Latest news with #JaneRoss
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
List of missing in Texas floods adds uncertainty to search for survivors
By Jane Ross and Rich McKay KERRVILLE, Texas (Reuters) -Six days after flash floods swept through parts of Texas Hill Country and killed at least 120, authorities say there are still more than 160 people unaccounted for, as thousands of searchers combed through piles of mud-covered debris for survivors on Thursday. But that figure may not reflect the true number of missing people, according to disaster response experts. The number of people reported missing in the aftermath of a natural disaster often turns out to be far greater than the eventual death toll. Worried members of the public, unable to reach a relative or friend, report the name to local authorities and to crowd-sourced online databases, and it gets added to a list that can grow distressingly long. In the first days after the devastating wildfire in the California mountain town of Paradise in 2018, the number of people missing briefly exceeded 1,200. It took two weeks for local officials to recover all the victims, and many months more for them to account for every person reported missing. In total, the fire killed 85 people, still the deadliest wildfire in the state's history. More than two weeks after a wildfire destroyed Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2023, the FBI said there were still more than 1,000 names on its list of the missing. The following summer, officials put the final death toll at 102. Josh Dozor, a former deputy assistant administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and now an executive at the disaster response company International SOS, said the list of missing people could still change significantly. "There could be people listed as missing who don't even know they're on the list," he said. "There are power issues, someone might not have a cell phone charged. People are at shelters. It could take time to reassemble with loved ones." Kerr County, home to the vast majority of victims and missing people, is a sprawling, rural county with areas that have spotty cell phone service. More than 2,100 first responders were continuing a painstaking, mile-by-mile search across the country, hoping against long odds to find survivors six days after torrential rains sent a wall of water raging down the Guadalupe River in the predawn hours of July 4. Authorities have not found anyone alive since the day of the floods. At least 96 people, including 36 children, died in Kerr County, officials said at a briefing on Thursday morning. The death toll includes 27 campers and staff members from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer retreat on the banks of the river. Five girls and one counselor from the camp remain missing, officials said. "The length of time to find someone still alive after a summertime flash flood is a lot longer than, say, a winter storm or an earthquake, but the chances here are diminishing," Dozor said on Thursday. 'FLASH FLOOD ALLEY' Kerr County sits at the heart of what is known as Flash Flood Alley in central Texas, a region where some of the country's deadliest floods have occurred. More than a foot of rain fell in less than an hour early on July 4. Flood gauges showed the river's height rose from about a foot to 34 feet (10.4 meters) in a matter of hours, cascading over the river's banks and sweeping away trees and structures in its path. Hundreds of community members gathered at a worship service at Tivy High School in Kerrville on Wednesday to remember the victims. Students and adults prayed and sang, with some hugging and holding back their tears during the memorial. The school's soccer coach, Reece Zunker, and his wife, Paula, a former teacher there, were among the victims. Their two children were missing as of Sunday, according to the school district. "Zunker was a really tough guy," said art teacher Marti Garcia, who attended Wednesday's event. "I just had faith that he was going to pull it out." Authorities in Kerr County have faced questions about whether more could have been done in the early hours of July 4 to alert residents about the rising floodwaters and get some of them to higher ground. The state legislature will convene in a special session later this month to investigate the flooding and provide disaster-relief funding. Meanwhile, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told reporters on Thursday that after talks with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, federal authorities had pledged $15 million in disaster relief for the mountain village of Ruidoso, where flash flooding on Tuesday killed three people, including two children, and damaged hundreds of homes. Some $12 million of the federal disaster funding is money previously pledged, but never paid, to build levees to protect the community from flash floods after wildfires last year, Lujan Grisham said.
