Thanks for sticking with us through our coverage today. We’ll be back tomorrow with more news about the California wildfires.
I surveyed the Alameda County fire damage along Calaveras Resevoir today. Thank you residents for cooperating with evacuation orders and warnings.
Here’s a map of the fires burning throughout California at the moment:
Statewide fire map for Monday, August 24. Thank you to all who are helping keep California safe!
This “historic” spate of California wildfires have so far displaced hundreds of thousands during a pandemic, killed seven, destroyed at least tens of thousands of structures, burned through the equivalent acreage of a small state and sent plumes of smoke over several regions, forcing millions indoors during a heat wave. Yet the country’s paper of record – the New York Times – seems unwilling to feature this incredibly newsworthy disaster that has affected millions of Americans prominently on its pages.
California's record-setting wildfires have displaced 120k and are spreading uncontrolled. There's more lightning on the way. This country's premier news operation is parking coverage at the bottom of screen three, after a "live" section for a TV event that starts in 2.5 days.
The fires are off the front page entirely today.
The massive LNU Lightning Complex Fire is burning within miles of two California state prisons, including one that imprisons terminally ill people in hospice care, the elderly and medically vulnerable. My brilliant colleague Sam Levin reports that authorities have resisted calls to evacuate the California Medical Facility and Solano state prison.
It appears that the smoke from the wildfires in California has gotten so intense that it has spread clear across the country.
Smoke from out west is actually reaching our area. We won't see poorer air quality, but we will see more colorful sunrises & sunsets
The smoke arrives sometime on Tuesday afternoon. Currently not expecting much in the way of surface air quality problems since this should mostly remain aloft, but you will definitely notice it in the sky this week
Smoke from continues to impact us, in effect through Wednesday. Seeing some signs of improvement from Tam cam. Hoping for better air quality soon!
This is how you evacuate 600+ goats.
Successful goat evacuation! says their goat ranger had to evacuate their 600+ goats when the sparked last week. They all made it safely out.
The largest wildfires that firefighters are battling in California at this moment are called lightning complex fires. Cal Fire has referred to the past week as the August Lightning Siege.
Timelapse footage captured a severe tropical storm that battered parts of northern California, as lightning illuminated the sky over Pacifica and officials issued a red flag fire warning.
As evacuees fled their homes, carrying just what they could pack into their cars, some were forced to roll out their sleeping bags and set up for the night in a community park. Photographer Rachel Bujalski captured a devastating snapshot of the choices that some evacuees faced while escaping the LNU Lightning Complex fire.
Tens of thousands around California have had to evacuate since the lightning fires began last week. Some have been able to return to their homes, but others are not so fortunate. Which raises the question: how do you set up emergency evacuation shelters in the time of social distancing and Covid-19?
THANK YOU for protecting Santa Cruz County from these raging wildfires. Thank you staff, , and community members for the safe evacuation of campus. Thank you for feeding our students at the evacuation center.
Two of the lightning complex wildfires burning around the San Francisco Bay Area have grown to the size of the second- and third- largest in California history. The LNU Lightning Complex Fire, burning in Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Yolo and Lake counties, has now grown to 350,000 acres and 22% containment, according to the governor.
The governor used the term “historic” to describe the wildfires. Here’s some context, with more up-to-date numbers. This time last year, California had 4,292 wildfires burning across 56,000 acres.
The lightning event that everyone was dreading resulted in 289 lightning strikes that sparked 10 new fires, Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, said.
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, will be providing an update on the wildfires as well as the pandemic. We’ll be providing a summary of his briefing, but you can follow along here as well:
LIVE NOW: Governor provides an update on the state’s response to wildfires and the pandemic.
Wildfires have burned more than 1.27 million acres – 1,988.7 square miles – of California since 31 July. That’s more than the size of Delaware. That’s two times the size of Luxembourg.
The latest numbers on the Aug. Lightning Siege that has charred 1.2 million acres since Aug. 15. We are grateful for the 91 fire engines from Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon, Utah, Washington to assist us in battling more than 2 dozen major wildfires.
Northern California health officials are telling residents to stay inside, to protect themselves from the poor air quality caused by the wildfire smoke. But for many, that’s not an option. A vulnerable, essential labor force – the more than 381,000 agriculture workers in California – already by the coronavirus pandemic as others flee and take shelter.
The smoke is thick where farm workers were laboring harvesting strawberries in the Salinas area. Thank you for sending us this video documenting the hard work in difficult conditions farm workers do so we can have food on our tables.
The three wildfires burning around the San Francisco Bay Area have grown to a total size larger than the state of Rhode Island.
Surveying the SCU Lightning Complex -- this is now the third largest wildfire in CA history.
