Tag Archives: evacuation

US

Evacuation warnings amid flooding after California storm

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Residents of a Northern California community were ordered to evacuate ahead of imminent flooding, and evacuation warnings were in place elsewhere in rural parts of the region on New Year’s Day after a powerful storm brought drenching rain or heavy snowfall to much of the state, breaching levees, snarling traffic and closing major highways.

Even after the storm moved through, major flooding occurred in agricultural areas about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Sacramento, where rivers swelled beyond their banks and inundated dozens of cars along State Route 99.

Emergency crews rescued motorists on New Year’s Eve into Sunday morning and the highway remained closed. Crews on Sunday found one person dead inside a submerged vehicle near Route 99, Dan Quiggle, deputy fire chief for operations for Cosumnes Community Service District Fire Department, told The Sacramento Bee.

Sacramento County authorities issued an evacuation order late Sunday for residents of the low-lying community of Point Pleasant near Interstate 5, citing imminent and dangerous flooding. Residents of the nearby communities of Glanville Tract and Franklin Pond were told to prepare to leave before more roadways are cut off by rising water and evacuation becomes impossible.

“It is expected that the flooding from the Cosumnes River and the Mokelumne River is moving southwest toward I-5 and could reach these areas in the middle of the night,” the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services said earlier on Twitter Sunday afternoon. “Livestock in the affected areas should be moved to higher ground.”

To the north in the state’s capital, crews cleared downed trees from roads and sidewalks as at least 17,000 customers were still without power Sunday, down from more than 150,000 a day earlier, according to a Sacramento Municipal Utility District online map.

Near Lake Tahoe, dozens of drivers were rescued on New Year’s Eve along Interstate 80 after cars spun out in the snow during the blizzard, the California Department of Transportation said. The key route to the mountains from the San Francisco Bay Area reopened early Sunday to passenger vehicles with chains.

“The roads are extremely slick so let’s all work together and slow down so we can keep I-80 open,” the California Highway Patrol said on Twitter. Several other highways, including State Route 50, also reopened.

More than 4 feet (1.2 meters) of snow had accumulated in the high Sierra Nevada, and the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area said heavy, wet snow would cause major delays in chairlift openings. On Saturday, the resort reported numerous lift closings, citing high winds, low visibility and ice.

A so-called atmospheric river storm pulled in a long and wide plume of moisture from the Pacific Ocean. Flooding and rock slides closed portions of roads across the state.

Rainfall in downtown San Francisco hit 5.46 inches (13.87 cm) on New Year’s Eve, making it the second-wettest day on record, behind a November 1994 deluge, the National Weather Service said. Videos on Twitter showed mud-colored water streaming along San Francisco streets, and a staircase in Oakland turned into a veritable waterfall by heavy rains.

In Southern California, several people were rescued after floodwaters inundated cars in San Bernardino and Orange counties. No major injuries were reported.

With the region drying out on New Year’s Day and no rainfall expected during Monday’s Rose Parade in Pasadena, spectators began staking out their spots for the annual floral spectacle.

The rain was welcomed in drought-parched California. The past three years have been the state’s driest on record — but much more precipitation is needed to make a significant difference.

It was the first of several storms expected to roll across the state in the span of a week. Saturday’s system was warmer and wetter, while storms this week will be colder, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

The Sacramento region could receive a total of 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 centimeters) of rain over the week, Chandler-Cooley said.

Another round of heavy showers was also forecast for Southern California on Tuesday or Wednesday, the National Weather Service’s Los Angeles-area office said.

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Flooding prompts closure of major Bay Area highway and evacuation warnings in northern California neighborhoods

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CNN
 — 

Heavy precipitation and snow melt flooded roads and led to freeway closures and evacuation warnings in Northern California on Saturday, officials said.

At one point, US Highway 101 – one of California’s most famous routes – was closed in both directions in South San Francisco as “water is not receding due to non-stop rainfall & high tides preventing the water to displace,” California Highway Patrol said in an evening update. The freeway reopened later Saturday evening after flood waters receded, CHP said.

Authorities were also working to rescue submerged vehicles from the highway after some had chosen to drive through the closures, the agency said.

The California Department of Transportation also advised of a partial closure of Interstate 80 near the Nevada line midday Saturday “due to multiple spinouts over Donner Summit.” Driving through the mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada range has required tire chains for much of this month due to heavy snowfall.

In Sacramento County and adjacent areas, residents were advised to avoid travel as wind gusts of up to 55 mph toppled trees and covered roads with debris, according to a tweet from the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

A strong storm that brought widespread heavy rain Friday through Saturday, creating a flood threat for much of Northern and Central California, is nearing unprecedented levels.

