can have different solution to keep people living there, but it will be a completely different Venice from the Venice that we have now," Lionello said.
The system of mobile barriers has been working overtime, according to officials. The MOSE barriers were lifted from the seabed to stop water from the Adriatic Sea from entering the lagoon 31 times during a six-month period between October 2023 and April 2024.
Climate scientists have predicted a steady rise in sea levels in the Adriatic Sea -- with the lagoonal ecosystem in Venice experiencing relative sea level rise of about 2.5 millimeters per year, a 2021 study found.
Over the past 60 years, high tides in the Venetian Lagoon have become more frequent.
Between 1870 and 1949, 30 high tides exceeded 1.1 meters -- or 3.6 feet -- the level above which the MOSE barrier system is activated, according to the Venice Tide Study Center. There were 76 such high tides between 2015 and 2024 alone.
Rapid action to protect the city of Venice from climate change is “essential,” especially since the construction of large-scale interventions could take decades, the researchers said.
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