The Lumineers are returning to the stage for their first full in-person concert since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The “Ho Hey” outfit will perform at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California, on September 22. Tickets go on sale next Friday, September 10, at 10 a.m. local time, with an artist pre-sale beginning September 8.
All attendees must show proof of being fully vaccinated, or provide a negative test obtained within 72 hours of entering the venue.
The Santa Barbara show is currently the only U.S. concert on The Lumineers’ schedule. The band is planning a tour of Europe launching February 2022.
Jackson Browne is among the artists who will be featured on the upcoming 47th season of PBS’ popular live performance series Austin City Limits. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s episode will premiere on November 13.
Browne’s ACL performance will be the lauded singer/songwriter’s first on the program in almost 20 years. He’ll be featured playing songs from his recently released studio album, Downhill from Everywhere, as well as select tunes from his extensive back catalog.
Austin City Limits‘ new season premieres on October 2 with a show featuring country star Miranda Lambert and country songwriters Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, who will play tunes from their 2021 collaborative album The Marfa Tapes. Other artists slated to appear on upcoming ACL episodes include Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard, Jon Batiste, Grammy-winning Americana artist Sarah Jarosz and young R&B singer Leon Bridges.
This season of Austin City Limits was recorded at the show’s Austin, Texas, studio this year in front of limited live audience.
“The world is still fighting its way out of this pandemic, but Austin City Limits is back — without missing a beat,” says the show’s executive producer Terry Lickona. “As always, we love to mix things up with some remarkable new talent as well as fan favorites, along with a few surprises. ACL celebrates the return of live music!”
Browne currently is playing a series of headlining concerts that run through a September 18 show in Phoenix, Arizona. On October 16 in New Orleans, Jackson kicks off his second leg of joint dates with James Taylor, which is mapped out through a December 13 performance in Buffalo, New York. Check out Browne’s full schedule at JacksonBrowne.com.
Here’s the list of newly confirmed Austin City Limits episodes and guests; more will be announced soon:
10/2 — Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram & Jon Randall: The Marfa Tapes
10/9 — Jade Bird, Dayglow
10/16 — Jon Batiste
10/23 — Sarah Jarosz, Billy Strings
10/30 — Brandy Clark, Charley Crockett
11/6 — Leon Bridges, Khruangbin
11/13 — Jackson Browne
11/20 — Brittany Howard
Simu Liu stars in the new Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings — out this weekend — but there was a time when he wasn’t so sure he would be chosen for the gig.
Although he had martial arts experience and campaigned heavily to get the part, he tells ABC News he was nervous about whether or not Marvel would think he was the right guy, admitting that he had “assumptions” — including that Marvel was looking for a “literal kung fu master.” However, the actor soon realized that it was about so much more.
“From the moment I met [director Destin Daniel Cretton], I kind of clued into what he was looking for, which was something, I think, deeper and something that more spoke to a human experience and to vulnerability and intimacy rather than just playing into the action sequences,” he explains.
Needless to say, Liu landed the role of a lifetime, which also happens to be his first movie role — something he’s ridiculously grateful for and says has “changed [his] life.”
In the film, when we meet Liu, he plays an unassuming guy named Sean who loves his job parking cars in San Francisco and just wants to hang with his best friend, played by Awkwafina. But we soon learn Sean is actually Shang-Chi, son of two ancient mystical warriors, trained in high level combat.
So does Liu feel more like Sean or Shang-Chi?
“I think like Sean, though, I think I’m somebody who feels very much caught between two worlds a lot of the time,” he shares. “And, like Sean, I am also partial to going to karaoke with my buddies on a Saturday night and belting out the lyrics to ‘Hotel California’ or ‘A Whole New World’ or ‘Old Town Road.'”
(HOUSTON) — A day after the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion law went into effect, doctors and advocates reported a steep decline in abortions across Texas.
Houston provider Dr. Bhavik Kumar said he normally performs between 20 to 30 abortions a day. Since the new law, he said he’s only seen six patients — and was forced to turn half of them away.
“Just yesterday I saw somebody who thought she was earlier in the pregnancy, but once she got here and had her ultrasound, found out she was much further along,” said Kumar, who works out of a Planned Parenthood. “She was crying and we began to explore options and think through the logistics of if she would be able to go out of state for the care that she needed.”
The new law bans physicians from providing abortions “if the physician detects a fetal heartbeat” including embryonic cardiac activity, which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, and stipulates that any private citizen can sue a person who they believe is providing an abortion or assisting someone in getting an abortion in Texas after six weeks. A plaintiff could collect at least $10,000.