By Saturday evening, San Francisco was closing in on breaking the city’s record for single wettest day ever.

“Downtown San Francisco is now at 5.45 inches, just 9 hundredths of an inch away from the daily (midnight to midnight) record of 5.54 inches,” the National Weather Service said in a 5 p.m. update on Twitter.

And meanwhile, an active jet stream pattern also brought a parade of storms fueled by an atmospheric river of Pacific moisture.

An atmospheric river is a long, narrow region in the atmosphere which can transport moisture thousands of miles, like a fire hose in the sky. This heavy rainfall will slide southward to Southern California on Saturday and Sunday, accompanied by gusty winds of 30 to 50 mph.

Several small communities in northern California were under evacuation orders and warnings Saturday due to flooding. Three communities near the city of Watsonville were told to evacuate by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office due to creek flooding, while officials ordered the communities of Paradise Park and Felton to evacuate due to rising levels of the San Lorenzo River.

Neighborhoods near the Santa Rita Creek in Monterey County were put under a warning Saturday afternoon because of concerns the creek “will spill over its banks,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Evacuations from the floodwaters were being conducted Saturday with the help of an armored rescue vehicle in south San Ramon.

Residents in the community of Wilton, roughly 20 miles from Sacramento, were ordered to shelter in place due to the rains and floods.

“Rising water has made roads impassable in the area,” Sacramento County officials said on Facebook, urging those who were already on the road to head to safety and those who were home to “stay at home.”

The county on Saturday issued a proclamation of local state of emergency for the winter storms, saying the atmospheric river it’s been experiencing has caused “significant transportation impacts, rising creek and river levels and flooding” in the Wilton area.

A flood watch for more than 16 million is in effect including the entire Bay Area and Central Valley though Saturday night. Rain could ease Saturday evening before the calendar turns to 2023.

Earlier weather predictions said widespread rainfall accumulations of 2 to 4 inches are expected in northern and central California, but locally higher amounts of 5 to 7 inches are also possible for the foothills.

Northern California and the central California coast have already received 2 to 4 inches of rain in the last week. The cumulative effect of multiple Pacific storm systems laden with moisture from a potent atmospheric river will make impacts such as flash floods and landslides more likely.

Videos and photos shared by the National Weather Service in San Francisco show fallen trees blocking roadways, and multiple landslides.

In Oakland, local officials urged people to stay off the roads due to the heavy rain and flooding.

“If you have to travel, use caution. City crews are working through a backlog of reports of flooding and other weather impacts,” the city posted on Twitter.



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JetBlue plane: Fire on board forces the evacuation of more than 160 passengers at New York’s JFK Airport

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CNN
 — 

A fire on board a JetBlue Airways plane forced more than 160 passengers to evacuate using emergency slides at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday, fire department officials said.

The incident – which happened shortly after the flight from Barbados landed at the airport – may have started due to an electronic device and is under investigation, according to JetBlue.

“On Saturday, JetBlue flight 662 with service from Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI) was evacuated shortly after landing at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) due to reports of a customer’s malfunctioning electronic device or battery,” company spokesperson Derek Dombrowski said in a statement to CNN.

The New York City Fire Department reported a plane fire around 9 p.m. at the airport’s Terminal 5, saying the regional Port Authority agency evacuated the JetBlue plane.

A total of 167 people were evacuated using emergency slides, the FDNY said. Five passengers had minor injuries.

“Safety is always our number one priority,” Dombrowski said, adding JetBlue is coordinating with officials from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

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World

Ukraine war: Kyiv monastery raid; Kherson ‘treason’ arrest; and prank call to Poland’s Duda

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1. Ukraine searches Kyiv monastery over suspected Russia links

Ukraine’s security service (SBU) has raided the main Orthodox Christian monastery in Kyiv over suspected links to Russia.

The SBU said on Telegram that it had carried out “counter-espionage measures” at the 1,000-year-old Pechersk Lavra complex on Tuesday morning.

The operation aimed to “counter the subversive activities of the Russian special services in Ukraine”, it added.

The searches were carried out alongside Ukrainian police and the national guard, the SBU said. Worshippers were allowed to continue praying at the monastery but were subjected to SBU security checks.

“These measures are carried out to prevent the use [of the monastery] as a centre of the ‘Russian world’,” the SBU said.

The Pechersk Lavra is the oldest monastery in Ukraine and has been on the Unesco World Heritage List since 1990. It is also the headquarters of the Russian-backed wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Moscow branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had maintained close ties to Russia until May, following the invasion of Ukraine.

