Jimmie Allen has made no secret of his love of all things Disney. The singer, who has been to Disney World more than 70 times, visits the theme park not just to have fun, but to find inspiration from founder Walt Disney.
“When I was a kid, I just loved the movies,” Jimmie tells BroBible. “But then I started having an obsession with Walt, because Walt’s a guy that had a dream. He had a goal he wanted to reach. His first character, Oswald, was stolen from him, and instead of giving up, he came back, took out loans and bet on himself.”
Jimmie, who proposed to his now-wife, Alexis Gale, at Disney World, visits the park when he needs to get his creative juices flowing.
“Walt was a dreamer,” Jimmie says. “He executed his plans and he made it happen. So Walt is a huge inspiration. And every time I go to Disney, I ride rides sometimes, but for me, it’s my spot. Everybody has a place where they get inspired, and for me, it’s Disney World.”
Jimmie’s current single, “Freedom Was a Highway,” a duet with Brad Paisley, is currently in the top 20.
Britney: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic; Monica: Karwai Tang/Getty Images
Monica Lewinsky has nothing but sympathy for Britney Spears.
The former White House intern who became the impetus for former President Bill Clinton‘s impeachment feels that while the media treated her and Britney similarly, they were maligned for very different reasons. But she tells InStyle that perceptions of famous women have “moved forward” since the 90s and early aughts.
“I think it’s long overdue and wonderful to see it happening for different women in different arenas and scenarios,” Lewinsky explained. “I made a mistake. Britney didn’t.”
Lewinsky also recalled running into Britney “in the early 2000s” at the New York City department store Henri Bendel.
“She was with Justin Timberlake,” she reflected. “I had my handbag company at the time, and she said she thought the bags were cute. I was beside myself, so I got her some. But at that time I wasn’t able to have the perspective to recognize, ‘Oh, this is happening to other women.'”
She continued, “When the fat-shaming happened to Jessica Simpson [in 2009], I thought, ‘Oh, O.K. This didn’t just happen to me. This is happening now to other people, too.'”
Lewinsky, who’s played by actress Beanie Feldstein in the forthcoming FX series Impeachment: American Crime Story, discussed America’s growing awareness about how she says the media mistreated her, which has led to many apologies.
“There were other young women this happened to, and there’s an enormous amount of collateral damage. So I think it’s not just an apology to a person; it’s an apology to how you’ve affected a culture,” Lewinsky said.
“It’s not surprising that this de-objectifying of women is happening alongside the #MeToo movement,” she added. “They braid together in a way that makes sense.”
Just moments before the highly anticipated release of Drake‘s Certified Lover Boy, the rapper announced it would be delayed — but only by two hours.
Taking to Instagram, the “Laugh Now, Cry Later” rapper shared a table of the upcoming album’s track list, showcasing 21 songs and where they are in the process of being completed.
“CLB FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE EVERYWHERE @ 2AM EST,” he announced in the caption.
CLB, which is the sixth studio album from the Canadian rapper, was scheduled to drop at the stroke of midnight on Friday after several previous delays. Drake confirmed Friday’s release date Monday morning on Instagram, sharing a graphic of 12 pregnant woman emojis. He’s also promoted the album’s collaborators by taking out huge billboards in their respective hometowns.
“Hey Nigeria Tems is on CLB,” a billboard in the African country read, referring to a female singer who was nominated at this year’s BET Awards for Best New International Artist.
Other billboards in New York, Chicago, and Atlanta revealed that JAY-Z, Lil Durk, Young Thug, Future, 21 Savage and Lil Baby, also make appearances on Certified Lover Boy.