Northern California braced itself for a dry lightning event last night. After all, a number of the hundreds of wildfires currently burning in the state - the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire, the SCU Lightning Complex Fire just to name a few - were sparked by lightning. Yet while strikes in the Central Valley and westerns Sierra foothills may have sparked new fires, they were “less widespread and intense than earlier feared.”
Finally some good news to report: last night's dry lightning event was less widespread & intense than earlier feared. Nearly all lightning spared Bay Area, though there were strikes in Central Valley & western Sierra foothills that may have sparked new fires. (1/3)
What happened? Well, there was *plenty* of elevated convection just above everywhere, but it wasn't *quite* deep enough to generate much lightning. Models were slightly off with timing, and may have underestimated smoke effect, and that made all the difference. (2/3)
We have CANCELLED the Red Flag Warning. Stay weather aware as weak cells are still over the North Bay; however, most moisture has moved north of our area and instability has decreased giving us confidence to let the warning expire early.
Also: we still aren't totally out of the woods in NorCal. Dry thunderstorms are still expected today, mainly in northern 1/3 of state but possibly clipping North Bay. These could yet spark new fires. But all in all, a better than expected outcome. (3/3)
Hey all, Vivian Ho on the west coast taking over the liveblog for the day. The San Francisco Bay Area received a light reprieve in the way of rain last night, a part of the lightning event that ended up being “” in the region as earlier predicted.
It’s pouring rain in north Oakland. My neighbors are cheering in the street. Hopefully this travels to help out our firefighters ❤️
Firefighters and residents in North California have been given a boost this morning, as predicted bad weather has so far evaded the state. Humidity rose on Monday, Associated Press reported, and there was no return of the onslaught of lightning strikes that ignited the infernos a week earlier.
ABC News has this video from firefighters driving through a wildfire. According to the news channel 14,000 firefighters have now been deployed in California.
First-person video shared by California firefighters gives a glimpse of what it's like to drive through massive wildfire burning south of San Francisco. More than 14,000 firefighters are battling numerous wildfires raging across the state.
The San Lorenzo Valley water district, 70 miles south of San Francisco and 10 miles north of Santa Cruz, has lost 4.5 million gallons of water after fire melted a main water pipeline. KSBW8 reported that the five mile long pipe melted due to intense heat from San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.
The Ranch Fire, which in California in 2018, is the largest fire in state’s history. According to the latest statistics from the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire) two of the fires burning outside of the San Francisco Bay Area are not far behind.
in Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Yolo and Solano county is 350,030 acres and 22% contained.
in Santa Clara County, Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Joaquin County, and Stanislaus County is 347,196 acres and 10% contained.
Sparked by a rare lightning storm and stoked by hot, windy weather, into the Sierra Nevada, southern California, and regions north, east and south of San Francisco, . Maanvi has written on how the fires started and began to rage out of control: A confluence of extreme weather conditions set the stage, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. First came a record-breaking, continuing heatwave across the state. Temperatures in Death Valley hit 130F and the state saw rolling blackouts for the first time in nearly two decades as millions of Californians seeking to cool their homes strained the electrical grid. Next, a tropical storm in the Pacific Ocean spun moisture toward California, triggering a rare lighting storm that zapped California more than 10,800 times over a three-day period, sparking small fires across the Bay Area and northern California. Then the humidity dropped and winds picked up, stoking the small flames until they erupted into full-blown infernos.
Firefighters in California are not just at risk from the blazes which have besieged the state – they also pose a potential coronavirus threat, to themselves and others. Public health officials are increasingly concerned that the 12,000 firefighters – many of them from out of state – could trigger a super-spreader coronavirus event as they tackle the fires, : The concerns are multilayered. Most important: No one wants firefighters to get sick, for their own sake. Also, the state can’t afford to pull crews off duty when staff resources are so thin. With personnel coming to the region from throughout the state as well as other parts of the country, public health experts fear a “super-spreader” event if someone infected on the front lines brings the virus back home. “It’s the perfect storm: Bring people in from all over the western United States to work together in a communal setting, and then send them back,” said John Swartzberg, a UC Berkeley infectious disease expert who also advised the U.S. Forest Service.
Almost 250,000 people are under fire evacuation orders and warnings in California, as three huge fires continue to rage around the San Francisco Bay Area. Firefighters are bracing on Monday for more damage, as the National Weather Service (NWS) that fast moving storms will lead to a risk of new fires erupting.
