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Washington state braces for dangerous flooding as thousands could face evacuation orders
Residents began packing up and fleeing rising rivers in western Washington state Wednesday as a new wave of heavy rain swept into a region still reeling from a storm that triggered rescues and road closures a day earlier.
In the Pacific Northwest, an atmospheric river was swelling rivers toward record levels, with major flooding expected in some areas including the Skagit River, a major agricultural valley north of Seattle. In the town of Mount Vernon, officials ordered residents within the river’s floodplain to evacuate.
Earlier in the day, dozens of vehicles were backed up at a sandbag-filling station in the town as residents prepared for what Mayor Peter Donovan described as “what increasingly appears to be a worst-case scenario here.”
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency Wednesday, saying, “Lives will be at stake in the coming days.” He estimated that as many as 100,000 Washington residents may soon face evacuation orders.
“We expect rivers to hit historic levels as early as 4 a.m. tomorrow, lasting into Friday morning,” Ferguson wrote on social media.
Ferguson later posted that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s National Weather Prediction Service had predicted 18 major floods and 15 moderate floods in the state.
The National Weather Service warned of the possibility of “catastrophic flooding,” specifically along the Skagit and Snohomish rivers.
“Landslides are likely in areas of steep terrain within the considerable and catastrophic regions,” the weather service said.
Gent Welsh, adjutant general of the Washington National Guard, said hundreds of Guard members will be sent to help communities.
In the Mount Rainier foothills southeast of Seattle, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies rescued people at an RV park in Orting, including helping one man in a Santa hat wade through waist-deep water. Part of the town was ordered to evacuate over concerns about the Puyallup River’s extremely high levels and upstream levees.
A landslide blocked part of Interstate 90 east of Seattle, with photos from Eastside Fire & Rescue showing vehicles trapped by tree trunks, branches, mud and standing water, including a car rammed into the metal barrier on the side of the road.
Officials also closed a mountainous section of U.S. 2 due to rocks, trees and mud. The state transportation department said there were no detours available and no estimated time for reopening.
The Skagit River is expected to crest at roughly 47 feet in the mountain town of Concrete early Thursday, and roughly 41 feet in Mount Vernon early Friday.
Those are both “record-setting forecasts by several feet,” Skagit County officials said.
Flooding from the river long plagued Mount Vernon, the largest city in the county with some 35,000 residents. In decades past, residents would form sandbagging brigades when floods threatened, but businesses were often inundated. Flooding in 2003 displaced hundreds of people.
The city completed a floodwall in 2018 that helps protect the downtown. It passed a major test in 2021, when the river crested near record levels.
But the city is on high alert. The historic river levels expected Friday could top the wall, and some are worried that older levees could fail.
“The concern about that kind of pressure on the levy and dike system is real,” said Ellen Gamson, executive director of the Mount Vernon Downtown Association. “It could potentially be catastrophic.”
Gamson said many business owners were renting tables to place their inventory higher off the floor. Sheena Wilson, who owns a floral shop downtown, said she stacked sandbags by the doors and cleared items off the floor.
“If the water comes in above table height I’ve got bigger problems than my merchandise,” she said.
Jake Lambly, 45, added sandbags, tested water pumps and moved valuables to the top floor of the home he shares with his 19-year-old son. Lambly said he was concerned about damage in his neighborhood, where people “are just on the cusp of whether or not we can be homeowners.”
“This is my only asset,” he said from his front porch. “I got nothing else.”
Harrison Rademacher, a meteorologist with the weather service in Seattle, described the atmospheric river soaking the region as “a jet stream of moisture” stretching across the Pacific Ocean “with the nozzle pushing right along the coast of Oregon and Washington.”
Authorities in Washington have knocked on doors to warn residents of imminent flooding in certain neighborhoods, and evacuated a mobile home park along the Snohomish River. The city of Snohomish issued an emergency proclamation, while workers in Auburn, south of Seattle, installed temporary flood control barriers along the White River.
In Sumas, a small city along the U.S.-Canada border, a flood siren rang out at city hall and residents were told to leave. The border crossing was also closed to southbound commercial vehicles to leave more room for evacuations, according to the Abbotsford Police Department.
Climate change has been linked to some intense rainfall. Scientists say that without specific study they cannot directly link a single weather event to climate change, but in general it’s responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires.