Here’s the track list:
“Champagne Poetry”
“Papi’s Home”
“Girls Want Girls” ft. Lil Baby
“In the Bible” ft. Lil Durk & Giveon
“Love All” ft. Jay-Z
“Fair Trade” ft. Travis Scott
“Way 2 Sexy” ft. Future and Young Thug
“TSU”
“N 2 Deep” ft. Future
“Pipe Down”
“Yebba’s Heartbreak”
“No Friends In The Industry”
“Knife Talk” ft. 21 Savage & Project Pat
“7am on Bridle Path”
“Race My Mind”
“Fountains” ft. Tems
“Get Along Better” ft. Ty Dolla $ign
“You Only Live Twice” ft. Rick Ross & Lil Wayne
“IMY2” ft. Kid Cudi
“F***ing Fans”
“The Remorse”
A day after Gregg Leakes lost his battle with colon cancer, NeNe Leakes honored his memory by sharing a tender video of the two dancing.
Taking to Instagram, the Real Housewives of Atlanta star captioned her tribute with alternating red heart and broken heart emojis.
The video, which is NeNe’s first post following Gregg’s passing, shows the two slow dancing and flirting while Johnny Gill‘s “It Would Be You” thrums in the background. The couple is all smiles as they point at each other and sway to the music. The video ends with Gregg wrapping his arms around the Glee alum, who leans against his chest.
On Wednesday, a representative for the couple told ABC News that Gregg “passed away peacefully in his home surrounded by all of his children, very close loved ones and wife NeNe Leakes.” The family is asking for privacy at this time.
Gregg, 66, had been diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2018. He underwent treatment and the cancer went into remission. NeNe announced in June that his cancer had returned and that Gregg had undergone surgery.
Colon cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. African Americans, as well as people over the age of 50, are at higher risk of developing the disease, according to the Mayo Clinic.
(WASHINGTON) — Employers added 235,000 jobs in August, far below expectations of 720,000 new hires, and the unemployment rate dipped slightly to 5.2%, the Department of Labor said Friday.
The fresh labor market data comes as the spread of the more contagious delta variant has throttled the pace of the recovery. The latest figure is a steep fall from the approximately 1 million jobs that were added in both June and July.
So far this year, job growth has averaged 586,000 jobs per month, the DOL said. While employment has risen by some 17 million since April 2020, the economy is still down about 5.3 million jobs from its pre-pandemic level in February 2020 — when the unemployment rate was at a historic low of 3.5% prior to COVID-19 walloping the labor market.
Notable job gains last month occurred in professional and business services (which saw an uptick of 74,000 jobs), transportation and warehousing (which saw a rise of 53,000 jobs), private education (which saw an increase of 40,000 jobs), and manufacturing (which added 37,000 jobs).
Employment in retail trade declined by 29,000 jobs in August, likely a reflection of the virus resurgence, with major losses in food and beverage stores (where 23,000 jobs were lost).
Leisure and hospitality employment was unchanged in August, the DOL said, after back-to-back gains the previous months. Employment in leisure and hospitality is still down by 1.7 million jobs compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The latest data continues to reflect the uneven impact of the COVID-19 downturn. The unemployment rate for white workers was 4.5% in August, compared to 8.8% for Black workers, 6.4% for Hispanic workers and 4.6% for Asian workers.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) fell in August to 3.2 million, but is 2.1 million higher than in February 2020. These long-term unemployed accounted for 37.4% of the total unemployed in August, according to the DOL.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Kathy Griffin is giving fans another update on her health, as well as revealing her new favorite clap back since she underwent surgery after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
Taking to Instagram, the 60-year-old comedian shared a text graphic that read, “One thing that sucks about cancer, it’s hard to focus on anything else when one is experiencing shortness of breath, deep coughing, pain, extreme fatigue & in my case, vocal chord [sic] issues.”
It’s not all bad, though. Griffin followed up that statement with the silver lining of it all.
“One thing that doesn’t suck about cancer… how shameless I am when clapping back at people who dare to sass Ms. Kathy about anything with ‘Really, d***head??? TRY CANCER!'” the Emmy-winner concluded. She added, “I cannot get enough of it.”
Griffin announced in early August that she’d been diagnosed with Stage 1 lung cancer and subsequently underwent surgery to remove half of her left lung.
