Today is
Sunday November 24, 2024
MORGAN CITY, La. (AP) — Francine weakened Thursday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flood fears in New Orleans and beyond as drenching rains spread over the northern Gulf Coast.
New Orleans awoke to widespread power outages and debris-covered streets. Just before sunrise, street lights on some blocks were working but large swaths of the city were without power. The roar of home generators was evident outside some houses.
Some 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 centimeters) of rain were possible in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and the Florida Panhandle, with up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) possible in some spots in parts of Alabama and Florida, forecasters said, warning of the potential threat of scattered flash flooding as farflung as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta.
Francine slammed the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening with 100 mph (155 kph) winds in coastal Terrebonne Parish, battering a fragile coastal region that hasn’t fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. It then moved at a fast clip toward New Orleans, pounding the city with torrential rains.
In New Orleans, rushing water nearly enveloped a pickup truck in an underpass, trapping the driver inside. A man who lives nearby grabbed a hammer, waded into the waist-high water, smashed the window and pulled the driver out. It was all captured on live TV by a WDSU-TV news crew Wednesday night.
After guiding the man to shore, Miles Crawford said: “I just had to go in there are do it.â€
“I’m a nurse, so got to save lives, right?†Crawford, an emergency room nurse at University Medical Center, said seconds after the rescue. In an interview later outside his home, Crawford had a large bandage on his hand, cut in the rescue.
“I’m used to high-stress, high-level things on a daily basis,†he said. “We deal with things like that all the time, so it was nothing out of the ordinary.â€
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. TV news broadcasts from coastal communities showed waves from nearby lakes, rivers and Gulf waters thrashing sea walls. Water poured into city streets amid blinding downpours. Oak and cypress trees leaned in the high winds, and some utility poles swayed back and forth.
Water was receding early Thursday in Jefferson Parish, where streets flooded, but canals were still high, parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said in a social media post. They pumped through the night, but there were sewer system problems and they couldn’t keep up with the storm, she said.
There had not been any major injuries or deaths, Sheng said.
“Let’s keep that going,†she said, asking residents to give the parish time to clear the streets, noting that the hazards after a storm can sometimes be more dangerous than the storm itself.
As the sun rose Thursday in Morgan City, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where the storm’s center made landfall, Jeffrey Beadle, 67, emerged from the hotel room where he had sheltered for the night as the streets flooded and blasts of wind battered town.
Beadle left his home in low-lying Bayou Louis, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside town, on Wednesday afternoon as the rain picked up and left almost all his possessions there. He had lived there for 30 years without suffering any major damage but he was worried this time would be different because his home had been right in the hurricane’s path. He had loaded his car and was preparing to return to check on his home.
“There’s nobody over on that end I can call,†he said. “I don’t know what I am going to, bruh. Hope everything’s good.â€
The storm was downgraded Thursday from a tropical storm to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56 kph) as it churned north-northeast over Mississippi near 12 mph (19 kph) , the National Hurricane Center said. Francine was expected to continue weakening, becoming a post-tropical cyclone later in the day, and to slow down as it turns to the north over the next day, moving over central and northern Mississippi through early Friday.
Power outages in Louisiana topped 390,000 early Thursday in Louisiana, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us, with an additional 46,000 outages reported in Mississippi.
Lafourche Parish sheriff’s deputies helped evacuate 26 people, including many small children, trapped by rising water in housing units in Thibodaux on Wednesday evening and transported most of them to an emergency shelter, Sheriff Craig Webre said in a news release. Deputies rescued residents from rising waters in other areas in Thibodaux and in the Kraemer community.
The sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, strengthening to a Category 2 storm before landfall. It weakened late Wednesday to a tropical storm.
In addition to torrential rains, there was a lingering threat of spin-off tornadoes from the storm Thursday in Florida and Alabama.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the National Guard would fan out to parishes impacted by Francine. They have food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including for possible search-and-rescue operations.
Since the mid-19th century, some 57 hurricanes have tracked over or made landfall in Louisiana, according to The Weather Channel. Among them are some of the strongest, costliest and deadliest storms in U.S. history.
