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Former President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he doesn’t “think” he’d run again for president in 2028 if he falls short in his bid to return to the White House in 2024. “No, I don’t. I think that will be, that will be it,” Trump said when journalist Sharyl Attkisson asked him if he’d run again. The comment was notable both because Trump seemed to rule out a fourth bid for the White House and because he rarely admits the possibility he could legitimately lose an election. Trump normally insists that could only happen if there were widespread cheating, a false allegation he made in 2020 and he’s preemptively made again during his 2024 presidential campaign. Trump would be 82 in 2028, a year older than President Joe Biden is now. Biden bowed out of the race in July following his disastrous debate performance and months of being hammered by Trump and other conservatives as being too old and erratic for the job. Attkisson interviewed Trump for her show “Full Measure.” Also during the 22-minute interview, Trump defended his record on the coronavirus pandemic. He took credit for the development of the COVID-19 vaccines developed during his presidency while also saying “they’re doing studies on the vaccines and we’re going to find out” if they are safe. Trump said Republicans have become skeptical about the vaccines even as Democrats trust them. The statement about 2028 came at the very end of the interview, which also included a question about how Trump stays in good health. “I try and eat properly,” the former president said, drawing an incredulous reaction from Attkisson, who noted that Trump has become infamous for his fondness for hamburgers. “Proper hamburgers,” Trump said.

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida sheriff’s department is mourning the loss of a deputy. In statement on social media, the Hilsborough County Sheriff’s Department confirmed the death. “It is with profound sadness and deep sympathy that Sheriff Chad Chronister and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office announce the loss of a deputy following a fatal crash,” the post stated. Deputy Darell Brown, 40, was killed on Thursday, September 19, 2024, at approximately 7:45 a.m., Chronister stated, “after a collision involving a semi-truck on U.S. Highway 301 just north of Stacy Road in Thonotosassa.” Brown joined HCSO in January 2015 and served as a detention deputy in both detention facilities. Most recently, he served in the booking U\unit at the Orient Road Jail. The father of five was heading home from a shift at the booking unit at the time of the crash. Sheriff Chad Chronister says that the trucker “did everything he could” to avoid hitting Brown’s F150, but the two vehicles collided anyway, killing Brown “instantly.” Chronister told local media outlets that the force of the crash pushed Brown’s pickup about 100 yards down the road as the semi truck jacknifed. The truck driver was reportedly also hurt in the crash, but sustained injuries that were non life threatening. “Our hearts break for the family, friends, and loved ones of Deputy Brown as they navigate this incomprehensible loss,” said Sheriff Chronister. “This tragedy comes at an incredibly difficult time, as our Sheriff’s Office still grieves the loss of Deputy White. I humbly ask the community to pray for all those impacted by these painful losses. Deputy Brown was more than just a colleague; he was a friend, a mentor, and a source of inspiration to many. His genuine warmth, commitment, and compassionate spirit left a lasting impact on everyone fortunate enough to know him.” Deputy Brown was off-duty driving his personal vehicle at the time of the crash. The Florida Highway Patrol will conduct the crash investigation.

A predawn crash where a big rig overturned causing a big mess near Santa Paula, Calif. on  Thursday morning caused a minor injury and shut down traffic for nearly 12 hours according to a report from KVTA. The crash reportedly happened around 4:20 a.m on the eastbound 126 Freeway at 10th Street in downtown Santa Paula. Not only did the overturned rig cause issues for commuters, but the load of produce spilled as well blocking the entire eastbound freeway. According to the KVTA report, eastbound commuters were forced off the freeway at Palm and then diverted using Harvard Boulevard in Santa Paula to 10th Street where they got back on the freeway impacting not only freeway traffic, but also surface street traffic in Santa Paula. The driver of the big rig suffered a minor injury. The roadway was reopened at 5:17 p.m.