Keith Urban is mourning the loss of his production manager, Randy “Baja” Fletcher. The 72-year-old, who also worked with Brooks & Dunn, Waylon Jennings, ZZ Top and more, died August 27 from injuries sustained the day before while setting up for Keith to perform at Bash on the Bay in Ohio.
“Randy Baja Fletcher loved people,” Keith told Billboard. “Now that’s a phrase that’s a lot easier, and more often said than done. But, this man truly did love people, and music, and life, and he lived it right. He saw the commonality in all of us and I can promise you this, once you’d been in the orbit of his light, he’d stay with you forever.”
Keith also praised Baja for his always bright outlook on life.
“Some people ask are you a ‘glass half full or a glass half empty’ kinda person? Baja’s view was ‘What a beautiful glass,” Keith shared. “I loved him. We all loved him, and I’m grateful he chose us as his road family for 10 years.”
(CARLOS, Minn.) — A Minnesota father is celebrating a new chance at life thanks to his daughter, who donated part of her liver to save his.
“Now I can take all of Molly’s positive traits because they’re in me,” said Mike Maudal, of Carlos, Minnesota, referring to his daughter, Molly Maudal. “I certainly have a tremendous appreciation for Molly.”
Mike Maudal, 62, was preparing to retire from his job as a loan officer nearly six years ago when he went to his doctor for a routine checkup before his medical benefits ran out.
The doctor noticed something unusual in his blood work and sent him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, about four hours from the family’s home.
It was at the Mayo Clinic that Mike Maudal was diagnosed with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an aggressive form of fatty liver disease, which can progress to cirrhosis and liver failure, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Mike Maudal said he was “very surprised” by the diagnosis, which doctors initially treated with diet changes and medication.
He was even more surprised when two years later, in 2018, doctors told him he would ultimately need a liver transplant.
“I pretty much went into denial. I really didn’t think I was that sick or that I’d need a transplant,” said Mike Maudal. “I thought I was going to beat the odds.”
At home, Molly Maudal, 23, and her mother, Cindy Maudal, watched as their dad and husband, respectively, began to quickly decline both physically and mentally.
“It was really hard. He just got sicker and weaker and was struggling with everyday tasks,” said Cindy Maudal. “And then the fear of what does this mean every time he had some new issue develop … and the [fear of] what if he didn’t make it, what would life be like? What would that be like for me and Molly? And then trying to hold down the house at home, trying to work full-time, take care of his medications, it was stressful.”
Molly Maudal, an only child, said she struggled most with seeing her father’s mental decline, which occurs in people with NASH because the liver is unable to remove toxins from the blood.
“When I was growing up, he was so sharp and to see him lose that to the disease was really hard,” she said. “He was always really jovial and would joke around and people loved him for his humor. It was like his personality changed.”
Mike Maudal was placed on the liver transplant waiting list but doctors, and his family, worried that he would not be strong enough physically to undergo a transplant by the time he was eligible for a liver from a deceased donor.
The Maudals then began to consider a living-donor liver transplant, in which a portion of the liver from a healthy, living person is removed and placed into someone in need of a working liver, according to the Mayo Clinic.
A living donor is able to donate just a part of their liver because the remaining liver regrows to its normal size and capacity within a few months, and the donated portion of the liver also grows and restores normal liver function in the recipient.
“It’s amazing the amount of people who have told us, ‘Oh, I thought I could only donate when I was deceased. I didn’t know I could do this when I was alive,'” said Mike Maudal. “It was news to us too when we started down this path years ago.”
When Cindy Maudal did not qualify as a donor for her husband, the family quietly began to ask loved ones and close friends about the possibility of donating, but fell short of finding a match.
The Maudals all also knew that Molly Maudal, with the same blood type as her dad, could possibly match as a donor, but neither of her parents wanted to put that pressure on her.
“Molly was in college and we wanted her to finish her education,” said Cindy Maudal. “She was young and as a parent, you don’t want to ask for something like that.”