Two similar raids were also conducted on monasteries and Orthodox Church properties in the northwestern Ukrainian region of Rivne.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has condemned the raids as “military action against the Russian Orthodox Church”.

The Russian Orthodox Church has also described the searches as an “act of intimidation”.

Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russia’s church, has vocally supported Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

2. Ukrainians may have to live with blackouts until March

The head of a major Ukrainian energy provider has warned that citizens will likely have to live with blackouts at least until the end of March.

Sergey Kovalenko, head of the YASNO, said on Facebook that workers were rushing to complete repairs before winter arrives.

“Stock up on warm clothes and blankets and think about options that will help you wait a long outage,” he said.

Half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been damaged by Russian attacks, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In his nightly address on Monday, Zelenskyy also appealed to Ukrainians to conserve energy.

Amid frequent blackouts, millions of people have been left without electricity and water as winter sets in and temperatures drop below freezing. Grid operator Ukrenergo said more planned shutdowns are scheduled for Tuesday.

“The scale of destruction is colossal,” said Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi.

“In Ukraine, there is a power generation deficit. We cannot generate as much energy as consumers can use.”

Kudrytskyi added that rising temperatures after Wednesday should provide an opportunity for Ukrenergo to stabilise the power-generating system.

The Ukrainian government has begun evacuating citizens from the liberated city of Kherson, which remains mostly without electricity and running water. Residents in Kherson may apply to be relocated to areas where heating and security problems are less acute.

“Given the difficult security situation in the city and infrastructure problems, you can evacuate for the winter to safer regions of the country,” Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

Moscow says its strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are the consequences of Kyiv not willing to negotiate.

Russia has been targeting Ukrainian power facilities after a series of battlefield setbacks, including its withdrawal from Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro river.

3. Ukraine health system facing ‘darkest days in the war so far’, says WHO

The World Health Organization’s regional director to Europe has issued a stark warning after visiting Ukraine.

Up to three million more people could leave their Ukrainian homes this winter in search of warmth and safety, according to Hans Kluge.

“Ukraine’s health system is facing its darkest days in the war so far,” Kluge said in a statement.

“Having endured more than 700 attacks, it is now also a victim of the energy crisis. Access to healthcare cannot be held hostage,” he added.

The WHO says hundreds of Ukrainian hospitals and healthcare facilities lacked fuel, water, and electricity to meet people’s basic needs.

“We expect 2-3 million more people to leave their homes in search of warmth and safety,” Kluge said.

“They will face unique health challenges, including respiratory infections such as COVID-19, pneumonia, influenza, and the serious risk of diphtheria and measles in the under-vaccinated population.”

The UN health agency has called for a “humanitarian health corridor” to be created for all areas of Ukraine that have been recaptured by Kyiv, as well as those occupied by Russian forces.

4. Kherson official arrested on suspicion of ‘treason’

Ukrainian investigators said they have arrested a Russian pre-trial detention centre official in Kherson for “treason”.

The suspect is accused of allowing Russian prisoners of war to escape before the city was recaptured by Kyiv.

“From the very first days of the occupation, this employee of a detention centre worked for the invaders,” the SBU said in a statement.

“[They were] in charge of pre-trial detention centres and places of execution of sentences,” it added.

According to the SBU, the suspect “did not have time to escape” when Kyiv’s forces liberated the southern city on November 11. If convicted of treason, the suspect faces a life sentence in prison.

The arrest comes after Ukrainian prosecutors say they have found four “torture sites” used by the Russian forces in Kherson.

Earlier this month, the SBU also arrested a suspected Russian soldier who was allegedly “disguised as a civilian” in Kherson.

Fighting continues to rage on the ground in eastern Ukraine, where Russia has mobilised its forces from Kherson.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Tuesday that it had repelled numerous Russian attacks in several areas in the Donetsk region.

“The enemy does not stop shelling the positions of our troops and settlements near the contact line,” it claimed. “Attacks continue to damage critical infrastructure and civilian homes.”

Four people were killed and four others wounded in Ukraine-controlled areas of the Donetsk region over the past 24 hours, regional governor Pavlo Kyryleno said on Telegram.

Russian missiles also reportedly hit a humanitarian aid distribution centre in the Zaporizhzhia town of Orihiv, killing one person and injuring two others.

The strike allegedly occurred near Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, according to regional governor Oleksandr Starukh. Russia and Ukraine have both accused each other of firing shells near the plant.

Authorities in the Russian border region of Belgorod have also claimed that three people were killed in strikes on Tuesday.

5. Poland’s President spoke to Russian pranksters after missile explosion

The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda has confirmed that he spoke to Russian pranksters after last week’s deadly rocket strike.