TYLER — The City of Tyler adopted their 2025 budget, that totals $255.9 million and lowers the tax rate, during their Wednesday meeting. According to our news partner KETK, the budget, a 6% increase from last year, addresses improved roadways and traffic flow, enhanced drainage systems, upgraded water and sewer infrastructure and redeveloping public spaces. $50 million will go to water and sewer systems upgrades, while $41.4 million will be devoted to traffic signal improvements, street reconstruction, drainage and redevelopment of the downtown square funded by half-cent sales tax revenue.
The new tax rate is lowered to $0.240085, which the city says maintains their position as having the lowest tax rate in Smith County and among Texas cities with populations above 15,000. Projected property taxes are roughly $30.5 million, making up 32% of the general revenue fund. Read the rest of this entry »
GREGG COUNTY — A man was sentenced to 55 years after pleading guilty to a 2017 murder. According to our news partner KETK, 28-year-old Cody Fortman from DeSoto was sentenced in a Gregg County court on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty back in June 2022 to the murder charge. He is charged in connection to the death of 22-year-old Nicholas Trevion Johnson, a Longview man who was found dead from gunshot wounds in a home on Annette Drive.
BEAUMONT (AP) – A Texas man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after pleading guilty to kicking a cat that court records say was later set on fire.
Documents in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas show Donaldvan Williams of Beaumont was sentenced Tuesday to 40 months in prison as part of an agreement in which he earlier pleaded guilty to animal crushing, aiding and abetting.
The attorney for Williams, 30, did not immediately return a phone call for comment.
Federal prosecutors worked with Texas state prosecutors to determine whether to file charges in state or federal court, according to Davilyn Walston, spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Damien Diggs.
“A lot of times, when you have offenders that are particularly egregious … the state penalties aren’t as harsh,†Walston said.
Williams could have faced as little as ( two years in prison if convicted of animal torture or cruelty under Texas law.
He was charged under the federal Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, which prohibits harm to animals and bans videos of animal cruelty.
The documents say Williams and Decorius Mire found the cat in a parking lot in October 2021 and Williams kicked the animal like a football while Mire recorded the kick with his cell phone and later posted the video on social media.
The indictment in the case states that a third unknown, person set the cat on fire shortly after it was kicked 15-20 feet.
Mire also pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced in July 2023 to 18 months in prison.
DALLAS (AP) – Officers at a juvenile detention center in Dallas kept kids isolated for days and falsified logs of observation checks and school attendance, an investigation from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department found.
State investigators say that staffers at the Dr. Jerome McNeil Jr. Detention Center used the Special Needs Unit to circumvent state law and essentially keep juveniles in their sleeping quarters for extended periods of time.
“They spent the vast majority of their days inside their cells, sometimes up to 24 hours a day, without regular access to education, large muscle exercise, outdoor recreation, or showers,†state investigators wrote in a report released Monday.
The full investigation was not made public, though TJJD provided the investigation’s executive summary.
The agency’s Office of the Inspector General said that they will continue to monitor the situation. Also, a division of the agency will continue to have oversight duties and responsibilities related to allegations of wrongdoing at Dallas County’s juvenile facilities. The superintendent of the detention center did not respond to requests for comment.
Officers also falsified documents meant to record observation checks and school attendance in order to conceal the actual practices occurring in the detention facility, the investigation found. OIG investigators collected over 18,000 pages of observation checks from January 2023 to June 2023. However, there were 176 of the 191 observation sheets missing for multiple dates and shifts.
“In some instances, inspectors found that all of the logs for a particular section and shift had the exact same times and observation codes for each juvenile resident on the section,†the report found.
Other allegations reported and investigated by OIG included children not being fed sufficiently and phone and visitation rights taken away due to behavior issues, although the investigation could not find these to be true or false.
The Special Needs Unit was created in 2009 to help children with mental health diagnoses who are also on probation. The program closed in 2023, the same year the OIG investigation took place, but the exact reasons for the closure are unknown.
This week’s report comes after the U.S. Department of Justice found unconstitutional conditions at all of Texas’ five juvenile detention facilities last month. They noted abusive and poor conditions and listed many remedial measures including limiting periods of isolation. Investigators found other wrongdoings such as pepper spray use on children and failure to apply sexual abuse reduction measures.
