(NEW YORK) — Eta’s moisture combined with a cold front Thursday, which resulted in copious amounts of rain that caused some of the worst flooding in parts of Virginia and North Carolina since 1995.
A flash flood emergency was issued for parts of North Carolina Thursday, where many rescues were reported.
Flooding in Alexander County, North Carolina, has left four people dead and two others — one adult and one child — missing, officials said. Three died from flooding at the Hiddenite Family Campground, where a search will resume Friday morning for a missing adult and child. Another person died in the county from a car accident Thursday that was caused by a bridge washout.
Eta is finally gone Friday, but there are still flood warnings in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina due to rising rivers. Some rivers will not crest until next week.
In Virginia, the Roanoke River rose to more than 34 feet, making it the highest level since 1995.
The highest rainfall in the U.S. Thursday was in Campbell County, Virginia, where 10.5 inches fell.
Elsewhere, in Tampa Bay, Florida, up to 10 inches of rain fell. In South Carolina, the highest rainfall total was 7.95 inches, and in Georgia, 5.13 inches.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, 4.62 inches of rain fell, making it the wettest November day in the city’s history.
In addition, a new tropical wave is developing in the Caribbean Sea. This system could become our next named storm, Iota.
Thankfully, most models keep this system away from the U.S., but Central America, which was hit very hard with deadly floods from Eta last weekend, is in its path.
In the West, a major storm system moving in could bring up to 3 feet of snow, wind gusts that could reach 100 mph and heavy rain along coastal northern California, Oregon and Washington.
(NEW YORK) — A Georgia judge heard arguments Thursday on whether to release two men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man shot while jogging in February.
Arbery, 25, was killed in Brunswick, Georgia, on Feb. 23. He tried to run for his life before he was struck by a car, shot and then called a racial slur by one of the suspects, according to prosecutors.
Chatham County Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley heard testimony from several witnesses for Travis McMichael, 34, and his father, Gregory McMichael, 64, who described them as upstanding members of community. But prosecutors presented evidence of texts and social media posts by the suspects in an effort to show how racism likely played a large role in Arbery’s death.
Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael each have been charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. William Bryan, a third suspect, has been charged with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. All three men have pleaded not guilty.
Their defense attorneys have requested that the judge reject the malice murder charge included in their indictment, saying that “charges two crimes in one count.”
The posts contained information from racial groups and posts about vigilanteism, as well as a “violent video” called “Coon on a Highway,” according to the prosecutors.
Zachary Langford, a childhood friend of Travis McMichael, testified that he was “always respectful” and “got along with everyone,” even those of different backgrounds. When asked by Cobb County Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans about a text exchange between the two in which they allegedly discussed shooting a black person with gold teeth, Langford said they were “being facetious” and “referring to a raccoon.”
Last month, prosecutors filed a notice of intent to use the “racial” texts and posts, which included a text Travis McMichael sent on March 16 and two “racial” posts on Facebook on June 15 and Aug. 22 — the latter of which was a highway video. It also included “racial” Facebook posts by Gregory McMichael and “racial” text messages extracted from the phone of Bryan, according to court documents.
In a previous bond hearing for Bryan, Evans said Bryan repeatedly used the n-word in texts. Bryan took cellphone video of the shooting and told authorities he heard Travis McMichael say a racial slur when he shot Arbery three times.
During Thursday’s hearing, defense attorneys for the McMichaels denied that the posts and texts were “hateful thoughts,” saying they “are thoughts we might differ with.”
An attorney for Greg McMichael conceded that one post on his Facebook page by Identity Dixie, which said to “stop letting strangers lecture you about your ancestors,” linked to a hate group. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Identity Dixie is a “small Facebook campaign predicated on keeping Confederate monuments.”
Witnesses for Travis McMichael included his mother, Lee McMichael, and four friends who agreed to offer their property as collateral for his bond, nearly $400,000.
Lee McMichael testified that she did not believe her son would leave because he values his relationship with his 4-year-old son, whom he saw every other week prior to his arrest, and his ties to his community.
“Travis will go nowhere, because he loves home, he loves his son, he will stand up to his responsibility, and he wants his day in court,” Lee McMichael said.
Both Langford and his wife, Ashley Langford, testified that Travis McMichael felt remorse after Arbery’s death. They and other friends described him as the fun guy in their social circle who often was making jokes.