Duda’s office confirmed on Tuesday that last week he was put through to a person claiming to be French President Emmanuel Macron and that he gave the caller sensitive information.

Two people were killed by a rocket blast in the Polish border village of Przewodow on November 15. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the missile appeared to have been fired accidentally by Ukraine’s air defences.

A seven-minute video on YouTube shows two Russian pranksters — known as Vovan and Lexus — speaking to Duda in an apparent French accent.

The Polish President can be heard explaining details about the missile incident and his care not to exacerbate the situation with Russia.

Duda’s office says the prank call was one of many conversations that he had received just after the rocket strike.

“During the call, President Duda realised from the unusual manner in which the caller was conducting the call that there may have been an attempt to deceive and ended the call,” the office wrote on Twitter.

The same Russian pranksters had previously spoken to Duda in 2020 while posing as UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres. Two officials from Poland’s mission to the UN were dismissed over the incident.

An investigation into the latest prank call is underway, Duda’s office said.

Vovan and Lexus have previously targeted other European politicians and celebrities with prank calls, including UK defence minister Ben Wallace.

Poland’s defence minister says the country will now deploy additional Patriot missile launchers from Germany near the Ukrainian border.

Berlin had offered the air defence system to help Warsaw intercept missiles after last week’s deadly strike in Przewodow, which had raised fears that the Ukraine war could spill into NATO territory.

“The German defence minister confirmed her willingness to deploy the Patriot launcher at the border with Ukraine,” Polish minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter.

“The version of the system remains to be determined, as does how quickly they will reach us and how long they will be stationed.”

The NATO allies had already said that German Eurofighters would offer to help police Polish airspace.

6. Ukraine receives new EU aid worth €2.5 billion

Ukraine’s government says it has received a new €2.5 billion financial aid package from the European Union.

Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said the bloc had now provided €6.7 billion of assistance to Kyiv since Russia invaded.

“The EU Commission is disbursing a further €2.5 billion for Ukraine,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.

“We are planning €18 billion for 2023, with funding disbursed regularly for urgent repairs and fast recovery leading to a successful reconstruction,” she added.

“We will keep on supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy said on Twitter that he was “grateful” for the new tranche of aid ahead of the winter.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal added that the assistance was “another step of solidarity”.

The international community has also stepped up its aid to Moldova amid an energy crisis.

On Tuesday, the Russian gas giant Gazprom threatened to cut gas supplies to Moldova, accusing Ukraine of siphoning off the pipeline that runs through its territory.

According to Gazprom, Ukraine illegally accumulated 52.5 million cubic metres of gas in November by “violating” part of the deliveries to use it for its own purposes.

The Russian giant threatened to “reduce gas supplies” from November 28, as temperatures plummet and the demand for gas increases.

Russia was the EU’s biggest supplier of gas before the invasion of Ukraine, but the EU has since cut its imports significantly to less than 10% of all imported gas.



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World

Ukraine to begin voluntary evacuation from Kherson: Deputy PM | Russia-Ukraine war News

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Ukraine will begin to evacuate people who want to leave the recently liberated southern city of Kherson and its surrounding areas, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has announced, citing damage to infrastructure by Russian forces that had made life extremely difficult for residents.

News of the evacuation came as Russian missiles were reported to have struck an oil depot in Kherson on Saturday evening, officials said, the first time a fuel storage facility had been hit in the city since Russia withdrew more than a week ago.

Vereshchuk said on Saturday that a number of people had expressed a wish to move away from Kherson and the area around Mykolaiv, about 65 km (40 miles) to the northwest.

“This is possible in the next few days,” she told a televised news conference in Mykolaiv when asked when the evacuations from Kherson would begin.

Vereshchuck said the government had already made the necessary preparations for the evacuation. Among those who wanted to leave were the elderly and those who had been affected by Russian shelling, she said.

“This is only a voluntary evacuation. Currently, we are not talking about forced evacuation,” Vereshchuk said.

“But even in the case of voluntary evacuation, the state bears responsibility for transportation. People must be taken to the place where they will spend the winter,” she said.

The government had several evacuation options, one of which was to use Mykolaiv as a transit point before sending people further west into safer areas of the country, she added.

In August, Vereshchuk said Ukraine planned to expand the number of front-line districts where civilian evacuations would be mandatory, as those areas could be occupied and would also face problems with heating during the Ukrainian winter months.

Two missiles hit a fuel depot on Saturday in Kherson, firefighters at the scene told the Associated Press news organisation.

Anton Gerashchenko, a government adviser and a former deputy minister at Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, posted a short video on Twitter apparently showing thick smoke billowing after powerful explosions were reported in Kherson on Saturday.

