Month: July 2021

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press Firefighters were working in extreme temperatures across the U.S. West and struggling to contain wildfires, the largest burning in California and Oregon, as another heat wave baked the region, straining power grids. The largest wildfire of the year in California — the Beckwourth Complex — was raging along the Nevada state line and has burned about 140 square miles (362 square kilometers) as of Monday morning and state regulators asked…

By COREY WILLIAMS, Associated Press DETROIT — Massive amounts of green are being spent to find “green” ways to prevent basements, yards, streets and freeways in Detroit from flooding during heavy storms like one last month. Of $100 million pumped each year into infrastructure upgrades for the city’s aging water and sewer systems, $10 million goes toward installing detention ponds, bioswales, rain gardens and permeable pavement. Called green stormwater infrastructure, the features hold and slowly…

FORT MYERS, FL — A newly trained K-9 officer named Mercy tracked down a missing 12-year-old lost in the woods during Tropical Storm Elsa. “Reuniting a family with a lost child like that–especially in a tropical storm or hurricane and we got her home before any harm could come to her…it’s a home run for us. It’s a win,” local law enforcement officer Julio Lock said. The young girl went missing Tuesday night in Lee…

Raleigh, N.C. — Tropical Storm Elsa is finally gone. The last of the storm moved out of the WRAL viewing area Thursday night, but the storm’s impact will be felt by many for some time. Below you can read a timeline of the storm damage as Elsa moved through North Carolina: 7 p.m. Rainfall was the biggest impact from Tropical Storm Elsa across central North Carolina, WRAL meteorologist Kat Campbell said. Two to 3 inches…