Lee McMichael also testified for her husband, as did a family friend and the landlord for the home they rent in Brunswick, Georgia. They said they’re willing to put up about $300,000 in collateral for George McMichael’s bond.
Lee McMichael described her husband as a dedicated father and grandfather, presenting his service to the community as a retired investigator for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit district attorney’s office and a former Glynn County police officer as evidence that he isn’t a flight risk.
Arbery’s parents appeared in court. A victim impact statement read for Marcus Arbery read that he “suffered the deepest loss” a father could endure and that he “urged the court to reject the motion and continue to keep the defendant behind bars.”
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, took the stand and said that the suspects are “proud of what they’ve done” and would do so again if given the opportunity.
“I have suffered,” she said. “I continue to suffer mentally and emotionally while I wait for justice for my son.”
Cooper Jones asked the court to help her fight for justice for her son and protect her grandchildren by keeping the McMichaels behind bars.
Walmsley didn’t decide whether to grant bail, and the hearing will continue on Friday.
Both McMichaels and Bryan told authorities they thought Arbery was a suspect in a series of break-ins. They were charged in May after video showing the deadly struggle appeared online and have been in custody ever since. An earlier request to grant them bond was denied in May.
Young Quawan Charles is seen here in this undated family photo. (Quawan Charles’ family)By VICTORIA MOLL-RAMIREZ, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — As the rural Louisiana town of Baldwin mourns the death of Quawan “Bobby” Charles, the family of the teenage boy is demanding answers.
“We believe that if he had been of a different color that this will be taken a lot more seriously,” the family’s attorney, Ronald Haley, told ABC News. “We [would] not be talking today about 13 days have gone by, with no leads, 13 days have gone by with no answer, 13 days have gone by without [the] official cause of death… This family deserves that Bobby will be laid to rest.”
The 15-year-old vanished from his home on Oct. 30. Days later, the family said his body was found in a sugarcane field about 20 miles away, in Iberia Parish.
What happened between when his body was found and the day he went missing is still under investigation.
Though the autopsy report has not yet been released, a graphic photo of Charles’ body has been circulating online.
“On the left side of his face there is like a knot,” Charles’ cousin Celina Chase told ABC News, describing the photo. “On the right side, there’s like an incision, and then around his mouth area, like the majority of his lips is gone, like he has been tortured.”
The medical examiner’s office said a full report can take up to 12 weeks, yet the local sheriff’s department has already deemed the circumstances around his death “suspicious.”
They said they have interviewed multiple individuals and are combing through physical evidence related to the case.
“I’m a parent myself. I would be concerned about the death of my child,” Iberia Parish Sheriff Thomas S. Romero told ABC News affiliate WBR-TVZ. “Emotions run deep, but we have to deal with facts, and it takes time for some of this evidence to come forward, for toxicology to come back.”
The ACLU is demanding a full, independent investigation into Charles’ death.
“The disrespect and lack of transparency demonstrated by local officials in response to Bobby’s tragic and suspicious death is unacceptable,” Alanah Odoms Hebert of ACLU of Louisiana, said in a statement. “We join the family in demanding a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bobby’s death.”
The Sheriff’s department said it is providing the family with updates on the case and is urging anyone with information to call Detective Jarred Spurlock of the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Investigation at 337-369-3711.
Gian Lorenzo Ferretti Photography/iStockBy MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News
(CHICAGO) — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced new restrictions for city residents as Thanksgiving approaches and COVID-19 cases continue to surge.
Starting on Monday, Chicagoans are urged to stay home except for work, school or essential needs and to avoid nonessential travel. They are also advised to not gather with anyone outside of their household, including for Thanksgiving.
“While this is tough, and of course this whole year has been tough, we must tell you, you must cancel the normal Thanksgiving plans,” Lightfoot said at a press briefing Thursday. “Particularly if they include guests that do not live in your immediate household.”
The stay-at-home advisory, which will last for 30 days, follows a curfew that went into effect last month that indefinitely closes nonessential businesses from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Indoor service at restaurants and bars has also been halted.
The advisory is in response to exponential COVID-19 spread throughout Chicago. One month ago, the average daily cases in the city was 500, and the positivity rate was just over 5%, the mayor said. On Thursday, Chicago had an average of 1,920 daily new cases and a positivity rate of just over 14%, according to city data.