FRANKFORT, Ky.  — A body found in rural southeastern Kentucky is believed to be the man suspected of shooting and wounding five people on an interstate highway, authorities said Wednesday night, Sept. 18. Kentucky State Police Commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr. said at a news briefing that the body discovered earlier in the day is believed to be Joseph Couch, of Woodbine. Authorities hoped the discovery would end an intense, nearly two-week search that had area residents on edge. “People have been in fear,” Laurel County Sheriff John Root said. “That’s not the normal here in Laurel County. So now that this has been discovered, I hope that our county can get back to what’s normal.” Burnett said accessories found with the body led authorities to conclude it is him. He had no details on the cause of death, saying that will be confirmed in an autopsy, but he said a weapon was found at the site. “I don’t think nobody on this stage wished that we would have found him in the condition that we found,” Rood said at the news conference. “I’d rather he’d been alive, and he could have paid for what he’s done.” Authorities said the body was found following a lengthy search of the rugged and hilly terrain in the area where the Sept. 7 attack happened. Investigators were working to identify it, state police Master Trooper Scottie Pennington said earlier in a social media post. It was located in the vicinity of the Interstate 75 exit near London, a city of about 8,000 people about 75 miles south of Lexington. The highway shootings led some schools to shut down and shift to virtual learning for several days as authorities warned area residents to be vigilant. Schools reopened Tuesday with extra police security in the county where the shooting happened. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has called the shootings an “act of violence and evil.” A dozen vehicles were struck as the shooter fired 20 to 30 rounds near an interstate exit, creating a chaotic scene. Authorities rushed to the scene after being alerted at about 5:30 p.m. The five victims survived the attack but some suffered serious injuries. After sending the text message vowing to “kill a lot of people” before the attack, Couch sent another saying, “I’ll kill myself afterwards,” investigators said in an affidavit. The document did not describe the relationship between Couch and the woman who received the texts. However, Couch and the woman have a child together but were never married, according to an attorney who handled the custody arrangement for the couple and their son born in 2016. Searchers found Couch’s abandoned vehicle near the crime scene and a semi-automatic weapon that investigators believe was used in the shooting. An Army-style duffel bag that was found had “Couch” hand-written in marker, and a phone believed to be Couch’s also was found but the battery had been taken out. Authorities said he purchased the AR-15 weapon and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition at a London gun store hours before the shooting. Couch had a military background in the Army Reserve. The U.S. Army said he served from 2013 to 2019 as a combat engineer. He was a private when he left and had no deployments. The search focused on a densely wooded area about 8 miles north of London that a state police official described as “walking in a jungle.” Aided by helicopters and drones, search teams on the ground contended with cliffs, sinkholes, caves, waterways and thick brush. Authorities were inundated with tips from the public and followed up on each one. When the ground search was suspended at night, specially trained officers were deployed in strategic locations in the woods to prevent the gunman from slipping out of the area. On Tuesday, authorities said they were pulling searchers from the woods to bolster patrols in nearby communities in hopes of calming fears among residents. Police received more than 400 tips since the shooting, with most pointing to areas outside the sprawling forest that was the focus of the search.

BALTIMORE — The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday, Sept. 18, sued the owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the Baltimore bridge collapse, seeking to recover more than $100 million that the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port. The lawsuit filed in Maryland alleges that the electrical and mechanical systems on the ship, the Dali, were improperly maintained, causing it to lose power and veer off course before striking a support column on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March. “This tragedy was entirely avoidable,” according to the lawsuit. The collapse snarled commercial shipping traffic through the Port of Baltimore for months before the channel was fully opened in June. “With this civil claim, the Justice Department is working to ensure that the costs of clearing the channel and reopening the Port of Baltimore are borne by the companies that caused the crash, not by the American taxpayer,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in written statement. The case was filed against Dali owner Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and manager Synergy Marine Group, both of Singapore. The companies filed a court petition days after the collapse seeking to limit their legal liability in what could become the most expensive marine casualty case in history. The ship was leaving Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka when its steering failed because of the power loss. Six members of a road work crew on the bridge were killed in the collapse. The men were working an overnight shift filling potholes on the bridge deck when it suddenly crumbled beneath them, sending them tumbling into the water. “This accident happened because of the careless and grossly negligent decisions made by Grace Ocean and Synergy, who recklessly chose to send an unseaworthy vessel to navigate a critical waterway and ignored the risks to American lives and the nation’s infrastructure,” said Chetan Patil, the acting deputy assistant attorney general. On Tuesday, the victims’ families declared their intent to file a claim seeking to hold the ship’s owner and manager fully liable for the disaster. Several other interested parties, including city officials and local businesses, have filed opposing claims accusing the companies of negligence. The families are also calling for more robust workplace protections, especially for immigrant workers. All the victims were Latino immigrants who came to the United States in search of better-paying jobs and opportunities. By Lea Skene and Alanna Durkin Richer, The Associated Press. Richer reported from Washington.