Another storm system is expected to bring more rain starting Sunday, Rademacher said. “The pattern looks pretty unsettled going up to the holidays.”
In large cities and small towns across the country, millions took to the streets today in protest against the policies of President Trump and his administration.
Organized by “No Kings,” a network of progressive groups opposed to the administration’s agenda, the protests are the third wave of demonstrations since the President took office for a second term. Last year, millions attended protests in June and again in October.
Crowds assemble at the Embarcadero in San Francisco prior to the start of the protest.
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Thousands of community members marched in the flagship “No Kings” protest in St. Paul.
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Thousands sign a banner in Hartford at the Capitol that says “We the People.”
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Protesters hold signs and chant slogans in Driggs, Idaho.
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Demonstrators gather while holding signs near a roadside in Shelbyville, Kentucky.
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Demonstrators walk across the Memorial Bridge from Arlington, Virginia into Washington, DC.
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Demonstrators march down 7th Avenue and Broadway in Manhattan.
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![HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, MARCH 28, 2026: Ken MacDonald tears up as he listens to a speech about the plight of his fellow veterans. “[Trump]’s playing with the lives of military people,” he said. Thousands rally at the “No Kings” protest at the capitol in Hartford on March 28, 2026. (Tyler Russell/Connecticut Public)](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/6981x4654+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Feb%2F8b%2Fba7a9cb744baa343c85d45caf5ed%2F260328-nokingshartford-trb4371.jpg)
Ken MacDonald tears up in Hartford as he listens to a speech about the plight of his fellow veterans.
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A large crowd marches across the South First bridge toward a gathering at Auditorium Shores in Austin, Texas.
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Lindsay Holliday waves an American flag in Rosa Parks Square in Macon, Georgia.
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Demonstrators in downtown St. Louis walk by large banners decrying the U.S. conflict in Iran and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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Kat Carves works on a ice sculpture that says ‘End Ice’ ahead of the rally on the Boston Common in Boston.
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Protestors march across an overpass near the Georgia state Capitol building in Atlanta.
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Protesters hold a banner reading “End the wars, stop ICE, general strike” at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco.
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Maria Perry, left, and John Stock, right, joined protesters gathering in Mill Creek Park in Kansas City, Missouri.
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Duane Inge, a 63-year-old demonstrator, protests in front of Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis.
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A protestor wears a “Let’s be brave” pin at a rally in Richmond, Virginia.
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Demonstrators in costumes stand along the National Mall in Washington, DC.
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Protestors listens as speakers address the crowd gathered in Richmond, Virginia.
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Protesters descend on Times Square in New York City.
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Demonstrators begin to march from the Western Sculpture Garden at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.
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Thousands march towards the Steel Bridge from the waterfront in Portland, Oregon.
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Two students were killed and at least seven other people were injured after a school bus crash in Tennessee on Friday, officials said.
The school bus was carrying 25 students and five adults from Kenwood Middle School in Clarksville for a field trip in Jackson, Tennessee, the school district said in a statement.
The crash, which remains under investigation, involved a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck, a Chevrolet Trailblazer and the school bus. It happened around noon on Highway 70 in Carroll County, said Maj. Travis Plotzer, a spokesperson for the Tennessee Highway Patrol.
Plotzer said there were two adults in the TDOT vehicle and one person in the Chevrolet Trailblazer. He said the crash is “a parent’s worst nightmare.”
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
At least seven people who were injured were taken by air ambulance to hospitals across Tennessee, including Memphis and Nashville, CBS affiliate WREG reported. The extent of their injuries was not immediately disclosed.
The school’s principal, Karen Miller, said counselors will be available starting Monday. In a written message to families shared on Facebook, she called the crash an unimaginable tragedy and encouraged parents to be attentive to their child’s emotional needs as they process the deaths of their classmates.
“Please continue to pray with us for our students, families, faculty, and staff,” Miller wrote. “I am grateful for the strength of our Kenwood community, and I trust we will all support each other during this difficult time.”
Four people were taken to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville and were in stable condition Friday, according to a Vanderbilt Health spokesperson.
Another 19 people were taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Carroll County, said Kim Alexander, a spokesperson for Baptist Memorial Health Care. All were evaluated and released, though it was unclear how many actually were injured, she said.