A 2018 study done by the National Institute of Health found that on average, women reported pregnancy awareness around five and a half weeks. As it applies to the study, this means an average pregnant woman would have a very slim margin to make a decision and appointment under the new Texas law.
Nearly 90% of women who are seeking abortions in the state are past their sixth week, abortion rights advocates in Texas told ABC News Thursday.
The Supreme Court formally refused to block the Texas abortion law Wednesday night, citing technical and procedural reasons.
In a 5-4 decision, five conservative-leaning justices voted to let the law remain in effect, without determining if it is constitutional.
For now, most women seeking abortions in Texas have been forced to do so in other states.
Rebecca Tong, who operates an abortion clinic in neighboring Oklahoma, said she’s become inundated with out-of-state calls.
“The phones have just been ridiculous,” said Tong, co-executive director of Trust Women. “About two-thirds of our call volume right now is Texas people.”
Tong said her average schedule consists of appointments for about 15 women a day. Since the law in Texas, the number has more than doubled.
“For a five to 10 minute procedure, to drive 600 miles in the middle of a pandemic,” she said. “It’s cruel.”
(NEW YORK) — Millions of Americans across the country faced devastating flooding from Hurricane Ida this week and are grappling with the risks a new reality poses to their homes.
With more humans building into nature, the fragile interface between weather extremes and the comfort of our homes is becoming more frequent. More than ever, it’s clear that climate change is impacting everywhere we live.
Climate risk nonprofit First Street Foundation has found that 14.6 million American properties are at risk of flood. Six million of those don’t make it on Federal Emergency Management Agency standards maps.
Joe Tirone was one of hundreds in Staten Island who lost their home in Superstorm Sandy in 2012. It’s hard to imagine that where a marsh stands now, there were once several streets full of homes.
He was part of one of the biggest post-storm buyouts in history — meaning he got reimbursed for the full value of his home.
“You’re getting federal money, but it’s run by the state,” he explained. “It’s a little bit complicated, but a miracle. … No other place had done that.”
Since then, he’s led a push for more transparency, saying people need to know if a home they’re going to buy has a chance of flooding. He pointed to the ability to see a pre-owned car’s history before buying.
“Why isn’t there a Carfax for houses? And that got me on a roll where I felt that there really should be more advocacy for homeowners or buyers,” Tirone said. “As a realtor for over 20 years, I believe that we bring a lot of value to any transaction. So to me, it makes perfect sense for us to be the gatekeepers there as far as flood disclosure is concerned.”
Michael Lopes, communications director at the First Street Foundation, said homes at risk of flooding can be at inland or “very high elevations … places in the Pacific Northwest, places that people had never really thought of as being at significant flood risk.”
“The flooding we saw in Tennessee and in Kentucky was shocking to people who just never really experienced this kind of flooding before,” he said.
First Street Foundation takes a step beyond FEMA when assessing whether or not a particular property will flood. They factor in climate change.
“We’re using the 4.5 curve, kind of a middle-of-the-road curve, not the most dramatic, not the least trying to give a sense of how that risk is changing over time,” he said. “Something like heavy rainstorms are just becoming more frequent.”
FEMA says having flood insurance is crucial for flood-prone areas because most homeowners policies don’t cover it. There is a government-run flood insurance program, but it is far from perfect.
“You have middle and lower, middle-income people essentially subsidizing very, very, very wealthy people right now on the coast,” Lopes said.
That’s about to change with a government program called Risk Rating 2.0, which takes effect Oct. 1.
“We’re going to be doing a much better job of clearly identifying flood risk and we’re going to be able to price it fairly,” David Maurstad, FEMA deputy associate administrator for federal insurance and mitigation and senior executive of the flood insurance program, told ABC News. “Currently lower-value homes are paying more than they should and higher-value homes are paying less than they should and Risk Rating 2.0 equity and action changes that inequity.”
FEMA says even 1 inch of water can do $25,000 worth of damage to a home. Just because you aren’t in one of those high-risk areas doesn’t mean you can’t have a serious flood.
“Hurricane Harvey, for example … over 75% of the properties that are damaged were outside the high-risk area,” Maurstad said. “Many of them did not have the flood insurance coverage that they need[ed]. And that’s why equity and action is … going to be so valuable — because it’s going to be able to indicate to people you are at risk, regardless of whether you’re in a particular zone or not.”
Many Americans rent and don’t plan on buying their home. Lower-income neighborhoods tend to have higher burdens when it comes to climate change.