Parts of southeastern North Carolina were still underwater Tuesday after a storm that wasn’t quite organized enough to get a name dropped historic amounts of rain on an area that has suffered floods of a lifetime at least four other times in the past 25 years. The flash flooding closed dozens of roads in Brunswick County, including U.S. Highway 17, which is the main coastal route. Floodwaters swamped the highway at several points for most of the day, trapping some drivers on high ground that became an island. Emergency workers brought food and water to people as they waited for the waters to recede, Brunswick County emergency officials said. No deaths were reported but dozens of roads in the county were damaged and many washed out. Monday’s deluge centered on Carolina Beach south of Wilmington, where more than 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain fell in 12 hours. That amount of rain in that period of time qualifies as a so-called 1,000-year flood expected only once in a that era, meteorologists at the National Weather Service office in Wilmington said. Several blocks of the coastal town were flooded to the bottom of car doors for hours Monday as the system, known as Potential Tropical Cyclone No. 8, never organized enough to become the eighth named tropical storm of the season, Helene. It’s not the first historic flood in the region by any measure. Hurricane Diana in 1984 brought more than 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain to the area and forecasters noted that it was the first time a tropical event had dropped a foot (30 centimeters) of rain to the area. Since then, the area just southwest of Wilmington saw 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain in Hurricane Floyd in 1999, which was once the benchmark for heavy rain. An unnamed storm in the wake of Hurricane Matthew in 2010 dropped about 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain on Brunswick County and a 2015 deluge as Hurricane Joaquin moved well offshore dropped 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain. And in 2018, Hurricane Florence brought what is now the touchstone for historic flooding across the region with 30 inches (72 centimeters) of rain. The blame for recurring floods of a lifetime can be placed on rising temperatures because of climate change, said Tim Armstrong, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington. “The warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold,” Armstrong said Tuesday. As the three massive floods from unnamed storms show, it doesn’t take a powerful hurricane, just the right combination of atmospheric factors to end up with big floods over small areas. “The worst of Monday’s flood was centered over just parts of two counties,” Armstrong said. The rain from the system had moved into southeast Virginia on Tuesday. Along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the storm closed vulnerable coastal highway North Carolina 12 on Ocracoke Island and threatened several homes in Rodanthe, where erosion and rising sea levels have destroyed more than a half-dozen beachfront homes this decade. The Atlantic hurricane season continues through the end of November. In an updated hurricane outlook last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was still predicting a highly active season thanks to near-record sea surface temperatures and the possibility of La Nina. Emergency management officials have urged people to stay prepared. Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Gordon remained a tropical depression as it swirled through open ocean waters. Gordon could either dissolve in upcoming days or strengthen back into a tropical storm, forecasters said.