CBS affiliate WTVF reported the school bus was on the way to participate in the Toyota Hub City Grand Prix Greenpower USA race in Jackson. The Jackson-Madison County superintendent said in a statement that they were “completely devastated” by the crash and called the loss “immeasurable,” WTVF reported.
The school district was hosting the event.
Police detain Nerdeen Kiswani, an organizer of pro-Palestinian demonstration group “Within Our Lifetime” during a protest on Friday, April 12, 2024, in New York.
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NEW YORK — A man accused of planning to firebomb the home of a prominent Palestinian activist has been arrested following a weekslong undercover operation led by the New York City Police Department, officials said Friday.
The target of the plot was Nerdeen Kiswani, who frequently leads protests in New York against Israel and the war in Gaza through the organization Within Our Lifetime.
Kiswani, 31, said law enforcement officials informed her late Thursday that they had disrupted “a threat on my life that was about to take place.”
Federal authorities said they arrested Alexander Heifler on Thursday at his home in Hoboken, New Jersey, as he was assembling Molotov cocktails that he planned to throw at Kiswani’s home. For weeks, he had discussed the plot with an undercover NYPD detective who had infiltrated a group chat used by Heifler, according to a police department spokesperson.
An official who was briefed on the investigation said Heifler, 26, identified as a member of the JDL 613 Brotherhood, a New Jersey-based group founded in 2024 that describes its membership as “Jewish warriors” fighting back against rising antisemitism.
A website for the group says they are inspired by the original Jewish Defense League, a group linked to numerous bombings and attempted assassinations of Arab American political activists in the 1970s and 1980s.
Heifler planned to flee to Israel following the attack, according to the official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of an ongoing investigation.
An email inquiry sent to the JDL 613 was not returned.
Kiswani, who lives in Brooklyn with her infant son and husband, said the plot would not deter her continued activism.
“I feel very blessed that they were able to thwart this, but it’s something that is a constant possibility for people who speak up on behalf of Palestine,” she said.
Heifler was charged in a criminal complaint with separate counts of making and possessing destructive devices, which each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A message left with his attorney was not returned. He made an initial appearance in New Jersey federal court on Friday afternoon.
“Let me be clear: We will not tolerate violent extremism in our city,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement. “No one should face violence for their political beliefs or their advocacy. I am relieved that Nerdeen is safe.”
According to a court filing written by an FBI agent, Heifler spoke on a video call in February with a group that included an undercover detective about his interest in training for “self-defense” and wanting space where he could throw Molotov cocktails.
The next day, he met with the undercover detective in person and discussed his plan to use them against Kiswani and flee the country, according to the complaint. “We have (Kiswani’s) address,” Heifler allegedly told the undercover. “So it’s like that, that would be easier if you’d be more comfortable with that.”
Heifler and the undercover detective drove to Kiswani’s residence on March 4 to “conduct surveillance” and discussed making a dozen Molotov cocktails to throw at her home and two cars parked outside, complaint said.
On Thursday, the undercover detective and Heifler met at Heifler’s Hoboken residence, where he had assembled components to make the Molotov cocktails, including a large bottle of Everclear, a highly flammable alcohol, the complaint said. Law enforcement officers then executed a search warrant at the residence and recovered the eight Molotov cocktails, the complaint said.
Kiswani co-founded the group Within Our Lifetime, which frequently organizes protests against Israel that draw hundreds of participants and often end in arrests. The group’s calls to “abolish Zionism” and support for “all forms of struggle,” including violence, has drawn fierce criticism. Kiswani denies that her criticism of Israel amounts to antisemitism.
Kiswani has been a frequent target of online vitriol. Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, a Florida Republican, sparked backlash after writing in a social media post that “the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” The post was a response to a message Kiswani shared about dog owners, which she said was a light joke.
“That hate against Palestinians has been bolstered by public officials, by Zionist organizations, who are never held accountable,” she said. “This is the inevitable result of that.”
The operation was carried out by the Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremism unit within the NYPD’s counterterrorism bureau, a police spokesperson said.
“This is exactly how our intelligence and counterterrorism operation is designed to work — a sophisticated apparatus built to detect danger early and prevent violence before it reaches our streets,” Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
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