Real estate brokerage Redfin’s own research found that flooding is worse in neighborhoods that have been historically redlined, a term for areas where people are refused a loan due to financial risk. When a Black, brown or poor white town is hit by a storm, the community struggles to recover.
“Disasters contribute to widening equality gap in the United States, you know, especially when you’re looking at it from a financial perspective,” said Rob Moore, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Poorer people tend to become poorer in the aftermath of a disaster and more-affluent people tend to either stay the same, or in a perverse way, they actually can actually gain financially.”
Even if you don’t think you are in an area that can flood, think again.
“Where it can rain, it can flood,” Maurstad said. “Ninety-nine percent of the counties in the United States have experienced a flood loss, so folks across the nation underappreciate the flood risk that they face. They want to think it’s not going to happen to them.”
Whether you bought your home or rent one, you can find your home’s flood risk at floodfactor.com, a tool developed by First Street Foundation. Lopes said you don’t want to see anything above a 3 out of 10.
“You’re starting to get into some pretty severe risk of experiencing [flooding],” he said. “That doesn’t mean your house is going to be leveled, right, but you’re going to be experiencing some pretty heavy flooding over the next 15 or 30 years.”
(PHILADELPHIA) — A 9-month-old Afghan girl flying on a U.S. evacuation flight to Philadelphia died Wednesday night, a Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The baby girl arrived with her family from Ramstein Air Base in Germany after they were evacuated from Afghanistan, according to Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell.
She is the first known case of an evacuee dying after the chaotic evacuation efforts from Kabul that brought 124,000 people to safety.
The baby suffered a medical emergency during the flight, according to Customs and Border Protection, and by the time the plane landed at 9:16 p.m., she was unresponsive, per PPD.
The aircrew flying the C-17 military transport plane requested medical assistance and priority arrival, according to Mitchell, and emergency medical personnel and a translator met the aircraft on arrival and transported her and her father to a local hospital.
The infant was pronounced dead at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia at 10:10 p.m., according to PPD.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the parents and family,” said Mitchell.
Her death is under investigation by Philadelphia police’s special victims unit because of the child’s age, while the Philadelphia medical examiner’s office will investigate the cause of death, the PPD spokesperson said.
ABC News’s Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — After the U.S. Supreme Court made it official, declining to block Texas’ ban on nearly all abortions in the state, advocates for abortion providers vowed their legal battle would continue until full access to the procedure is restored.
“We will keep fighting. We are not giving up,” said lead attorney Marc Hearron, senior counsel with the Center for Reproductive Rights. “We’re evaluating all options.”
Indeed, the case against Texas law SB8 remains active at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling early Thursday did not directly address questions of the law’s constitutionality.
“It may well be that sooner rather than later, a judge does reach the merits, finds the law unconstitutional and restores abortion access in Texas, at least temporarily,” said Kate Shaw, constitutional law professor at Cardozo School of Law and ABC News legal contributor.
President Biden meanwhile ordered his legal team to immediately explore possible steps the federal government could take to restore abortion access in Texas. And, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed to hold a vote next week codifying abortion rights in federal law.
But despite the scramble on multiple fronts, restoration of abortion rights in Texas is not expected to happen quickly, experts say.
“The law will likely be in effect for months, at a minimum,” said Mary Ziegler, an expert in the history of U.S. abortion law and professor at Florida State University College of Law.
Both sides in the dispute credit SB8’s unusual construction — delegating enforcement of the law to the populace at large – private citizens — as hamstringing intervention by federal courts.
“It’s an ingenious law,” Ziegler said. “This is exactly what its drafters intended.”
The arrangement makes it difficult to determine procedurally whom exactly abortion rights advocates are challenging, and therefore difficult for a court to determine whom to address in the dispute. Texas abortion providers named state officials and state courts in their federal case – but neither group technically enforces SB8.
“Federal courts enjoy the power to enjoin individuals tasked with enforcing laws, not the laws themselves,” the court’s conservative majority explained in its order declining to intervene.
The most likely next phase in the legal battle, experts said, may come when a Texas resident files a civil lawsuit under SB8 against someone accused of “aiding or abetting” an unlawful abortion, such as a doctor or clinic worker.
“At that point, [the defendant] will say that he can’t be held liable because the law is unconstitutional under [the Supreme Court’s 1992 precedent Planned Parenthood v. Casey] because it imposes an ‘undue burden’ on a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion,” said Sarah Isgur, a former Justice Department lawyer, host of the Advisory Opinions podcast and ABC News legal contributor. “And the [defendant] will win and the law will be struck down.”