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of firefighters aided by cooler weather made progress Saturday, Sept. 14, against three Southern California wildfires, and officials in northern Nevada were hopeful that almost all evacuees from a blaze there could soon be home. Authorities have started scaling back evacuations at the largest blaze. The Bridge Fire east of Los Angeles has burned 81 square miles, torched at least 33 homes and six cabins and forced the evacuation of 10,000 people. Two firefighters have been injured in the blaze, state fire officials said. Operations section chief Don Freguila said Saturday that containment was estimated at 3% and improving, with nearly 2,500 firefighters working the lines. He said Saturday’s focus would be on the fire’s west flank and northern edge near Wrightwood, where airtankers dropped retardant on the flames in steep, rugged areas inaccessible to ground crews. “A lot of good work. We’re really beating this up and starting to make some good progress,” Freguila said. He said a new spot fire broke out Friday night near the Mount Baldy ski area along the blaze’s southern edge, burning only about an acre before crews “buttoned it up.” The Southern California have threatened tens of thousands of homes and other structures since they escalated during a triple-digit heat wave. The Davis Fire in northern Nevada The blaze in Nevada near Lake Tahoe broke out last weekend, destroying 14 homes and burning through nearly 9 square miles of timber and brush along the Sierra Nevada’s eastern slope. Some 20,000 people were forced from their homes early this week. Fire officials said there was a 90% chance the last of the evacuees would be able to return to their homes by the end of Saturday. Containment of the blaze was estimated at 76% Saturday, fire spokeswoman Celeste Prescott said. Some of the 700 crew members should soon be sent off to other fires, she added. Firefighters were mostly mopping up but anticipated winds picking up in the afternoon so stood ready to attack any spots that flare up. “We’re on the verge of big success here,” Truckee Meadows Fire District Chief Charles Moore said. The Line Fire in Southern California Authorities say a delivery driver purposely started the Line Fire in Southern California on Sept. 5. It has charred 59 square miles in the San Bernardino mountains, where people ski in the winter and mountain bike in the summer. It was 25% contained as of Saturday. Cool weather over the next several days should help, fire officials said. It is burning through dense vegetation that grew after two back-to-back wet winters when snowstorms broke tree branches, leaving behind a lot of “dead and down fuel,” Cal Fire Operations Section Chief Jed Gaines said. Three firefighters have been injured in the fire, according to Cal Fire. The Big Bear Zoo said it moved all its animals to a zoo in the city of Palm Desert to protect them from the wildfires and escalating temperatures. Arson-related charges have been filed against Justin Wayne Halstenberg, who is accused of starting the Line Fire. He is due to be arraigned on Monday according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office. Halstenberg’s mother, Connie Halstenberg, told the Los Angeles Times that her son “did not light that fire.” The full extent of the damage caused by the blaze remains unclear, but San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said at least one home was destroyed. The Airport Fire in Southern California The Airport Fire in Orange and Riverside counties fire has been difficult to tame because of the steep terrain and dry conditions — and because some areas hadn’t burned in decades. Reportedly sparked by workers using heavy equipment, it has burned more than 37 square miles. It was 9% contained as of Saturday. “Although direct lines have been challenging to build due to rugged terrain, favorable weather conditions have supported their efforts,” the Saturday situation report from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. Eleven firefighters and two residents have been injured in the blaze, according to the Orange County Fire Authority. It destroyed at least 27 cabins in the Holy Jim Canyon area, authorities said.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Francine rapidly strengthened before making landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday, knocking out power for hundreds of thousands of people, flooding a cemetery and dumping rain on New Orleans, a city that relies on a uniquely complicated network of canals and pumps to get the water out. More than 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain fell in some areas, outpacing its drainage system. Water rose fast in some spots, forcing an emergency room nurse to rescue a pickup truck driver minutes before water covered his vehicle. “Effectively, the swamp of centuries ago comes back to life, and communities built on those drained lowlands get water in their houses and cars” during bad storms, said Richard Campanella, a professor at Tulane University’s School of Architecture and author of the book “Draining New Orleans.” New Orleans was shaped by flooding and has long struggled to keep homes dry and the