Molly Maudal though said she had been preparing to step up if she was needed, explaining, “In the back of my mind, for several years through it all, I was thinking about being a donor and in several ways wanted to arrange my life so that just in case he needed an emergency transplant, I could be there.”
That moment came in late 2020, when doctors at Mayo Clinic told Mike Maudal that his only chance at surviving liver disease was to find a living donor.
“It hit home in a whole new way hearing that,” said Molly Maudal. “My mom knew I had been thinking about [donating] and she said, ‘Hey Mol, if you’re thinking about this, now is probably a good time to get tested.’ I was totally in agreement.”
Molly Maudal then began the process of being evaluated as a potential donor for her dad, undergoing bloodwork and physical exams and meeting with doctors as well as a psychiatrist and social worker.
She learned she was eligible to save her dad’s life during a phone call with the Mayo Clinic nurse at the end of April.
“It was such a relief to know that we had a match and the wait and the uncertainty of finding a donor was over, just to know that he had a chance now,” she said. “I just had this sense of calm about my decision to move forward. It just felt right.”
Just two months later, on June 11, the Maudal father-daughter duo underwent a living-donor liver transplant at Mayo Clinic.
The approximately four-hour transplant surgery involved a team of three surgeons led by Dr. Julie Heimbach, director of the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center in Rochester.
“I’ve been taking care of Mr. Maudal for several years before transplant and every time I saw him, he was doing worse, so I was very worried about him,” said Heimbach. “He’s an amazing guy and I’m just so happy it worked out.”
“That we can take one side of a healthy person’s liver and give it to somebody else who is really struggling and have them both leave doing great is unbelievable,” she said of living-donor procedure.
The Maudals recovered in hospital rooms near each other and were discharged within one day of each other, Molly on June 17 and Mike on June 18.
“I remember Dr. Heimbach and another surgeon came up and told me, ‘Your liver was perfect for your dad.’ That was a fantastic feeling,” said Molly Maudal. “And I remember visiting dad in his room and we could visibly see him improving. His eyes weren’t as sunken and his color was improving. His sense of humor and personality came back so fast. It was amazing to see firsthand.”
The Maudals, who are both recovering well and returning to their normal daily activities, including work as an occupational therapist for Molly, say they want to share their story to encourage more people to become living liver donors.
The need for living liver donors is great because the demand so far overwhelms the number of livers available from deceased donors.
Of the 8,000 liver transplants performed in the United States in 2017, only about 360 involved living donors. But more than 11,000 people were registered on the waiting list for a liver transplant, according to the Mayo Clinic.
In addition, living-donor liver transplants can help save the lives of children, for whom suitable deceased-donor organs can be hard to find.
In order to be a living liver donor, a person typically needs to just have a matching blood type and meet the health requirements for a transplant, according to Heimbach.
“The liver is more forgiving from an immunology standpoint,” she said. “With a kidney, we are looking at a match pretty closely but with a liver, we’re just looking at having a compatible blood type.”
Cindy Maudal, who watched her two closest family members undergo surgery at the same time, said the family feels likes “one of the lucky ones” in finding a living liver donor.
“I’m not sure Mike would still be here if Molly hadn’t been a match to be a donor for her dad,” she said. “I’m so grateful that the two people I love the most are still with me.”
It was also not lost on the family that June 11, the day their transplant took place, was the same day 24 years ago that Cindy and Mike Maudal found out they were pregnant with their only child.
“That’s the day we found out we were giving Molly life, and it ended up being the same day years later that she gave her dad new life,” said Cindy Maudal.
(AUCKLAND, New Zealand) — New Zealand is reeling from a knife-wielding rampage at a busy Auckland supermarket that left six fighting for their lives and the assailant dead. Authorities have called it a terror attack.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed that the man behind Friday’s terrorist attack in Auckland, who was shot dead by police after he stabbed six people in a supermarket, was inspired by ideologies of the Islamic State militant group.