The state’s report says former Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center Executive Director Darryl Beatty should have been aware of what was happening within the special needs unit.
“While he may not have had an active role in creating the policies and procedure that allowed for neglect of juvenile residents, he had ample opportunity to take corrective action,†the OIG report said.
Beatty earlier this year denied the allegations, but resigned after media reports about conditions inside the juvenile facility, WFAA reported.
Barbara Kessler, spokesperson for TJJD, said Dallas officials are taking corrective actions and the state investigation is now closed.
“Investigators will continue to monitor the situation and can open new abuse, neglect, or exploitation investigations if warranted,†Kessler wrote in an email.
GREGG COUNTY — The Gregg County Sheriff’s Office said an intoxicated driver hit a sheriff’s deputy while he worked a rollover accident Tuesday afternoon. According to the sheriff’s office and our news partner KETK, responders were working a one-vehicle rollover on FM 1252 around 3:45 p.m. when a eastbound Honda hit and injured a sheriff’s deputy. DPS troopers arrested the driver, Rigoberto Meza, 71, of Longview.
“We’re relieved to report that the deputy has been treated for his injuries at a local hospital and has been released,†GCSO said. “He is in good spirits and is expected to make a full recovery.â€
DPS troopers arrested the Honda driver and officials said the driver was charged with driving while intoxicated, no driver’s license and no insurance.
TYLER — The University of Texas at Tyler celebrates another record-breaking enrollment year, seeing its highest total enrollment. UT Tyler’s fall 2024 preliminary enrollment as of the Sept. 9 census date is 10,541 students, which is a 7.75% increase over the previous year.
“We are energized by the growth on our campus,†said UT Tyler President Julie V. Philley, MD. “I want to thank our admissions team, faculty and staff for their dedication to supporting our students, as well as our recruitment and retention initiatives.â€
First-time-in-college freshmen enrollment made up 1,426 of the total preliminary enrollment, which is a 7.5% increase over the previous record year of 2022. Additionally, UT Tyler continued enhancing retention rates among graduate/professional students. Graduate enrollment saw a second consecutive year of substantial growth by 14.02%, with a preliminary enrollment of 2,765. Read the rest of this entry »
RUSK COUNTY — Rusk County authorities said minor injuries have been reported after a crash involving a Tatum ISD school bus Wednesday morning. According to the Rusk County Emergency Management Office and our news partner KETK, shortly after 7 a.m. they were notified of a crash involving a school bus that was carrying students. “A large response was initiated and we do have confirmation from first responders on the scene of some minor injuries,†Rusk County officials said.
Tatum ISD said they have contacted immediate contacts of all that were involved. DPS is investigating the crash. If anyone has questions they are urged to contact the district at 903-947-0167 or 903-947-0161.
PALESTINE — An investigation into a stolen vehicle in Palestine has led to multiple arrests and two people who are wanted. According to the Palestine Police Department and our news partner KETK, on Sept. 2 at approximately 3:36 p.m. officers responded to the Woodside Village Apartments at 2020 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd for recovery of a stolen vehicle. The victim had told PPD that their vehicle had been stolen from the Texas A&M University campus the night before and a tracking device in the vehicle showed that it was at the apartment complex, officials said.
According to officials, when officers arrived at the apartment they located the vehicle and three men walking from the vehicle into an apartment. PPD reported that when the officers approached the building, two of the men ran out of the apartment’s back door. Read the rest of this entry »
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Hurricane Francine barreled early Wednesday toward Louisiana and is expected to make landfall in coming hours as forecasters raised threats of potentially deadly storm surge, widespread flooding and destructive winds on the northern U.S. Gulf coast.
Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters to jump from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane on Tuesday night. The National Hurricane Center said Francine might even reach Category 2 strength with winds of 96 to 110 mph (155 to 175 kph) before crashing into a fragile coastal region that still hasn’t fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes since 2020.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry warned at midday Tuesday — when Francine was still a tropical storm — that residents around south Louisiana and in the heavily populated state capital of Baton Rouge and nearby New Orleans — should “batten down all the hatches†and finish last preparations before a 24-hour window to do so closed.