water out. Residents were cautioned to conserve water to reduce stress on the sewer system, although drinking water was never affected. By Thursday, officials said they had emptied out the rain, but that job requires an immense amount of infrastructure vital to keeping New Orleans habitable. Here is why the city struggles with downpours and how officials fight floodwaters: LEVEES Hurricane Katrina showed how bad it can get. A breach in the levy flooded most of the city, stranding residents on rooftops and killing almost 1,400 people. For weeks, pumps worked to drain the flood. Afterwards, the federal government invested more than $14 billion on a 133-mile massive protection system of levees, pumps and other infrastructure designed to keep the water out. Hurricanes create storm surges that those walls are meant to stop, and Francine didn’t come close to challenging the design. Initial estimates of storm surge at the lakefront of Lake Pontchartrain were about 3 to 5 feet. “The walls at that location were about 16 feet. We had a lot more room to go,” said Ricky Boyett, a spokesperson with the Army Corps of Engineers. But when there is a tight ring of built-up earth, concrete and steel acting as a seal around the city and nearby areas, it keeps rain in, too, and that is a problem. GRAVITY Simply put, a lot of the city is below sea level. Gravity, which helps most city sewer systems’ drain water in nearby wastewater treatment systems, lakes and rivers, is working against it. That requires moving water uphill, mainly into Lake Pontchartrain to the city’s north. New Orleans rests just up the Mississippi River from Louisiana’s marshy southeastern coast. It is a region shaped by the Mississippi River, which deposited sediment that formed strips of higher ground that are surrounded by dense, swampy lowlands. But building New Orleans meant engineering the river and keeping water out. That stopped the river from depositing new sediment, said Boyce Upholt, author of the book “The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi.” Now, the city “sinks under its own weight,” he said. DRAINAGE Francine dumped rain inside the city’s walls. That is when a complex system of pumps and canals are needed. Generally speaking, the system can drain an inch of water in the first hour and a half-inch each hour after that. “When a raindrop falls on the city, it goes into catch basins, the catch basin — a minor drainage system — conveys that water into larger pipes or canals and the canals drain that water to those individual pumping stations,” said Ghassan Korban, the executive director of the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans that manages the drainage system. When the system backs up, the streets fill first. But homes and businesses can take on water, too, when the system is overwhelmed — as happened in the Lakeview neighborhood when Francine passed over. Some of the infrastructure the city relies on is old. Some pumps date back as much as a century, although those items have been refurbished over the years. The infrastructure is enormous — some of the canals can fit a bus. There are 24 drainage pumping stations and 99 major pumps. But the aging pumps run on an outmoded electric frequency, requiring extra equipment to adapt them to modern power generation. Campanella said reliable power at the correct frequency is one of the system’s vulnerabilities. “Because they are pumps, they need power, and that’s where it gets a little dicey,” Korban said. When Francine arrived, a few pumps had electrical issues, slowing drainage in some places. The drainage system has undergone various improvements over the years. After severe flooding in 1995, federal projects added new pumping stations and upgraded others while adding miles of canals. A major rainstorm in 2017 sparked significant changes in management at the agency that operates the drainage system. Officials have also constructed ponds to hold stormwater and worked to improve power reliability. At a post-Francine news conference on Friday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the drainage system had improved over the years, but there was more work to do. The Republican said state and federal emergency officials are working with the city to determine where pumps and power generation are needed. “It’s so we can plug rainfall amounts into a model and more accurately predict what those disasters are going to look like and what resources are going to be needed,” Landry said. A worst-case scenario is when a storm surprises forecasters and stalls over the city, dumping huge amounts of rain. Some of the worst floods the city has seen in recent memory weren’t hurricanes, but major rainstorms. “You just manage the best you can,” Korban said. And climate change means the atmosphere can hold more moisture, which means the potential for big, wet storms. “You’ve seen a number of events in Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina that have really challenged the existing storm water infrastructure,” said Dominic Boyer, a professor at Rice University in Houston who co-directs Center for Coastal Futures and Adaptive Resilience. That’s “only going to be more challenging as time goes on,” he said.

