Tag Archives: Mississippi

Storms Shut Down Most of Houston

The city of Houston, Texas was largely shut down on Monday after a stalled storm system caused severe flash flooding that has schools closed, bus and rail services suspended, and government officials warning residents to stay home.

According to The Weather Channel, rainfall totals were 10-20 inches from southeast Texas to the northwest of Houston. Some places saw 3 to 4 inches of rain per hour. Authorities reported that there were at least 650 residential calls for help on Monday morning.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett told CNN that there were at least 150 water rescues in Harris County alone, and he suspects there will be more rescues as the flooding gets worse.

CNN also reported as of mid-morning that at least 100,000 homes and businesses were without power in the Houston area, and over 1,000 homes in Harris County were flooded.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters that the Houston area schools were closed along with nine regional hospitals that were closed to additional patients. He added that three apartment buildings had been evacuated, and the residents were taking shelter in a mall. At this time, multiple news outlets have stated that there are no reports of injuries or deaths.

The storm system causing the severe flooding will continue pelting the south through Tuesday before the system moves northwest and weakens. The storm could still produce severe thunderstorms capable of producing hail, strong winds, and even isolated tornadoes, according to CBS News.

Other residents in Mississippi and Louisiana also saw flash flooding according to WISHTV. The Salvation Army, the United Way of Southeast Louisiana, Convoy of Hope, Mercy Chefs, and the Second Harvest Food Bank are all taking donations for the victims of the flooding in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Oklahoma has also seen flooding according Oklahoma City station, KOCO. Approximately 7,000 acres of farmland is under water, and the Washita River is expected to crest Monday evening, bringing even more flooding.

Southern U.S. flooding causes closure of major highway

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) – Flooding caused by days of heavy rain forced the closure on Tuesday of a section of a major east-west U.S. highway on the Louisiana-Texas border along the rising Sabine River, officials in both states said.

At least five people have been killed in storms in Southern U.S. states over the past several days that have caused flooding in places including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, forcing thousands of people to flee homes caught in floodwaters.

The closure of the section of Interstate 10 was forcing drivers to take lengthy detours of up to hundreds of miles to traverse the flood-soaked region.

Flooding along the Sabine River that separates Texas and Louisiana has forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes. Texas Governor Greg Abbott late on Monday issued a disaster declaration for 17 eastern and southeastern Texas counties.

In Louisiana, state officials said more than 6,000 structures had been damaged by flooding across the state, and new problems were being reported in some areas as rivers continued to rise.

Since last Wednesday, the Louisiana National Guard has rescued more than 4,200 people while the state’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has rescued another 700 people.

The hardest-hit parts of Texas have been in the southeastern part of the state, where “dozens if not hundreds” of high water rescues have taken place, according to Emergency Management Coordinator Billy Smith.

“It will probably be several days before it crests,” Smith said of the floodwaters, adding that the Sabine River is expected to crest at a level higher that the previous record set in 1882.

In eastern Harrison County in Texas, sheriff’s office Lieutenant Jay Webb said the high waters have raised worries about alligators.

“The nature of alligators is they don’t want to stay in water,” Webb said. “They want to be on higher ground with access to water. With flood levels porch-high, those alligators may be on somebody’s back porch.”

Authorities described the flooding as some of the worst in the region apart from that spawned by hurricanes. President Barack Obama on Sunday declared the flooding in Louisiana a major disaster, activating federal aid.

(Reporting by Jim Forsyth; Additional reporting by Colleen Jenkins in North Carolina; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Will Dunham)

Five dead in storms in U.S. South as floods continue

SHREVEPORT, La. (Reuters) – The death toll from storms in Southern U.S. states rose to five as storm-weary residents of Louisiana and Mississippi watched for more flooding on Monday from drenching rains that inundated homes, washed out roads and prompted thousands of rescues.

Flood waters across Louisiana were blamed for four deaths and damage to at least 5,000 homes, and one person drowned in a flooded area in Oklahoma last week. Flood warnings were in effect as rivers, bayous and creeks stayed high after storms dumped more than 20 inches of rain in some places.

In Louisiana, Harold Worsham, 78, drowned in Saline Bayou when his boat capsized as he tried to remove items from a home as waters rose on Saturday night, according to the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Many rivers and lakes in northern Louisiana have risen to historic levels and homes there face the threat of yet more flooding, said Matt Hemingway, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Shreveport.

“It’s going to take some time for them to fall back down below flood stage,” he said. “Some folks may be in this situation not just days but weeks.”

Authorities and meteorologists described the flooding as some of the worst seen in the region apart from that spawned by hurricanes. President Barack Obama declared flooding in Louisiana a major disaster on Sunday, activating federal aid.

The Louisiana National Guard said it had rescued more than 3,000 people and 300 pets.

Weldon Thomas, who lives in the Lake Bistineau area, said the flood was devastating for many of his neighbors.