“Russia continues its daily terror,” he wrote.

 

Ukrainian authorities have accused Russian troops of destroying Kherson’s critical infrastructure before retreating earlier this month.

Local authorities also told the Associated Press that when Russian forces left the Kherson city area, they stole fire trucks and ambulances, and firefighters said they were now scrambling for resources to respond to missile and other attacks.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials have accused Russia of trying to destabilise the country by destroying power stations in an attempt to freeze the population into submission and force millions of Ukrainians to flee westward, creating a refugee crisis for the European Union.

Ukraine’s energy ministry said on Saturday that the country’s electricity supplies were under control despite the ongoing wave of Russian attacks on power-generating infrastructure.

Russian missile raids have crippled almost half of Ukraine’s energy system and Kyiv authorities said on Friday that a complete shutdown of the capital’s power grid was possible.

A view shows Lviv city centre without electricity after critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile attacks in Ukraine on November 15, 2022 [Vladyslav Musiienko/Reuters]

“We assure you that the situation with the energy supply is difficult, but under control,” the energy ministry said in a statement.

Authorities across the country have scheduled blackouts to help the repair effort, the ministry said, urging families to cut their energy consumption by at least 25 percent.

Maxim Timchenko, the head of DTEK, the country’s largest private energy company, said the armed forces, the energy industry and individual Ukrainians were working miracles to maintain supplies and people should not flee the country.

“That is why there is no need to leave Ukraine today,” a company statement cited him as saying on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, the first train in nine months to travel from Kyiv to Kherson arrived in the city after departing the Ukrainian capital on Friday night — a journey only made possible by the Russian withdrawal.

Ukraine’s state rail network, Ukrzaliznytsia, said 200 passengers travelled on board the train, dubbed the “Train to Victory”, which had been painted in eclectic designs by Ukrainian artists. Tickets were sold as part of a fundraising campaign.



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World

Vladimir Putin demands evacuation of civilians from Kherson

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President Vladimir Putin has called for the evacuation of civilians from Russian-occupied Kherson, his first acknowledgment that Ukraine’s bid to recapture the city was gaining ground.

“The people who live in Kherson need to be taken out of the zone of the most dangerous [combat] operations, because the civilian population shouldn’t suffer,” Putin told a group of volunteers in Red Square on Friday.

Putin has never publicly called for the evacuation of civilians, although his subordinates have been urging this for weeks. Ukraine has mounted a fierce counter-offensive to take back Kherson, the only regional capital that Russia has been able to capture nine months into its invasion of Ukraine.

Battlefield setbacks have coincided with renewed effort to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, just as winter approaches. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Putin of resorting to “energy terror”, saying that 4.5mn people were without power across the country.

The outages are the result of huge Russian missile barrages and drone attacks on Ukrainian power facilities over recent weeks that have plunged much of Kyiv and the rest of the country into night-time darkness. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Friday that 450,000 residents of the capital were without power.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu admitted this week that his country’s armed forces were targeting critical infrastructure in an attempt “to neutralise military infrastructure facilities, as well as the facilities that influence the reduction of Ukraine’s military capacity”.

Also on Friday, the Pentagon announced a $400mn package of military aid for Ukraine, for the delivery of Hawk air defence systems and tactical Phoenix Ghost drones as well as the refurbishment of advanced tanks to be sent from the Czech Republic. 

The provision of the Hawk system, which the US replaced with the Patriot system in the mid-1990s, marks an upgrade from Stinger surface-to-air missiles they have provided so far, since the Hawk systems have a longer range.

G7 foreign ministers meeting in the German town of Münster said on Friday they had established a “G7 coordination mechanism” to help Ukraine “repair, restore and defend its critical energy and water infrastructure”.

Annalena Baerbock, German foreign minister who hosted the meeting, said the G7 were putting together a “winter package” for Ukraine. “[We’re] delivering generators, mobile homes, water pumps and sanitary facilities,” she told reporters after the meeting.

It is also the first time the US has funded the dispatch of tanks to Ukraine since the war began. The US is funding the refurbishment of 45 tanks owned by the Czech Republic, which is being matched by the Netherlands to retool 45 more tanks.

In Kherson, Russia has continued to lose territory to Ukraine’s larger and better-equipped forces, despite annexing the surrounding province and three other southeastern Ukrainian regions in September.

Putin declared martial law in the four regions last month, giving officials additional powers, including the ability to forcibly evacuate citizens. Russia-installed officials have repeatedly called on locals to leave Kherson province west of the Dnipro river in recent weeks.