BOISE, Idaho — Officials say two people were badly burned and two others are believed to be dead after an explosion and fire destroyed a gas station in a small north-central Idaho town. The explosion at the Atkinson Distributing station in Cardiff was reported just after 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11, the Clearwater County Sheriff’s office said in a news release, and two people with severe burns were flown by air ambulance to a hospital in a nearby city. More people were believed to be inside the building, the sheriff’s office said, but no additional details were released. Another two people were also taken to area hospitals, said Idaho State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl on Thursday, but the nature of their injuries was not known. “It’s a pretty devastating incident. I believe there have been structures destroyed besides the gas station, and there is a pretty large debris field,” that covers an area roughly the size of two city blocks, Sandahl said. Jeff Adams, a manager with Atkinson Distributing, said Thursday that the people who were flown to a hospital burn center in Seattle are Atkinson employees. Both were in critical condition, he said. “Evidentially there were a couple of customers in the store that did not get out,” Adams said. “We’d like to extend our prayers to everybody, and thank the first responders and everybody who turned out to try to help. We very much appreciate it.” A fuel tanker was offloading fuel at the station when the explosion occurred, Adams said, but it wasn’t yet known what caused the explosion. “We’re just like everybody else — we’re waiting around trying to get information,” Adams said. “When we went up there last night, they wouldn’t let us get anywhere near it.” Sandahl said two of his deputy fire marshals are at the station to investigate, and they are being assisted by a special agent from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The remote mountain town does not have cell service, and Sandahl did not yet have any details about the explosion. “Unfortunately the flow of information is kind of difficult without any cell service,” Sandahl said. “They’re still sifting through the debris.” The Cardiff gas station is only staffed during the logging season, according to the company’s website, and it includes a small convenience store with snacks and drinks. By Rebecca Boone, The Associated Press

New research by T. Madden & Associates has revealed that Texas is the most dangerous state for truck accidents. The study, which analyzed data from The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Texas Department of Transportation for 2023 found the Lone Star State had 20,510 fatal and non-fatal truck crashes — the highest of all states. The study shows the Top 5 most dangerous states for truck accidents as: Texas, with 20,510 fatal and non-fatal large truck crashes California, with 13,086 fatal and non-fatal large truck crashes Florida, with 10,391 fatal and non-fatal large truck crashes Georgia, with 8,826 fatal and non-fatal large truck crashes Pennsylvania, with 7,524 fatal and non-fatal large truck crashes “Freight trucks and their drivers are a crucial aspect of Texas’s great economy,” said Terance Madden of T. Madden & Associates. “For that reason, the health and safety of the state’s fleets and drivers should be an absolute priority, which is why the figures in our study are so concerning.” Madden also noted that with 20,510 incidents, Texas leads in large truck accidents, in fact, according to the Department of Transportation, at least one person has died on a Texas road since November 2000. “With that in mind, all drivers should take adequate precautions when getting out on the road, especially drivers of commercial vehicles,” Madden said. “In the unfortunate event of an incident, we strongly recommend having a strong insurance policy in place in the case of vehicle damage, and possibly obtaining legal advice in the case of injury or worse.” According to 2023 data from the Texas Department of Transportation, the five cities with the highest number of crashes in the state were: Houston: 67,644 total crashes (274 fatal, 67,370 non-fatal) San Antonio: 40,077 total crashes (160 fatal, 39,917 non-fatal) Dallas: 31,678 total crashes (196 fatal, 31,482 non-fatal) Fort Worth: 13,445 total crashes (111 fatal, 13,334 non-fatal) Austin: 12,138 total crashes (88 fatal, 12,050 non-fatal)

BALTIMORE — Investigators working to pinpoint the cause of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse discovered a loose cable that could have caused electrical issues on the Dali, the massive cargo ship that lost power and disastrously veered off course before striking the bridge. When disconnected, the problematic cable triggered an electrical blackout on the ship similar to what happened as it approached the bridge on March 26, according to new documents released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board. The documents don’t include any analysis or conclusions, which will be released later in the board’s final report. A spokesperson for the board declined to comment as the investigation is ongoing. The Dali was leaving Baltimore bound for Sri Lanka when its steering failed because of the power loss. It crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns, destroying the 1.6-mile span and killing six members of a roadwork crew. Safety investigators released a preliminary report earlier this year that documented a series of power issues on the ship before and after its departure from Baltimore. But the new records offer more details about how its electrical system may have failed in the critical moments leading up to the deadly disaster. The Dali first experienced a power outage when it was still docked in Baltimore. That was after a crew member mistakenly closed an exhaust damper while conducting maintenance, causing one of the ship’s diesel engines to stall, according to the earlier report. Crew members then made changes to the ship’s electrical configuration, switching from one transformer and breaker system — which had been in use for several months — to a second that was active upon its departure. That second transformer and breaker system is where investigators found the loose cable, according to investigative reports. Investigators also removed an electrical component from the same system for additional testing, according to a supplemental report released in June. They removed what is called a terminal block, which is used to connect electrical wires. Engineers from Hyundai, the manufacturer of the ship’s electrical system, said the loose cable could create an open circuit and cause a breaker to open, according to a 41-page report detailing tests completed on the Dali in the weeks after the collapse. The engineers disconnected the cable as part of a simulation, which resulted in a blackout on the ship. Hyundai sent engineers from its headquarters in South Korea to help with the investigation in April. The new documents also included various certificates issued after inspections of the Dali pertaining to its general condition and compliance with maritime safety regulations. “It’s pretty clear that they think they’ve found an issue that could cause a blackout,” said Tom Roth-Roffy, a former National Transportation Safety Board investigator who focused on maritime investigations. He said the loose cable was in a critical place within the electrical system. He also noted that investigators have clearly taken a thorough approach and documented their findings well. The new documents suggest they found very few other problems as they combed through the various systems and machinery aboard the Dali. In terms of whether the loose connection suggests inadequate maintenance of the ship or other problems with the crew, Roth-Roffy said it seems like a toss-up. Checking hundreds or thousands of wires is a tedious and time-consuming process, he said, and there are any number of factors that could cause connections to loosen over time, including the constant vibrations on a ship. “To say that this should have been detected is probably true but somewhat unrealistic,” he said. “But the ship’s crew has ultimate responsibility for the proper maintenance and operation of the ship.” The Dali left Baltimore for Virginia in late June. It was scheduled to undergo repairs there, and local media reported last week that it will sail to China, likely sometime later this month.