“This is the worst flood that these people have ever seen, and some of them have been there 60 or 70 years,” he said. “It’s a tragic situation for everybody.”

In Bossier Parish, several feet of water covered low parts of normally busy Highway 71 and water rose to the top of road signs. Stranded livestock huddled on patches of dry land.

Emergency officials in Mississippi said flooding threatened to close interstates 59 and 10, which they warned could result in major traffic congestion.

As of Sunday afternoon, 185 homes were destroyed or significantly damaged in Mississippi and about 650 more sustained minor damage, according to the state.

Mandatory evacuation orders issued by authorities in the Texas county of Newton, which borders Louisiana, remained in effect for people living near the Sabine River over flood dangers.

(Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins and Curtis Skinner; Editing by Dan Grebler and James Dalgleish)

Mississippi man pleads guilty to trying to join Islamic State

(Reuters) – A Mississippi man pleaded guilty in federal court on Friday to attempting to join Islamic State in Syria with his wife last summer.

Muhammad Oda Dakhlalla, 23, and Jaelyn Delshaun Young, 20, were arrested at a Mississippi airport in August 2015, while attempting to board a flight to Turkey, where they believed an Islamic State contact would convey them to Syria, according to court documents filed by U.S. prosecutors.

Young, who has not pleaded guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in June, acknowledged her role as the “planner of the expedition” in an incriminating farewell letter, the documents said.

Dakhlalla entered his guilty plea in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, in Greenville.

In exchange for Dakhlalla’s guilty plea to a single count of conspiring to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, U.S. prosecutors agreed to not press any other charges.

Both Dakhlalla and Young, of Starkville, Mississippi, are U.S. citizens. Young converted to Islam in March 2015, according to the court documents.

Dakhlalla and Young are two of more than 80 individuals whom the United States has charged with Islamic State-related crimes since 2013.

Young’s Twitter posts about her desire to join Islamic State caught the attention of the FBI in May 2015, and an agent posing as an Islamic State recruiter began corresponding with her and Dakhlalla.

The couple, who had married in an Islamic marriage but did not get their marriage legally recognized, were motivated to join the group after viewing Islamic State executions of people they deemed immoral, and because they perceived the group as “liberators” of parts of Syria and Iraq, according to court records.

Attorneys for the couple said in court that when they were first charged, they had no weapons nor military training and would not pose a threat to others if released on bond.

(Reporting by Julia Harte)

Flooding continues across South, more rain on the way

Heavy rains continued to pummel the South on Thursday morning, spurring concerns about more flash flooding in states that have already received more than nine inches of rain this week.

The National Weather Service had issued new flash flood warnings for portions of Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana, the four states hit the hardest by this week’s storms.

It also issued numerous other flood warnings and flash flood watches in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys as the storms threatened to bring multiple inches of rain today and tomorrow.

National Weather Service storm reports indicate that Northern Louisiana has seen the heaviest rains since Monday, with more than 17 inches falling at Monroe Regional Airport as of 9 a.m. Thursday. More than 14 inches fell in Bossier City, and Shreveport received more than 10.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency in 16 parishes affected by the severe weather. One of them was Bossier Parish, where the local sheriff’s office reported that a mandatory evacuation was ordered for at least 1,000 homes as the Red Chute Bayou rose.

The National Weather Service’s office in Shreveport said that evacuations also occurred in Haughton and Minden, and the floods led to “numerous” road closures and high-water rescues.

Texas, Mississippi and Arkansas also had at least one community where nine or more inches fell, and those states were all experiencing some degree of flooding on Thursday.

The National Weather Service website showed dozens of river gauges in those states were at flood stage, adding that “major flooding” in at least six locations in Texas and Louisiana. Dozens more were near flood stage, and the additional rainfall threatened to push water levels higher.

The heaviest rains are expected along the southern banks of the Mississippi River, and the service said parts of Mississippi and Louisiana could receive five or more additional inches.

Tornadoes kill three in the South, more possible along East Coast

Tornadoes killed at least three people and damaged dozens of homes and businesses as a powerful storm system swept through the Gulf Coast on Tuesday evening, officials said.

More tornadoes were possible along the East Coast today, the National Weather Service warned, saying parts of Virginia and North Carolina had the highest chance of seeing extreme weather.

The service’s Storm Prediction Center received 31 reports of tornadoes in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and the Florida panhandle on Tuesday. Some of those reports may reference the same tornado, as several counties had multiple damage summaries listed.

The National Weather Service said one person was killed when a tornado destroyed a mobile home near Purvis, Mississippi. The St. James (Louisiana) Parish’s official Facebook page added that a tornado hit a mobile home park in Convent, killing two people and sending 30 to the hospital with injuries. The storm also damaged about 100 RVs and trailers there, officials wrote.

Elsewhere in Louisiana, the National Weather Service’s reports indicate tornadoes caused “significant damage” to a gym in Ascension Parish and “widespread structural damage” to homes and businesses in St. John the Baptist Parish. There were also several reports of winds knocking down trees and power lines, and one mention of a 120 mph gust near Mandeville.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency in seven parishes.