San Francisco Bay Area dodges major lightning storm
Governor describes blazes as ‘historic’
Firefighters in California saw some reprieve on Monday after dodging a major lightning storm in the San Francisco Bay Area, as the state continues to battle blazes the governor described as “historic”. Two of the three largest wildfires ever recorded in California have scorched through more than 1m acres, displaced more than 100,000 people, and killed seven. Officials are cautiously optimistic but pleaded with residents to stay out of evacuation zones and prepare for days away from home, as the massive fires near the Bay Area spread smoky air.
Both storms are expected to reach the same stretch of US coast, today and then later in the week As two powerful storms menaced the US Gulf Coast on Monday, forecasters feared Marco would drive sea water to shore and unleash torrential rains just two days before Laura lashes the same region with potentially more powerful storm surge and winds.
Donald Trump approves federal disaster declaration
Fire chief: ‘There’s potential for things to go crazy out there’
Firefighters in California prepared on Sunday for high winds and thunderstorms that threatened to spark new blazes and further spread existing fires, as officials warned capacity was stretched to levels “not seen in recent history”. Progress was made against three massive and destructive wildfires during a calm stretch overnight on Saturday. However the The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a “red flag” warning through Monday afternoon for the drought-stricken area, meaning extreme fire conditions including high temperatures, low humidity and wind gusts up to 65mph could result in “dangerous and unpredictable fire behavior”.
Workers who pick our fruits and vegetables are out in the field through wildfire, pandemic, drought or storm, putting their health in jeopardy The strawberries that Juan Reyes hand-picked had turned gray from the ash falling from the sky, yet nobody provided him and his fellow farmworkers with any protective face coverings until the next day. As hundreds of fires burn across California, blanketing swaths of the state in smoke so thick that it muted the sun, low-wage farmworkers continued to toil in the fields, working through grueling conditions, now made even worse by the air quality.
Farm workers don't get to use Zoom to harvest our food. Ramiro sent us this photo from Salinas CA where he is currently harvesting lettuce during the wildfires, despite the air quality being "very unhealthy ." This article was updated on 23 August 2020 to correct the number of frontline workers in California’s agriculture industry.
State could see first simultaneous hurricanes on record
Dominican Republic and Haiti suffer severe flooding
Residents in low-lying coastal areas of Louisiana and Cuba were evacuating on Sunday, while roads turned to rivers in Haiti’s capital city, as twin hurricanes threatened the Caribbean and US Gulf Coast.
Dramatic footage shows the moment a helicopter rescued two stranded firefighters from advancing wildfires in California. 'Had it not been for that helicopter, those firefighters would certainly have perished,' the Sonoma county sheriff, Mark Essick, said. Firefighters have been battling blazes that have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced tens of thousands to flee across the state since 15 August
Forecasters issued a warning for Sunday morning through Monday night
Blazes have burned more than 900,000 acres over seven days
Donald Trump has issued a major disaster declaration as deteriorating weather conditions threaten to spark new wildfires in California, where firefighters have been battling some of the largest wildfires on record for the past week. Trump’s declaration will release federal assistance for the state, with governor Gavin Newsom saying it will also help people in counties affected by the fires with crisis counselling, housing and other social services.
Tens of thousands have been forced to leave their homes to escape the flames. Photographer Rachel Bujalski meets evacuees At the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, California, Michelle and Carlos Jacinto sat in their car at the fairgrounds to eat lunch and take a break from their designated temporary evacuation center. They left their home in Forestville two nights ago, as . They packed up the car with their dogs, pictures and important papers. Michelle and Carlos had come to this evacuation center last year during the fires, but they said this time was different: they were required to wear masks and keep distant from other people in a gymnasium.
Americans face existential challenges. The president has done nothing to help and much to make things worse
My wife and I have been warned we may need to evacuate our cabin in the hills north of San Francisco, because of .
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of and . His new book, , is out now. He is a columnist for Guardian US
Famines of "biblical proportions" are becoming a serious risk as the coronavirus crisis threatens to double the number of people nearing starvation, a U.N. body has warned.
Storms battered the South on Easter Sunday, killing at least 19 as several tornadoes spun up from Mississippi to South Carolina. Hundreds of homes were damaged, and the storms left nearly 750,000 without power.
As the public and private sectors race to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus, innovations to help identify or limit the spread are also equally important, if not more. CNBC's Nessa Anwar spoke to scientists, entrepreneurs and economists about what countries can do to slow down the spread of the disease.
Already being ravaged by the worst infestation of desert locusts in 70 years, East African economies are now staring down the barrel of the coronavirus pandemic.
The International Energy Agency urges governments to offer economic stimulus packages that invest in clean energy technologies, amid coronavirus crisis.
Preliminary magnitude 8.0 earthquake hits Papua New Guinea, US Geological Survey says
