Nation in brief: Fire crews get break from wind
Firefighters racing the weather for control of a turbulent wildfire near this popular resort got a bit of a break Wednesday as high winds forecast to arrive by early afternoon held off, giving crews time to shore up their defenses.
They were trying to keep the wildfire from consuming more buildings near the small town of Meyers where it started, and from reaching several densely populated subdivisions near where one flank of the blaze jumped a containment line. The fire has destroyed 200 homes and other buildings since it emerged over the weekend.
“The worst-case scenario is the fire would break out in multiple locations,” said Rich Hawkins, a U.S. Forest Service fire commander. “The biggest problem is just that there are so many homes in a combustible environment.”
Marble Falls, Texas
Dozens stranded in Texas flooding
Lashing storms dumped up to 18 inches of rain on parts of central Texas, flooding several towns and stranding dozens of people on rooftops, cars and in trees Wednesday.
No fatalities were immediately reported in the latest in a series of storms blamed for at least 11 deaths in the past week and a half. The downpour and winds were so treacherous early Wednesday that helicopters were forced to abruptly halt efforts to rescue people from rooftops.
Much of the water had receded by Wednesday afternoon, but as much as 10 inches of rain was forecast to fall in the region overnight.
New York
Blackout hits much of Manhattan
A brief power outage darkened a large swath of Manhattan and the Bronx on Wednesday, knocking out traffic lights, cutting subway service and forcing the evacuation of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on one of the hottest days so far this year.
The blackout affected approximately 385,000 people, said Kevin Burke, chief executive of the Consolidated Edison utility. Power was restored in about an hour, but that did not stop the city from experiencing some of the confusion it endured during blackouts last year and in 2003.
Museum visitors sat on the outside steps in the sweltering heat. Traffic lights up and down the east side of Manhattan and the Bronx, including the area around Yankee Stadium, went dark.
The city was in the second day of temperatures well over 90 degrees.