The mayor warned the city could see another 1,000 Chicagoans die from COVID-19 by the end of the year, on top of the 3,152 lives lost due to the virus thus far, if “we do not step up and do the things we know actually work.”
“This is a time when we all must take this seriously,” she said. “We all have to step up and do our part.”
Among the additional restrictions announced Thursday, the city is also imposing a new capacity limit of 10 people at venues for special events, including weddings and funerals.
The mayor warned that the city will fine and, if necessary, shutter businesses that don’t comply with the COVID-19 orders.
City officials stressed that they are primarily seeing COVID-19 spread through gatherings, especially ones in people’s homes.
“Right now, while we’re seeing numbers like this, gathering is the biggest concern, because COVID is just looking for an opportunity, and right now, unfortunately, it has so many opportunities all over this city,” Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said Thursday.
The advisory comes a day after the state’s health department advised that residents “stay home as much as possible” and work from home if they can for the next three weeks, as Illinois reported a record number of daily new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
“Our goal is to reduce transmission as we head into the holidays so businesses and schools can remain open,” the department said.
Illinois and Chicago join a chorus of state and local leaders nationwide urging residents to stay home and issuing new restrictions amid worsening COVID-19 statistics.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert declared a state of emergency Sunday and issued a mask mandate as hospitals in the state reached capacity. On Wednesday, a judge in El Paso County, Texas, extended a lockdown through Dec. 1 amid high hospitalization rates, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced new restrictions on gatherings and a stronger mask mandate as daily cases continue to break records in the state.
Myriam Borzee/iStockBy JULIA JACOBO and ARIELLE MITROPOULOS, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — Hospitals around the country are running out of beds in their intensive care units due to the uptick in COVID-19 cases.
The U.S. is averaging about 125,000 new cases of the virus a day, according to an ABC News analysis of the trends across 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., from using data from the COVID Tracking Project.
Wednesday marked the eighth consecutive day with over 100,000 coronavirus cases, and in the first eleven days of November, the country has recorded a staggering 1.2 million new coronavirus cases — more than the entire month of September.
In 46 states, along with Washington, D.C., and Guam, cases are high and rising. Thirty-seven states, plus Washington, D.C., have had an increased rate of positivity, and 43 states, along with Puerto Rico, have had an increase in hospitalizations.
Thirty states, plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have also seen a rise in coronavirus-related deaths.
Thirteen states have hit a record number of new cases, and 17 states have hit a record number of current hospitalizations, according to data released on Wednesday. Three states have hit a record number of new deaths.
In Wisconsin, hospitals have reached a “tipping point,” so much so that they won’t be able to save everyone who is sick, state health officials warned this week, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Hospitals in parts of Indiana are also being flooded with COVID-19 patients. About half of the patients at Elkhart General Hospital in Elkhart, Indiana, are being treated for the virus, according to ABC South Bend, Indiana, affiliate WBND. Medical professionals are concerned about the availability of ventilators, beds, IV pumps and more, the local station reported.
The Minnesota Department of Health is estimating that ICUs in the Twin Cities metro area are at 97% capacity, ABC Saint Paul, Minnesota, affiliate KSTP reported.
Hospitals in the area normally operate at 80% to 85% capacity, occasionally close to 90% capacity during flu season, Helen Strike, president of Allina Health’s Regina and River Falls hospitals, told KSTP. Now, hospital capacity in the state is at “some of its highest levels ever,” Strike said.
The Mississippi Department of Health announced Wednesday that hospitalizations are nearly at the same level as they were when the pandemic started.
There are “zero” ICU beds in Jackson and “very few” elsewhere, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs tweeted on Thursday.
Hospitalizations in Alabama have also surged, so much so that even if Pfizer’s initial vaccine — which has shown 90% effectiveness — were to be approved, it likely wouldn’t stop the wave of cases in the state, Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, said on Wednesday, according to Al.com.
The state of Georgia is short on intensive care nurses as the threat of the virus increases with the approach of winter, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. ICU nurses fear contracting COVID-19 as well as making mistakes due to high workloads, they told the local newspaper.
Wisconsin, Indiana and Minnesota are included in the list of states with increased rates of positivity, hospitalizations and deaths, according to the ABC News analysis.
Mississippi is included in the list of states with a daily increase in deaths, while Alabama and Georgia are included in the list of states with increased hospitalizations and deaths.
ABC News’ Brian Hartman contributed to this report.
ABC NewsBy MAX GOLEMBO, ABC News
