Hurricane Florence made landfall on Friday morning near Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington, North Carolina. Florence was a category one hurricane when it made landfall. As of Sunday night, the heaviest hit area was the southern half of North Carolina’s coastline. Close to 30 inches of rain fell and over 90 percent of the population had lost electricity in these affected areas. The impact of the hurricane has caused 17 deaths as of Sunday night. Florence was downgraded to a tropical depression on Sunday.
New Bern, North Carolina, saw a 10-foot storm surge Friday. Nearly 200 people were from the city as a result of the storm surge. CBS News reported that two out-of-state Federal Emergency Management Agency crews assisted in the rescues. In Jacksonville, North Carolina, it was reported that 60 people were rescued from a hotel after high winds “threatened the structural integrity of the building.”
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said that the storm has severely damaged parts of the state and “he fears entire communities could be wiped away.”
Despite the trajectory of the storm fluctuating frequently in the days before, several weather models from the week before predicted the eye of the storm would pass only two and a half miles north of the location that it actually did, which some described as “remarkable accuracy.” Many other weather models struggled with the direct path of the storm, but meteorologists pointed out that the path the storm took from when it was far out in the Atlantic Ocean to when it made landfall was unusual. Remnants of the storm veered north following the weekend. On Tuesday, what was left of the hurricane brought rain and occasional wind gusts to New England.
Local News-
Natural gas explosions in Lawrence, Andover and North Andover, Massachusetts last Thursday caused approximately 80 structures to explode or be damaged by fires resulting from the explosions. Twenty-five people were injured and one person was killed. Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes and were not able to return until Sunday. Authorities determined that the explosions were caused by natural gas lines that were exposed to too much pressure. As of Sunday night, it appeared as if the explosions were an accident and were not the result of intentional tampering. Columbia Gas was the company responsible for the gas lines that caused the explosions. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the incident is still ongoing.
On Saturday, a shark attack off the coast of Cape Cod resulted in the death of a 26-year-old man. The shark attack occurred off of Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The victim was rescued from the water and taken to the hospital, where he later died. Authorities believe this was the first fatal shark attack in Cape Cod in 80 years.
The town of North Smithfield, Rhode Island approved a request that all town departments do not buy Nike products. The decision comes after former National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who kneeled during the National Anthem, was featured in an advertisement for Nike in which the message was “Do something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” The debate arose in the town after the town council president, who is a former state trooper, took issue with Kaepernick kneeling for the National Anthem because he believed it was a sign of disrespect towards the police. The vote was 3-2 in favor of not purchasing Nike products. The Rhode Island American Civil Liberties Union plans to take the issue to court.
National News-
Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh has been accused of sexual misconduct by Christine Blasey Ford, a 51-year-old research psychologist. Dr. Ford wrote an anonymous letter to a senior Democratic lawmaker earlier this year but came forward as the accuser on Sunday. Dr. Ford alleges that in the early 1980s, Kavanaugh and a friend were drunk and brought her into an empty room at a party, where she alleges the sexual misconduct occurred. Kavanaugh released a statement that firmly denied any sexual misconduct.
International News-
A deadly typhoon has killed people in both the Philippines and in China. In the Philippines, 64 people are believed to be dead and more people are missing as rescue teams continue to search for survivors. As of Sunday night, at least two people were confirmed dead as a result of the storm in the Guangdong province of China.
In the Philippines, the typhoon made landfall on the country’s largest island and caused widespread damage. The Associated Press reported that the typhoon reached the highest warning level possible in China and resulted in hundreds of flights being delayed and thousands of commercial fishing boats called back into port. The Associated Press also reported that 2.4 million people had to be relocated as a result of the storm. Winds close to 125 miles per hour were reported in Hong Kong, along with heavy rains and flooding, according to National Public Radio. Once it reached China, the storm was eventually downgraded to a less severe typhoon. The Philippines and the Chinese government is now assessing damages in the respective countries.