That scenario — an abortion provider getting sued, and likely winning on the merits — presents its own complications, advocates said.
“If you’re a physician … every time you apply for a license, the same question comes up on applications: have you ever had a lawsuit filed against you? Even if these frivolous lawsuits are dismissed, these physicians will have to report them for the rest of their careers,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Women’s Health, a leading abortion provider in Texas.
The provider might also end up being stuck with a giant legal bill with no recourse if the defense is unsuccessful, Miller added.
“The question is, what is lost in the meantime?” said Shaw. “At the moment it seems as though access to the constitutionally protected right to an abortion is functionally unavailable in Texas, and even if that’s only for a short time, until a judge actually has the opportunity to enjoin the law, the stakes are constitutionally extremely high.”
Clinics across Texas on Thursday reported having to turn away women seeking abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, and in some cases, referring those who were able to afford the time and expense of travel to visit clinics in neighboring states.
“Many Texans — and disproportionately people of color and people with low incomes — will be forced to carry pregnancies to term against their will,” said Adriana Piñon, policy counsel and senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. “This is especially horrific given the severe maternal mortality crisis in Texas that has impacted Black women the most.”
For women across Texas, implementation of SB8 has functionally meant suspension of longstanding constitutionally-protected rights affirmed by Supreme Court precedent in the 1973 Roe v. Wade and 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision.
However, legal scholars across the spectrum cautioned it was too soon to declare the precedents dead.
“This case has nothing to do with Roe or Casey so far,” said Isgur. “In November, the court is hearing the Dobbs case, which involves a 15-week abortion ban out of Mississippi. That case actually challenges the Casey standard—[prohibiting] what is an ‘undue burden’ [on women]–and could change abortion law in the country.”
Ziegler agreed that the precedents themselves remain substantively untouched, for now, but said the tone and approach of the court’s conservative majority in rejecting a hold on the Texas law was telling.
“The writing is on the wall,” she said.
“It’s important to underscore the court’s ruling last night was not the final word on this law,” said Shaw, “[but] long term picture with this very conservative Supreme Court is certainly not a favorable one for abortion rights.”
“The responsible course of action would have been to enjoin the Texas law while the Mississippi law was under consideration. Instead, the court’s hostility to abortion has led it to approve a law that is not only plainly unconstitutional, but a threat to the social fabric and to the rule of law,” Shaw added.
The court has not yet set a date for oral arguments in the Dobbs case but is expected to decide on the constitutionality of state bans on pre-viability abortions before the end of June 2022.
(NEW YORK) — The remnants of Hurricane Ida dumped flooding rain, spawned tornadoes across the Northeast and caused dozens of deaths in areas where the storm landed.
So far in the Northeast, at least 45 deaths have been attributed to the storm. Overall, there have been at least 60 deaths across eight states related to Ida.
Here are the key developments:
7 confirmed tornadoes in New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Trooper dies in Connecticut
Biden speaks on hurricane response
At least 13 dead in New York City
At least 23 dead in New Jersey
President Joe Biden spoke on Ida’s damage in the Northeast Thursday afternoon, citing that New York recorded more rain Wednesday “than it usually sees the entire month of September.”
“People were trapped in the subways. But the heroic men and women of the New York Fire Department rescued all of them. They were trapped,” Biden said.
He said he’s made it clear to East Coast governors that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is “on the ground” and ready to provide assistance.
New York
A flash flood emergency was declared for the first time in New York City as subway stations were turned into waterfalls and Midtown streets became rivers. The state of New York and New York City each declared states of emergency.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday morning the death toll in the Big Apple was nine. That number rose to 13 by the evening.
“We saw a horrifying storm last night. Unlike anything we’ve seen before,” de Blasio said. “Unfortunately the price paid by some New Yorkers was horrible and tragic.”
New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea said at least eight deaths took place in residential homes in basements.
Most of the city’s fatalities were in Queens.
Officers responding to a flooding condition at a partially collapsed building early Thursday in the borough found two people — a 43-year-old female and a 22-year-old male — unconscious and unresponsive inside, the NYPD said. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and the woman was taken to the local hospital, where she later died. “The investigation is ongoing and the Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. The identification of the deceased is pending family notification,” the NYPD said.
At a second flooded location in Queens, the NYPD said they found a 50-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman and a 2-year-old boy unconscious and unresponsive within the residence. They were all pronounced dead at the scene.