“A violent extremist undertook a terrorist attack on innocent New Zealanders,” Ardern said at a briefing Friday afternoon.
Three of the six victims were critically injured, one is in serious condition and two are in moderate condition, police said.
The attacker, who cannot be identified under local laws, was a Sri Lankan national who arrived in New Zealand in 2011. He had been a “person of interest” and under heavy surveillance by the New Zealand police and Special Tactics Group since 2016, Ardern said.
The attack took place at LynnMall in the district of New Lynn on Friday afternoon. Officers, who were closely following the man, watched as he entered the Countdown supermarket.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said they believe the man took a knife from one of the supermarket shelves. The officers on the scene “challenged the man and diverted his attention.” Police shot and killed him within one minute of beginning the attack.
“We were doing absolutely everything possible to monitor him and indeed the fact that we were able to intervene so quickly, in roughly 60 seconds, shows just how closely we were watching him,” said Coster during Friday’s briefing.
Coster said the attacker was a “lone actor” and authorities are confident there is no further threat posed to the public.
When asked why police resisted arresting or deporting the attacker in recent years, despite “his interest in extremist ideology,” Ardern said authorities did everything they could, within the legal means, “to keep people safe from this individual.”
“What happened today was despicable. It was hateful. It was wrong,” Ardern said.
“It was carried out by an individual—not a faith, not a culture, not an ethnicity, but an individual person—who was gripped by ideology that is not supported here by anyone or any community,” she added. “He alone carries the responsibility for these acts. Let that be where the judgment falls.”
New Zealand has been on high alert for terror attacks since early 2019, when a white supremacist gunman killed 51 people at two mosques in Christchurch. This May, four people were stabbed in a supermarket in Dunedin on the country’s South Island.
(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 48 deaths have been attributed to the storm. Overall, there have been at least 61 deaths across eight U.S. states related to Ida.
President Joe Biden approved New York and New Jersey emergency declarations due to the storms and 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.”
As of Friday morning, there are at least 10,181 residents without power, according to PowerOutage.US.
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 25 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.
Early Friday, a Manville banquet hall went up in flames. It is one of three fires currently burning and inaccessible to firefighters due to the flooded roads.
The Saffron Banquet Hall on South Main Street exploded in flames at around 2 a.m., with residents from surrounding towns reporting hearing a loud explosion, the fire department said, adding that direfighters are unable to access the fire — which appears gas fed — because it is surrounded by a flooded parking lot.
Two other homes, on Boesel Avenue and North Second Avenue, that caught fire Thursday afternoon continue to smolder Friday morning and are also inaccessible.
As of Friday morning, there are still 12,901 New Jersey residents without power.
Pennsylvania
At least five storm-related fatalities have been confirmed in Pennsylvania.
Montgomery County had at least three deaths, the commissioner, Dr. Val Arkoosh, said during 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 Chester County Coroner’s Office announced a fifth storm-related death in the state — Michael Nastasi, 51, of Downingtown, who is believed to have drowned.
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.
As of Friday morning, there are at least 25,211 residents without power.
Connecticut
A state trooper died after his vehicle was swept away in floodwaters in Woodbury, officials said in a press conference Thursday morning.
The trooper, identified as 26-year veteran Sgt. Brian Mohl, called for help around 4 a.m. and after a search was found and hospitalized with critical injuries. He died Thursday morning.
“Every line of duty death is heartbreaking and the loss of Sgt. Mohl is no different,” Col. Stavros Mellekas, commanding officer of the Connecticut State Police, said in a statement. “He was outside, in the middle of the night, in horrendous conditions, patrolling the Troop L area. He was doing a job he loved and he was taken much too soon.”
Maryland
A 19-year-old male was found dead due to flooding at the Rockville Apartments in Montgomery County, 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.
There were two confirmed tornadoes in Maryland, in Annapolis and Edgemere, that damaged property and downed wires and trees. No deaths or injuries were reported.