In a video posted after Putin’s comments, Kirill Stremousov, the region’s Russia-appointed deputy governor, said a 24-hour curfew was being introduced to “defend the city”. This would “give the military the chance to do their job without civilians.”

Shortly afterwards, however, he deleted the video and posted another in which he assured that Kherson was under total Russian control.

The impact of repeated Russian attacks is increasingly apparent in Kyiv. Craters from missiles are quickly filled in and shattered windows boarded up. But after sundown, the city descends into eerie blackness.

Street lights and business signs remain off, candles flicker in windows and people move about the streets with torches, their faces illuminated only by smartphone screens.

The power outages have also taken their toll on businesses, some of which have been forced to close during blackouts. A major supermarket had to cancel orders when the power went out and it could not process payments.

Sporting goods and electronic stores, however, have been inundated with customers. Oleh Mrichko, a manager at the Gorgany sporting goods store in Kyiv, said more people came “after every drone and missile attack”. 

“They come in to buy these,” he said, gesturing to lamps and portable cooking stoves. Customers have also stocked up on down jackets, gloves, hats, torches, tarpaulins, quick-burning fire starters, woollen socks and hand warmers.

Additional reporting by Guy Chazan in Berlin and James Politi in Washington

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World

Russian-installed authorities order evacuation of Kherson

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine told all residents of the city of Kherson to leave “immediately” Saturday ahead of an expected advance by Ukrainian troops waging a counteroffensive to recapture one of the first urban areas Russia took after invading the country.

In a post on the Telegram messaging service, the pro-Kremlin regional administration called on civilians to use boat crossings over a major river to move deeper into Russian-held territory, citing a tense situation on the front and the threat of shelling and alleged “terror attacks” by Kyiv.

Kherson has been in Russian hands since the early days of the nearly 8-month-long war in Ukraine. The city is the capital of a region of the same name, one of four that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and put under Russian martial law on Thursday.

On Friday, Ukrainian forces bombarded Russian positions across the province, targeting pro-Kremlin forces’ resupply routes across the Dnieper River and inching closer to making a full assault on Kherson city. Ukraine has retaken some villages in the region’s north since launching its counteroffensive in late August.

Russian-installed officials were reported as trying desperately to turn Kherson city — a prime objective for both sides because of its key industries and ports — into a fortress while attempting to relocate tens of thousands of residents.

The Kremlin poured as many as 2,000 draftees into the surrounding region to replenish losses and strengthen front-line units, according to the Ukrainian army’s general staff.

The Dnieper River figures prominently in the regional battle because it serves multiple critical functions. It provides crossings for supplies, troops and civilians; drinking water for southern Ukraine and the annexed Crimean Peninsula; and power generation from a hydroelectric station.

Much of the area, including the power station and a canal feeding water to Crimea, is under Russian control.

Kherson’s Kremlin-backed authorities previously announced plans to evacuate all Russia-appointed officials and as many as 60,000 civilians across the river, in what local leader Volodymyr Saldo said would be an “organized, gradual displacement.”

Another Russia-installed official estimated Saturday that around 25,000 people from across the region had made their way over the Dnieper. In a Telegram post, Kirill Stremousov claimed that civilians were relocating willingly.

“People are actively moving because today the priority is life. We do not drag anyone anywhere,” he said.

Ukrainian and Western officials have expressed concern about potential forced transfers of residents to Russia or Russian-occupied territory.

Ukrainian officials have urged Kherson residents to resist attempts to relocate them, with one local official alleging that Moscow wanted to take civilians hostage and use them as human shields.

Elsewhere in the invaded country, hundreds of thousands of people in central and western Ukraine woke up on Saturday to power outages and periodic bursts of gunfire. In its latest war tactic, Russia has intensified strikes on power stations, water supply systems and other key infrastructure across the country.

Ukraine’s air force said in a statement Saturday that Russia had launched “a massive missile attack” targeting “critical infrastructure,” adding that it had downed 18 out of 33 cruise missiles launched from the air and sea.

In a Telegram post published later Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referenced 36 missiles, “most of which were shot down.” The reason for the discrepancy in numbers was not immediately clear.

Air raid sirens blared across Ukraine twice by early afternoon, sending residents scurrying into shelters as Ukrainian air defense tried to shoot down explosive drones and incoming missiles.

“Several rockets” targeting Ukraine’s capital were shot down Saturday morning, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging service.

The president’s office said in its morning update that five suicide drones were downed in the central Cherkasy region southeast of Kyiv.

The governors of six western and central provinces, as well as of the southern Odesa region on the Black Sea, gave similar reports.

Ukraine’s top diplomat said the day’s attacks proved Ukraine needed new Western-reinforced air defense systems “without a minute of delay.”