Also in Queens, police responded to a 911 call of a flooding condition and discovered a 48-year-old female, unconscious and unresponsive, within the residence. “The aided female was removed by EMS to Forest Hills Hospital where she was pronounced deceased,” the NYPD said.
An 86-year-old woman also died in her Queens apartment due to flooding, police said.
On Thursday afternoon, the landlord at an apartment in Flushing called 911 to say there were three bodies submerged in a flooded basement, according to the FDNY.
“FDNY members rescued hundreds of people citywide during the storm, removing occupants from trapped vehicles on flooded roadways and removing New Yorkers from subway stations,” department spokesman Frank Dwyer told ABC News.
After responding to a flooding incident in Brooklyn, the NYPD said officers found “a 66-year-old male, unresponsive and unconscious, within the residence.” He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Meanwhile, in Westchester, County Executive George Latimer said Thursday that one person died after they were caught in a flash flood in their car. Two additional deaths in the county were later confirmed.
More than 100 people were rescued in Rockland and Westchester counties, officials said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a Thursday morning briefing that her focus will be on flood prevention.
“Before we worried about coastal areas, now it’s about what’s happening in the streets, the drainage systems that need to be enhanced,” Hochul said. “Because of climate change, unfortunately, this is something we’re going to have to deal with with great regularity.”
The inundating rainfall Wednesday evening broke records. Central Park reported a record for rainfall in one hour with 3.15 inches from 8:51 p.m. to 9:51 p.m., the National Weather Service reported.
New York issued a citywide travel ban just before 1 a.m. ET Thursday until 5 a.m.
“All non-emergency vehicles must be off NYC streets and highways,” the city said.
Every subway line in the city was suspended, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, due to so many flooded stations. De Blasio told ABC station WABC that people were being evacuated from subway cars stuck underground.
During the flooding, 835 subway passengers were rescued, the NYPD said Thursday.
There were also 69 water rescues, including 18 at the U.S. Open in Queens, police said. The U.S. Open had to pause one tennis match as the court was flooded Wednesday night — despite there being a roof — due to rain coming in the side of the stadium.
Nearly 500 cars were abandoned, police said.
The governor declared a state of emergency Wednesday within 14 counties “in response to major flooding due to Tropical Depression Ida,” she said in a statement, while encouraging New Yorkers to “please pay attention to local weather reports, stay off the roads and avoid all unnecessary travel during this time.”
By Thursday morning, “Metro-North, LIRR and the New York City subway system are not fully functioning,” Hochul said.
Many New York communities are now grappling with water-logged apartments.
Ryan Bauer-Walsh, an artist who lives in Hamilton Heights, said his apartment on the fifth floor of one of New York City’s Housing Development Fund Corporation cooperatives was inundated with rain.
“This is the second time in two months that the roof has caved in and they’ve been doing asbestos removal. Unfortunately, asbestos-contaminated water, we think, has come into our apartments,” he told ABC News.
“My primary concern is with the infrastructure of the city,” he said. “It’s feeling a little hopeless … especially as we get more and more of these massive storms.”
New Jersey
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy quickly declared an emergency with 3 to 5 inches of rain falling per hour in some locations across the tri-state area.
“We will use every resource at our disposal to ensure the safety of New Jerseyans,” Murphy tweeted. “Stay off the roads, stay home, and stay safe.”
At least 23 people have died due to the storm in the state.
Four residents of the Oakwood Plaza apartment complex in Elizabeth were found dead in the aftermath of the flooding, Mayor Chris Bollwage said in a press conference Thursday morning.
The victims included a 72-year-old wife, a 71-year-old husband, a 38-year-old son and a 33-year-old woman who was their neighbor, officials said.
Rescuers were checking the rent roll and going door-to-door through the entire complex to make sure no other bodies were found, a spokesperson for the mayor told ABC News. The complex is across from the Elizabeth Fire Department headquarters, which was inundated with 8 feet of water.
At least one person also died due to the flooding in Passaic, Mayor Hector Carlos Lora confirmed on Facebook Thursday morning.
The person was trapped inside their car, which was “overtaken by water,” he said.
The mayor — who declared a state of emergency in the city — said that two other residents were reported to have been swept away by the water. The search continues for them.
“We have too many areas where the flooding has gotten so bad that cars are stuck and we have bodies underwater,” Lora said in a video posted to Facebook Wednesday night. “We are now retrieving bodies.”
Some 60 residents were receiving temporary shelter in City Hall, the mayor said Thursday.
Two people died from flooding in two separate incidents in Hillsborough and one person was found dead in a heavily damaged pick-up truck discovered in daylight in Milford, New York ABC station WABC reported.