Japan Today
10-07-2025
- Climate
- Japan Today
Thousands of first responders search for Texas survivors against long odds
FILE PHOTO: People take part in the search and rescue operation looking for missing people by the Guadalupe River, in Hunt, Texas, U.S. July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Umit Bektas/File Photo By Jane Ross Thousands of first responders were still combing through piles of mud-covered debris in Texas Hill Country on Thursday, hoping against long odds to find survivors six days after flash floods swept through the region, killing at least 120. A dozen states have dispatched search teams to Kerr County, where the vast majority of the victims perished when torrential rains sent a wall of water raging down the Guadalupe River in the predawn hours of July 4. At least 96 people, including 36 children, died in Kerr County, officials said at a briefing on Thursday morning. Another 161 people remain unaccounted for. The last person found alive was on Friday, according to authorities. The dead included 27 campers and staff members from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer retreat on the banks of the river. Five girls and one counselor from the camp remain missing, officials said. Kerr County sits at the heart of what is known as "flash flood alley" in central Texas, a region that has seen some of the country's deadliest floods. More than a foot of rain fell in less than an hour early on July 4. Flood gauges showed the river's height rose from about a foot to 34 feet (10.4 meters) in a matter of hours, cascading over its banks and sweeping away trees and structures in its path. Hundreds of community members gathered at a worship service at Tivy High School in Kerrville on Wednesday to remember the victims. Students and adults prayed and sang, with some hugging and holding back their tears during the memorial at the school's football stadium. The school's soccer coach, Reece Zunker, and his wife, Paula, a former teacher there, were among the victims. Their two children were missing as of Sunday, according to the school district. "Zunker was a really tough guy," said art teacher Marti Garcia, who attended Wednesday's event. "I just had faith that he was going to pull it out." Authorities in Kerr County have faced questions about whether more could have been done in the early hours of July 4 to alert residents about the rising floodwaters and get some of them to higher ground. The county declined to install an early-warning system years ago after failing to secure state grant money to cover the cost. Officials have vowed to review the events to determine what may have gone wrong, but have emphasized that their current focus is on rescue and recovery. The state legislature will convene in a special session later this month to investigate the flooding and provide disaster relief funding. Meanwhile, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told reporters on Thursday that after talks with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, federal authorities had pledged $15 million in disaster relief for the mountain village of Ruidoso, where flash flooding on Tuesday killed three people, including two children, and damaged hundreds of homes. Some $12 million of the federal disaster funding is money previously pledged, but never paid, to build levees to protect the community from flash floods after wildfires last year, Lujan Grisham said. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Japan Today
09-07-2025
- Climate
- Japan Today
Crews comb flood-stricken central Texas for missing people
FILE PHOTO: A drone picture shows damage in Camp Mystic, following flooding on the Guadalupe River, in Hunt, Texas, U.S. July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Evan Garcia/File Photo By Jane Ross Search teams persisted in sifting through mounds of debris in Texas Hill Country on Wednesday as hopes of finding more survivors dimmed five days after flash floods tore through the region, killing at least 119 people, including many children. As of Tuesday evening, there were more than 170 people still unaccounted for, according to figures provided by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Searchers have not found anyone alive since Friday. Most of the fatalities and missing people were in Kerr County. The county seat, Kerrville, was devastated when torrential rains lashed the area early on Friday, July 4, dropping more than a foot of rain in less than an hour and swelling the Guadalupe River to a height of nearly 30 feet (9 meters). The death toll in Kerr County was 95 as of Wednesday morning, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters at a briefing, including three dozen children. That figure includes at least 27 campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls' summer retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe. Authorities have warned that the death toll will likely keep rising as floodwaters recede. Elsewhere on Tuesday, three people died in New Mexico, two of them young children, when a flash flood swept through the village of Ruidoso in mountains around 135 miles (217 km) southeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city. The flooding was sparked by heavy rain that fell on wildfire burn scars, causing a rapid runoff of water that saw the Rio Ruidoso River rise to a record 20 feet, five feet higher than its previous historical high, the village said in a statement. Scientists say climate change has made extreme flood events more frequent and damaging by creating warmer, wetter weather patterns. Public officials in Texas have faced days of questions about whether they could have warned people sooner, giving them time to move to higher ground ahead of the raging floodwaters. At Wednesday's briefing, the sheriff was again pressed to address questions about how long it took for officials to respond to "Code Red" alerts about the flash flooding during the early hours of July 4. He declined to respond directly, saying his focus was on finding the missing victims and that a full analysis of what went wrong with the response would come later. "We will answer those questions," he said. "I can't tell you when - a week or two, okay? We're going to get to them. We're not trying to deflect them." Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice has said the amount of rainfall exceeded predictions and fell so fast that there was not enough time to order evacuations without further endangering people. Abbott said on Tuesday that the Texas legislature would convene a special session later this month to investigate the emergency response and provide funding for disaster relief. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bob Ross' Death, 30 Years Later: What to Know About the Late Painter's Sudden Passing