MORGAN CITY, La. — Francine weakened Thursday, Sept. 12, 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 flooding fears in New Orleans and beyond. As heavy rain drenched the northern Gulf Coast, New Orleans awoke to widespread power outages and debris-covered streets. Just before sunrise, large swaths of the city were without power, and home generators roared outside some houses. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. Up to 6 inches of rain was possible in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia, with up to 10 inches possible in some parts of Alabama and Florida, forecasters said. Flash flooding threatened cities as far away as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta. Francine slammed the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening with 100 mph winds in coastal Terrebonne Parish, battering a fragile coastal region that has not fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. The system then moved at a fast clip toward New Orleans, lashing the city with torrential rain. In New Orleans, rushing water nearly enveloped a pickup truck in an underpass, trapping the driver inside. A 39-year-old emergency room nurse who lived nearby grabbed a hammer, waded into the waist-high water, smashed the window and pulled the driver out. It was all captured on live television by a WDSU news crew. “It’s just second nature I guess, being a nurse, you just go in and get it done, right?” Miles Crawford told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. “I just had to get to get him out of there.” He said the water was up to the driver’s head and rising. Crawford told the man to move to the back of the truck’s cab, which gave him more room and since the front end of the pickup was angled down, into deeper water. “I wasn’t really questioning whether I should do it — it was just who is going to get it done,” he recalled, adding that he never caught the man’s name. News footage from coastal communities showed waves from lakes, rivers and Gulf waters thrashing seawalls. Water poured into city streets in blinding downpours. Oak and cypress trees leaned in the high winds, and some utility poles swayed. By early Thursday, water was receding in Jefferson Parish, where streets flooded, but canals were still high, parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said in a social media post. Pumps that operated through the night could not keep up with the storm, causing sewer system problems, she said. She asked 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 in Morgan City, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where Francine made landfall, residents gathered tree branches that were strewn across their yards, where water rose almost to their doors. Pamela Miller, 54, stepped outside to survey the damage after a large tree fell on the roof of her home. “It was a really loud noise, a jolt, and that’s when we realized the tree had come down,” she said. “Luckily it did not go through the roof.” Jeffrey Beadle, 67, emerged from the hotel room where he sheltered for the night. Beadle left his home in low-lying Bayou Louis, about 10 miles outside town, on Wednesday as the rain picked up. He lived there for 30 years without any major damage, but he was worried this time would be different because his home was right in the hurricane’s path. He loaded his car in preparation to check on his home. “There’s nobody over on that end I can call,” he said, explaining that he did not know what he would find. “Hope everything’s good.” Sheriff’s deputies helped evacuate dozens of people, including many small children, who were trapped by rising water Wednesday evening in Thibodaux. Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said deputies also rescued residents in the Kraemer community. The National Hurricane Center downgraded Francine from a tropical storm to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph as it churned north-northeast over Mississippi. The system was expected to continue weakening and become a post-tropical cyclone later Thursday before slowing down and 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. The sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters. In addition to torrential rains, there was a lingering threat of spinoff tornadoes from the storm Thursday in Florida and Alabama. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said the National Guard would fan out to parishes affected by Francine. The Guard has food, water, nearly 400 high-water vehicles, about 100 boats and 50 helicopters to respond to the storm, including for search-and-rescue operations. By Jack Brook and Sara Cline, The Associated Press. Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Associated Press writers Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Curt Anderson in St. Petersburg, Florida, Jeff Martin in Atlanta, and Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this story.