Several homes were damaged in Mullica Hill, across from Philadelphia, due to a tornado that touched down. Three tornadoes were confirmed in New Jersey, most in the southern part of the state.
“Gloucester County has experienced devastating storm damage,” the county said in a statement. “It is likely that multiple tornadoes have touched down within our communities. Our Emergency Operations Center is fully activated with multiple local, county, state, and regional partners assessing damages and deploying resources.”
In Gloucester County, 20 to 25 homes were “completely devastated,” and roughly 100 more sustained some damage, when a tornado ripped through Harrison Township, Wednesday, the mayor told ABC News.
Mayor Lou Manzo said the community is “blessed” that no one died and only one person had to go to the hospital, but the damage to property across the township is “extensive.”
Fire and emergency personnel made “a few rescues” of people who became trapped after sheltering in their basement, according to the mayor.
There was also a “confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” located near Woodbury Heights, at about 6:30 p.m. and another “confirmed large and destructive tornado” over Beverly, near Trenton, at 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
As the storm swept through the area Wednesday, a baggage area flooded and flights were grounded at Newark Liberty Airport.
“We’re experiencing severe flooding due to tonight’s storm,” the airport’s account tweeted. “All flight activity is currently suspended & travelers are strongly advised to contact their airline for the latest flight & service resumption information. Passengers are being diverted from ground-level flooded areas.”
Cancellations were still commonplace Thursday afternoon out of Newark.
Pennsylvania
In Montgomery County, three storm-related fatalities were reported, Commissioner Dr. Val Arkoosh said in a press briefing Thursday morning.
One of those was an unnamed woman who died when a tree fell onto a home in Upper Dublin Township, according to Philadelphia ABC station WPVI.
A fourth Pennsylvania fatality, 65-year-old Donald Allen Bauer, of Perkiomenville, drowned inside his vehicle after it went into the Unami Creek in Bucks County, state police said in a news release.
The Schuylkill River in Philadelphia had risen to a major flood stage early Thursday morning. It was forecast to rise a few additional feet before cresting around 9 a.m. The National Weather Service has increased its predicted water level for the river to 17.2 feet — surpassing the highest recorded total of 17 feet. The rain has stopped, but flood risk continues, the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management said on Twitter.
Randy Padfield, Pennsylvania’s state emergency management agency director, estimated Thursday the number of water rescues to be in the “thousands” following catastrophic rain and flooding. In Montgomery County alone, officials responded to at least 500 calls, he said in a press briefing.
There were four confirmed tornadoes in Pennsylvania in Horsham Township, Bristol, Oxford and Buckingham Township, according to the NWS.
Connecticut
A trooper died after he was rescued when his vehicle was swept away in floodwaters in Woodbury, officials said in a press conference Thursday morning. His name was not released.
He called for help around 4 a.m. and after a search was found and hospitalized with critical injuries. He died Thursday morning.
Maryland
A 19-year-old male was found dead due to flooding at the Rockville Apartments in Montgomery County, Maryland, police said in a news release. Officials received multiple calls for flooding at the home at 3:50 a.m. and 150 residents were displaced by floodwaters.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Alex Faul, Ahmad Hemingway and Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.
Patti Smith has joined the lineup of the 2021 Riot Fest event, which is scheduled to take place September 16-19 at Chicago’s Douglass Park.
The godmother of punk and her band will be performing on the festival’s first day, which has been dubbed the “Preview Party.”
Ex-Smiths frontman Morrissey will headline the festival that day, and the “Preview Party” also will feature free carnival rides, sideshow performers, special Thursday-only merchandise, an onstage singing competition and more.
In addition, because of the recent changes to Riot Fest’s lineup on Sunday September 19, with Slipknot and Flaming Lips replacing Nine Inch Nails and The Pixies, fans with tickets to Sunday’s show will be able to attend the Thursday event for free.
Among the many other artists on the 2021 Riot Fest bill are DEVO, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sublime with Rome, Living Colour, Fishbone, Faith No More, Dropkick Murphys, Rancid and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.
Meanwhile, Smith has a bunch of other U.S. shows on her 2021 schedule, starting with a series of California concerts in the coming week that will feature her performing with accompaniment from her son Jackson Smith on guitar and her longtime bassist Tony Shanahan.
Patti also will playing with her full band on September 18 at the See.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey; on September 19 in New York City’s Central Park; on October 21 at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium; and on October 22 at Atlanta’s Roxy Theatre.