Bob Ross died on July 4, 1995, a year after his series, The Joy of Painting, ended The artist died of complications from lymphoma at 52 years old A documentary about Ross' life and the battle over his estate was released on Netflix in 2021This summer marks 30 years since the painter and pop culture icon Bob Ross died, but like his beautiful landscapes, his legacy lives on. Years after he had viewers embracing the "happy little accidents" of life and art, Ross' work is being embraced by a new generation. His iconic series, The Joy of Painting, aired over 400 episodes and is now available on YouTube and streaming. With his signature hair and gentle demeanor, Ross is one of the most recognizable faces of the 1980s. In a 1988 episode of The Joy of Painting, Ross recalled a fan letter he received: "I got a letter from somebody here a while back, and they said, 'Bob, everything in your world seems to be happy.' That's for sure. That's why I paint. It's because I can create the kind of world that I want, and I can make this world as happy as I want it." Sadly, after spending over a decade teaching audiences across the globe how to paint on television, he died at 52 from lymphoma complications on July 4, 1995. Here's everything to know about Bob Ross' untimely death and the legacy he left behind. Ross died of complications from lymphoma at 52 years old. Ross had been a lifelong smoker, and he was diagnosed with the disease weeks after his second wife, Jane, also died of cancer in 1992. In his Netflix documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed, a friend speculated that prolonged exposure to paint thinner might have contributed to his illness, but Ross never spoke publicly about his health. Ross died on July 4, 1995, over a year after The Joy of Painting's final episode aired on May 17, 1994. Ross died in Orlando, Fla. At the time of his death, Ross was 52 years old. Ross had been a fixture on public television for 11 years and 31 seasons of his show, filming over 400 episodes of The Joy of Painting before he retired to focus on his health. He filmed for nearly two years after his cancer diagnosis. "He combined television with hypnosis and craft," singer Lady Kier told PEOPLE in 1995. "You couldn't help noticing him. He became part of the pop mainstream. His nice little clouds were my favorites." Behind the scenes, Ross was locked in a legal battle with his business partners, Annette and Walt Kowalski, over Bob Ross Inc., which had control of his likeness and work. In 1985, Ross, his wife Jane and the Kowalskis formed Bob Ross Inc., with each person an equal shareholder in the company. When Jane died in 1992, her shares were equally distributed among the three, making Ross a minority shareholder in the company bearing his name. Before Ross died in 1995, he amended his will to leave the intellectual property rights over his image and likeness to his son Steve Ross and half-brother Jimmie Cox — but the Kowalskis were eventually given full control of the company after countering the action and settling with Cox. While Steve later fought a legal battle against the Kowalskis' daughter, Joan, who took over Bob Ross Inc. after her parents retired in 2012, he lost the case. Ross' journey to fame and the ongoing legal fights after his death were the subjects of the 2021 Netflix documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed. In response, Bob Ross Inc. released a statement denying the allegations. Nearly 30 years after his death, Ross remains a fixture in popular consciousness. Fans wear shirts with his image, and he's been mentioned in pop culture phenomena like Deadpool. In 2020, The Joy of Painting became available to stream on YouTube. His show also inspired the 2023 film Paint, in which Owen Wilson plays a popular fictional painter who closely resembles Ross — until another artist comes along and challenges his status as host of the No. 1 public-access painting show. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Riot police, anti-ICE protesters square off in Los Angeles after raids
By Jane Ross and Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Helmeted police in riot gear turned out on Friday evening in a tense confrontation with protesters in downtown Los Angeles, after a day of federal immigration raids in which dozens of people across the city were reported to be taken into custody. Live Reuters video showed Los Angeles Police Department officers lined up on a downtown street wielding batons and what appeared to be tear gas rifles, facing off with demonstrators after authorities had ordered crowds of protesters to disperse around nightfall. Early in the standoff, some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. It was not clear whether there were any immediate arrests. An LAPD spokesperson, Drake Madison, told Reuters that police on the scene had declared an unlawful assembly, meaning that those who failed to leave the area were subject to arrest. Television news footage earlier in the day showed caravans of unmarked military-style vehicles and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets as part of the immigration enforcement operation. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted several locations, including a Home Depot in the city's Wetlake District, an apparel store in the Fashion District and a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles City News Service (CNS). CNS and other local media reported dozens of people were taken into custody during the raids, the latest in a series of such sweeps conducted in a number of cities as part of President Donald Trump's extensive crackdown on illegal immigration. The Republican president has vowed to arrest and deport undocumented migrants in record numbers. The LAPD did not take part in the immigration enforcement action. It was deployed to quell civil unrest after crowds protesting the deportation raids spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the walls of a federal court building and massed outside a nearby jail where some of the detainees were believed to be held. Impromptu demonstrations had also erupted at some of the raid locations earlier in the day. One organized labor executive, David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union of California, was injured and detained by ICE at one site, according to an SEIU statement. The union said Huerta was arrested "while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity." No details about the nature or severity of Huerta's injury were given. It was not clear whether he was charged with a crime. ICE did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for information about its enforcement actions or Huerta's detention. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement condemning the immigration raids, saying, "these tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city."