Once Francine makes landfall, Landry said, residents should stay in place rather than venture out into waterlogged roads and risk blocking first responders or utility crews working to repair power lines.
The governor said the Louisiana National Guard is being deployed to parishes that could be impacted by Francine. They are equipped with food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including possible search-and-rescue operations.
Francine was centered Wednesday morning about 245 miles (395 kilometers) southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, and was moving northeast at 10 mph (17 kph) with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph (150 kmh), the Miami-based hurricane center said. Some additional strengthening is expected Wednesday morning and then Francine is expected to weaken quickly after it moves inland.
A hurricane warning was in effect along the Louisiana coast from Cameron eastward to Grand Isle, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of New Orleans, according to the center. A storm surge warning stretched from the Mississippi-Alabama border to the Alabama-Florida border Such a warning means there’s a chance of life-threatening flooding.
In downtown New Orleans, cars and trucks were lined up for blocks on Tuesday to collect sandbags from the parking lot of a local YMCA. CEO Erika Mann said Tuesday that 1,000 bags of sand had already been distributed by volunteers later in the day to people hoping to protect homes from possible flooding.
One resident picking up sandbags was Wayne Grant, 33, who moved to New Orleans last year and was nervous for his first potential hurricane in the city. The low-lying rental apartment he shares with his partner had already flooded out in a storm the year before and he was not taking any chances this time around.
“It was like a kick in the face, we’ve been trying to stay up on the weather ever since,†Grant said. “We’re super invested in the place, even though it’s not ours.â€
Francine is the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. There’s a danger of life-threatening storm surge as well as damaging hurricane-force winds, said Brad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the hurricane center.
There’s also the potential for 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain with the possibility of 12 inches (30 centimeters) locally across much of Louisiana and Mississippi through Friday morning, Reinhart said.
The hurricane center said parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle were at risk of “considerable†flash and urban flooding starting Wednesday, followed by a threat of possible flooding later in the week into the lower Mississippi Valley and lower Tennessee Valley as the soggy remnants of Francine sweep inland.
Francine is taking aim at a Louisiana coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida.
A little over three years after Ida trashed his home in the Dulac community of coastal Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parish – and about a month after he finished rebuilding – Coy Verdin was preparing for another hurricane.
“We had to gut the whole house,†he recalled in a telephone interview, rattling off a memorized inventory of the work, including a new roof and new windows.
Verdin, 55, strongly considered moving farther inland, away from the home where he makes his living on nearby Bayou Grand Caillou. After rebuilding, he said he’s there to stay.
“As long as I can. It’s getting rough, though,†he said.
Francine’s storm surge on the Louisiana coast could reach as much as 10 feet (3 meters) from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said. They said landfall was likely somewhere between Sabine Pass — on the Texas-Louisiana line — and Morgan City, Louisiana, about 220 miles (350 kilometers) to the east.
SMITH COUNTY — Smith County Fire Marshal Chad Hogue spoke at Commissioners Court on Tuesday warning residents of increased grass-fires. According to our news partner KETK, Hogue told the court that if Smith County doesn’t see rain in the next week there may be a need for a burn ban. From Aug. 27 to Sept. 3 there were nine grass-fires in Smith County and from Sept. 3 to Sept. 10 there were 27, Hogue reported. The Fire Marshal urged that residents be extra cautious when doing burning of any kind, and to refrain from burning on windy days.
“There is a chance of rain on Wednesday from Tropical Storm Francine, but Hogue said he is afraid it will be little or no rain with heavy winds,†Smith County officials said.
On Tuesday, the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) for Smith County went up to 659 from 641 the previous week, the KBDI measures forest fire risk and maxes out at 800, according to the release.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tropical Storm Francine churned in the Gulf of Mexico with increasing strength and was expected to reach hurricane status on Tuesday before making landfall in Louisiana.