“Air defense saves lives,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said on Telegram that almost 1.4 million households lost power as a result of the strikes. He said some 672,000 homes in the western Khmelnytskyi region were affected and another 242,000 suffered outages in the Cherkasy region.

Most of the western city of Khmelnytskyi, which straddles the Bug River and had a pre-war population of 275,000, was left with no electricity, shortly after local media reported several loud explosions.

In a social media post on Saturday, the city council urged local residents to store water “in case it’s also gone within an hour.”

The mayor of Lutsk, a city of 215,000 in far western Ukraine, made a similar appeal on Saturday. Power in Lutsk was partially knocked out after Russian missiles slammed into local energy facilities, Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said.

He later added that a civilian suffered burns when a shockwave from the strike hit his house, and that one power station had been damaged beyond repair.

The central city of Uman, a key pilgrimage center for Hasidic Jews with about 100,000 residents before the war, also was plunged into darkness after a rocket hit a nearby power station, regional authorities said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s state energy company, Ukrenergo, responded to the strikes by announcing that rolling blackouts would be imposed in Kyiv and 10 Ukrainian regions to stabilize the situation.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, the company accused Russia of attacking “energy facilities within the principal networks of the western regions of Ukraine.” It claimed the scale of destruction was comparable to the fallout earlier this month from Moscow’s first coordinated attack on the Ukrainian energy grid.

Both Ukrenergo and officials in Kyiv have urged Ukrainians to conserve energy. Earlier this week, Zelenskyy called on consumers to curb their power use between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. and to avoid using energy-guzzling appliances such as electric heaters.

Zelenskyy said earlier in the week that 30% of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed since Russia launched the first wave of targeted infrastructure strikes on Oct. 10.

In a separate development, Russian officials said a shelling attack on a frontier town just kilometers north of the Ukrainian border killed two people and wounded 12.

Andrey Ikonnikov, the health minister for the southern Belgorod region of Russia, said a 14-year-old boy and an older man died on the spot after shells hit civilian infrastructure in Shebekino, which is home to around 44,500 people.

Earlier social media posts by the regional governor, Vladislav Gladkov, blamed the attack on Ukraine. Russia has previously accused Ukrainian forces of numerous strikes on civilians in the border regions of Belgorod and Kursk. Kyiv has not formally responded to these accusations.

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Kozlowska reported from London.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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US

Nakia Creek Fire at 1,565 acres; evacuation zones shrink

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Evacuation zones shrank Monday as firefighters worked to bring the Nakia Creek Fire back under control after it grew tenfold over the weekend to 1,565 acres.

As of Saturday morning, the fire was smoldering after burning 156 acres and getting progressively more contained by crews, according to Washington Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Sharon Steriti.

That changed on Sunday, when hot, dry and windy weather gave new life to a fire.

“It was looking really good, and as you may also know, we had a red flag warning on Sunday,” Steriti said. “And the fire unfortunately got across the line during the evening (Saturday), and on Sunday morning, it was discovered that it was burning over the line. And then the east winds and weather came in, and kind of changed the story.”

Steriti was optimistic Monday afternoon that calmer, cooler weather would allow firefighters to get more of a handle on the fire. The high temperature for Camas is forecast to reach 77 degrees Tuesday, the National Weather Service shows.

“We’re not going to be getting those winds that we got over the weekend, so the conditions and weather are looking pretty good to make some really good advances in getting this fire under control,” she said Monday.

No structures have been destroyed and no one has been injured from the fire, she said. The fire was 5 percent contained Monday, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

Evacuation zones grew rapidly Sunday to include nearly 29,000 residences in the areas of Camas and Washougal under a Level 1 “Get Ready” warning. Estimates that night placed the fire at 2,000 acres until crews could get a better look at conditions Monday morning, according to Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency.

Clark County sheriff’s Sgt. Chris Skidmore said officials erred on the side of caution when setting evacuation zones. Sheriff’s office Search and Rescue crews knocked on about 600 doors Sunday to notify the residents they were under a Level 3 “Go Now” warning, Skidmore said.

But with more favorable weather Monday, authorities hoped to allow some to return home. About 2,500 people were still in warning zones, with 553 of under a Level 3 warning, according to CRESA.

Some roads also reopened Monday, including Northeast 53rd Street to Northeast 292nd Avenue and Northeast Blair Road at Washougal River Road to state Highway 500. Closures remained, as of Monday evening, in the areas of Lessard, Ireland, Livingston Mountain, Boulder Creek and Winters. The L1000 and L1400 roads are also still closed.

Rumors of rampant looting in evacuated areas are not true, Skidmore said, and deputies have been patrolling neighborhoods and road closure areas.