Warm water in the Gulf of Mexico helped quickly strengthen Hurricane Francine, creating danger for Louisiana residents rushing to buy supplies and secure their homes ahead of the storm’s landfall Wednesday. Warm ocean water is essential for forming and strengthening hurricanes. Heat helps the water evaporate faster, fueling the storm and producing more rainfall. Mid-September is typically the peak of hurricane season and Francine moved through a part of the ocean that held an exceptional amount of energy. As of Wednesday afternoon, Francine had strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of nearly 100 mph (161 kph). Hear’s how high Gulf of Mexico water temperatures are effecting Francine and the hurricane season: HOW HOT IS THE WATER? The Gulf of Mexico doesn’t need record setting temperatures to form hurricanes this time of year. Still, Francine traveled through water that at the surface, was somewhat hotter than average, but not record setting. The storm passed over a patch that was roughly 86 to 88 degrees (30 to 31 Celsius). What’s exceptional is the amount of heat deeper down. Storms churn up the ocean, bringing to the surface cooler water. Recently, however, that deeper layer was record-setting. It held more heat than at any point in the last decade, according to Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. “This past week was pretty exceptional,” he said. And Francine passed over a patch of water, called an eddy, that was especially hot. Near the coast, however, the water is a bit cooler than average, meaning there’s less energy to strengthen the storm. “It’s window for really intensifying is closed, so that’s good news,” he said. HOW DID FRANCINE REACT? Warmer water lower down matters most for large, strong storms that move slowly — that’s the recipe for churning up a bunch of deeper water. “On the opposite end of that, a weaker, smaller, quicker moving storm will hardly churn up the ocean at all,” said McNoldy. For these storms, the temperature of deeper water matters less. Francine isn’t extremely strong, so the energy stored deeper in the Gulf of Mexico didn’t matter quite as much, according to McNoldy. Still, conditions were favorable enough for the storm to rapidly intensify. On Tuesday afternoon, Tropical Storm Francine had sustained winds of 65 mph (105 kph). A day later it’s nearly 100 mph (161 kph). This type of quick change can make storms more dangerous, fast, surprising those in their path. “Our model projections are telling us this is the type of thing that should become much more common as we go forward into the 21st century, as global warming continues to increase,” according to Gabriel Vecchi, a hurricane researcher at Princeton University who also directs its High Meadows Environmental Institute. But there’s other factors reducing Hurricane Francine’s power, according to Bob Smerbeck, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. Nearby dry air has weakened its growth and as the storm gets closer to the coast, winds will disrupt the shape of the hurricane, further reducing its power. “Once it gets inland, it’ll weaken quickly, but it’s going to do a lot of damage along the way,” said Smerbeck. WHAT ABOUT LONG-TERM TRENDS? Federal forecasters predicted an intense hurricane season. And a big storm came historically early. Hurricane Beryl formed in late June and reached Category 5. But at the mid-point of the season, activity has been pretty average, with just six named storms this Atlantic Hurricane season. August was especially quiet, according to Robert West, a hurricane and climate researcher with the University of Miami and affiliated with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. But the Atlantic Coast is far from out of the woods. “It seems like the tropics are kind of waking up a little bit,” West said. The warm temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico will help, continuing to provide fuel. There are long-term trends at play, too. Climate change is heating up oceans around the world, although experts say it is difficult to connect specific hurricane seasons or storms to a warming planet, West said. And there are global weather patterns. Federal forecasters this summer said La Nina could develop. That’s where parts of the Pacific Ocean have cooler water surface temperatures. When that happens, it can reduce winds that weaken hurricanes. “This could be the beginning of a busy period here,” said Smerbeck.