A hurricane warning was in effect along the Louisiana coast from the border with Texas eastward to Grand Isle, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of New Orleans, and a tropical storm warning extended eastward from there to the mouth of the Pearl River, according to the National Hurricane Center. A storm surge warning stretched from just east of Houston to the mouth of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans. Such a warning means there’s a chance of life-threatening flooding.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry urged residents “not to panic, but be prepared” and heed evacuation warnings. Forecasters said Francine’s landfall in south Louisiana was expected Wednesday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 96 to 110 mph (155 to 175 kph).
“We do not want people to wait to the last minute to get on the road and then run out of fuel,†Landry said. “We put a lot of information throughout the summer, throughout hurricane season, so that people can be prepared. The more prepared we are, the easier it is for us.â€
It’s the sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. There’s a danger of life-threatening storm surge associated with this storm as well as damaging, life-threatening hurricane-force winds, Brad Reinhart, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, said Tuesday morning.
There’s also the potential for 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 centimeters) of rain with the possibility of 12 inches (30 centimeters) locally across much of Louisiana and Mississippi through Friday morning, Reinhart said. That heavy rainfall could also cause considerable flash and urban flooding.
Francine is taking aim at a Louisiana coastline that has yet to fully recover since hurricanes Laura and Delta decimated Lake Charles in 2020, followed a year later by Hurricane Ida. Over the weekend, a 22-story building in Lake Charles that had become a symbol of storm destruction was imploded after sitting vacant for nearly four years, its windows shattered and covered in shredded tarps.
Francine’s storm surge on the Louisiana coast could reach as much as 10 feet (3 meters) from Cameron to Port Fourchon and into Vermilion Bay, forecasters said.
“It’s a potential for significantly dangerous, life-threatening inundation,†said Michael Brennan, director of the hurricane center, adding it could also send “dangerous, damaging winds quite far inland.”
He said landfall was likely somewhere between Sabine Pass — on the Texas-Louisiana line — and Morgan City, Louisiana, about 220 miles (350 kilometers) to the east.
Louisiana officials urged residents to immediately prepare while “conditions still allow,” said Mike Steele, spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
“We always talk about how anytime something gets into the Gulf, things can change quickly, and this is a perfect example of that,†Steele said.
Residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s capital, began forming long lines as people filled gas tanks and stocked up on groceries. Others filled sandbags at city-operated locations to protect homes from possible flooding.
“It’s crucial that all of us take this storm very seriously and begin our preparations immediately,†Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome said, urging residents to stock up on three days of food, water and essentials.
A mandatory evacuation was ordered for seven remote coastal communities by the Cameron Parish Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness. They include Holly Beach, a laid-back stretch dubbed Louisiana’s “Cajun Riviera,†where many homes sit on stilts. The storm-battered town has been a low-cost paradise for oil industry workers, families and retirees, rebuilt multiple times after past hurricanes.
In Grand Isle, Louisiana’s last inhabited barrier island, Mayor David Camardelle recommended residents evacuate and ordered a mandatory evacuation for those in recreational vehicles. Hurricane Ida decimated the city three years ago, destroying 700 homes.
Officials warn that flooding, along with high winds and power outages, is likely in the area beginning Tuesday afternoon through Thursday.
In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell urged residents to prepare to shelter in place. “Now is the time to finalize your storm plans and prepare, not only for your families but looking out for your neighbors,†she said.
City officials said they were expecting up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) inches of rain, gusty winds and “isolated tornado activity†with the most intense weather likely to reach New Orleans on Wednesday and Thursday.
The hurricane center said Francine was last about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of the mouth of the Rio Grande, and about 395 miles (540 kilometers) south-southwest of Cameron, with top sustained winds of about 65 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour). It was moving north at 5 mph (7 kph).
As rain fell Monday in northern Mexico, more than a dozen neighborhoods in Matamoros — across the border from Brownsville, Texas — flooded, forcing schools to close Monday and Tuesday. Marco Antonio Hernandez Acosta, manager of the Matamoros Water and Drainage Board, said they were waiting for Mexico’s federal government to provide pumps to drain affected areas.
The storm was expected to be just offshore of the coasts of northeastern Mexico and southern Texas through Tuesday before making landfall Wednesday in Louisiana.