“I ask all Louisianans to pray for the victims of the terrible storms that touched down in Louisiana today and especially at the Sugar Hill RV Park in Convent,” he said in a statement.

Governors in Alabama and Mississippi also declared states of emergency ahead of the storms.

The National Weather Service is expecting strong-to-severe thunderstorms from New York to Florida on Wednesday, but said severe weather was most likely to hit northeast North Carolina and southeast Virginia. The service said there was a “moderate risk” of severe thunderstorms in those areas, the second-highest level on a five-tier system, and tornadoes were a possibility.

The service issued several flash flood watches and wind advisories throughout the mid-Atlantic and southeast. Residents in the storm’s path are encouraged to monitor their local forecasts.

Giant Sinkhole Swallows More Than a Dozen of Cars in Mississippi IHOP Parking Lot

Local media reported that a massive sinkhole opened up in an IHOP parking lot in Meridian, Mississippi on Saturday night, swallowing at least a dozen cars. There have been no reports of injuries.

According to the International Business Times, witnesses reported that they heard a large “boom” and then the restaurant experienced a power outage. The asphalt of the parking lot then gave away, creating a huge hole about 35-feet wide, 375-feet long, and 30-feet deep. USA Today reports that about 15 vehicles were submerged.

Meridian Public Safety Director Buck Roberts told USA Today that the collapse was not technically a sinkhole. He believes that it was more likely a collapsed drain.

“You can call it what you want, a cave-in or whatever, but it is not a sinkhole,” Roberts said.

However, there is still an ongoing investigation as to what caused the hole.

“We won’t know exactly what happened until engineers can determine the cause,” Roberts said.

The Washington Post reports that the IHOP had just opened earlier that week and that the area had been drenched by 10 inches of rain over the past two weeks.

Pastor Jailed Over Pro-Life Outreach Exonerated

A Mississippi pastor who took a stand for the unborn and was arrested for it 4 years ago has been exonerated on all the charges against him.

Pastor Steven Joiner of Columbus Church of the Nazarene came upon a protest by Pro-Life Mississippi in his city.  He parked at a nearby business and walked over to thank them for their standing up for life.  Joiner joined the group’s protest.

A police officer then approached the group and told them to leave saying they were blocking traffic. Pastor Joiner said he had a First Amendment right to stand on a public sidewalk.  The pastor was arrested for “failure to obey a police officer.”

The pastor was initially convicted on charges of violating the city’s Parade and Handbill ordinance.  An appeals court overturned that verdict.  The pastor then sued for his right to protest.

The court ruled that the pastor’s rights were violated, ordered the city to pay $10,000 in damages and attorney fees.  The city was also ordered to amend their law to protect free speech.

“The notion that one man can constitute a parade and that small groups of individuals need to seek permission and a permit from the government before they can open their mouths on a public sidewalk is repugnant to the Constitution and undermines the foundation of this nation,” Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mississippi Asks Supreme Court to Uphold Abortion Law

Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court asking them to hear the case involving a Mississippi law regarding admitting privileges for doctors who perform abortions.

The law passed the Mississippi legislature in 2012 that would require abortionists to have board certification and obtain hospital admitting privileges.  The second part was aimed to allow women who are injured by the abortionist to be rushed to local hospitals for further treatment.

Supporters say the bill is aimed to protect the lives of the women who choose to have an abortion.

The state’s lone abortion center, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, immediately filed suit saying they would not be able to meet the law’s requirements.  Eventually they said that the state did not have the right to pass laws that would close all abortion facilities in the state.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans struck down the law.

Mississippi Attorney General Hood says a similar law was upheld by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, so the Supreme Court needs to weigh in to fix the conflict.

Mississippi Passes The “Jesus Take The Wheel Act”

The Mississippi legislature has passed the “Jesus Take The Wheel Act” which would allow drivers of mid-size church vans of up to 30 people to avoid having to obtain a commercial driver’s license.

The bill was designed to help smaller churches that have limited resources.

This just allows small churches, some don’t have people with commercial licenses at all, and they can pick a person to drive the bus,” Democrat Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez told the Clarion-Ledger.

The church bus drivers will also not be required to have the state passenger transport endorsement, which is a requirement of most Mississippi bus drivers.

However, CDL drivers in the state are not happy about the law.

“I think this bill is trading the safety of everyone on the road for the convenience of those operating church vehicles,” CDL driver Troy Coll said. “Since the bill covers vehicles up to 30 passengers, we’re not just talking vans with extra rows of seats – these are buses, with long frames and much larger blind spots than passenger vehicles.”

“Obtaining a CDL is not especially difficult,” Coll added, “but the testing does increase the level of scrutiny on drivers, and the medical requirements prevent individuals with poor vision/hearing/motor control or untreated diabetes from driving large vehicles full of vulnerable passengers.”