Steriti noted this summer has been one of the driest on record and said it’s not normal to have a wildfire like this so late in the year.

Sunday’s extreme weather conditions also sparked new fires, including the Black Hole Fire near Chelatchie Prairie. Officials issued a Level 1 warning for the northeast corner of Clark County and the northwest corner of Skamania County.

There’s no indication any new fires nearby sparked from the Nakia Creek Fire, Steriti said.

Those in need of help can reach the Emergency Operations Center for Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency at 360-992-9229. People can also sign up for phone and email alerts publicalerts.org/signup.

School closures

The Washougal School District will operate school with regular bell times Tuesday, the district announced Monday afternoon. The district closed schools Monday due to the fire.

As of the updated evacuation map shared Monday morning, no schools within district boundaries remained within evacuation zones.

Two of the Washougal district’s schools, Cape Horn-Skye Elementary School and Canyon Creek Middle School, had been previously located in the Level 3 evacuation area and were closed by the fire chief Sunday. Gause Elementary School was open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to provide on-site meals, support and recreational activities.

Schools in the Camas School District will again be open Tuesday. The district has modified several of its bus routes in accordance to fire evacuation zones, according to a district spokesperson.

Bus No. 6 will be canceled. Bus No. 3, No. 7 , No. 15, No. 66 and No. 68 will all be running with limited service due to road closures. The district said it will continue to monitor evacuation zones and make further adjustments accordingly.

Evergreen Public Schools sent out a message to families Sunday evening to let them know they were monitoring the situation via the Clark Regional Emergency Service Agency’s website. Monday’s evacuation map showed, just a handful of areas in the Evergreen district remain within the Level 1 boundary: Union High School, Frontier Middle School and Pioneer Elementary School.

Mount Pleasant schools were closed Monday. There was no word, as of Monday afternoon, if they would reopen Tuesday.

Poor air quality

Air quality ranged between moderate and unhealthy Monday in parts of Clark County as a result of the wildfire smoke.

The Vancouver area is expected to be in the moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups air quality range for the next few days, while areas closer to the fire, such as Battle Ground and Yacolt, are predicted to be in the unhealthy to hazardous level, according to Uri Papish, executive director of the Southwest Clean Air Agency.

The agency is extending its air quality advisory through Thursday when a stronger wind flow is expected to push the smoke east, according to Papish.

Papish recommends that people who may be more sensitive limit their time spent outdoors, limit strenuous activity and limit indoor air pollution by not burning candles or incense and keeping doors and windows closed.

If you are outside in areas with unhealthy for sensitive groups to hazardous air quality, Papish strongly recommends wearing a snug-fitting KN95 mask. Less-secure medical masks will not do much to help avoid inhaling particulate matter, according to Papish.

People at an increased risk for problems from decreased air quality include children, those over 65, people with heart and lung disease, people with respiratory infections, pregnant people and people who smoke, among others, according to a press release sent out by Clark County Public Health. The release did note that “even healthy people can have symptoms or health problems” when the air is smoky.

Some symptoms include: sore throat, headaches, burning eyes, coughing, shortness of breath and chest pain. If you are experiencing more severe symptoms, like shortness of breath or chest pain, the release urges individuals to seek medical attention.

“Check the air monitoring network,” Papish said. “Stay indoors and take measures to protect (your health).”

For up-to-date information on air quality in your area visit www.swcleanair.gov, airnow.gov or wasmoke.blogspot.com.



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US

Nakia Creek Fire breaks through containment lines, evacuation areas cover much of east Clark County

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The Nakia Creek Fire in east Clark County has doubled in size as early Sunday afternoon, prompting a significant expansion of mandatory evacuation zones into the rural outskirts of Camas and Washougal and warning zones as far away as Hockinson and east Vancouver.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office reported around 2:30 p.m. that the fire had broken through containment lines and is aggressively moving to the west and southwest.

The fire, which was last estimated at 156 acres, is now estimated at about 350 acres, according to the Department of Natural Resources

A large smoke plume, blowing generally east to west, became visible throughout the metro area late Sunday morning as fire activity picked up. 

As of 1:45 p.m., a DNR spokeswoman described the situation as “very fluid” and said the department is putting its focus on evacuations. High winds and smoke have hindered efforts to fight the fire and get a better sense of where it’s burning.

Evacuation zones have expanded repeatedly throughout Sunday and may expand more, officials warned.

A shelter location has been opened at Camas Church of Nazarene, 2204 N.E. Birch St, Camas.

For livestock shelter, call  360-607-2535 for assistance. Livestock can be taken to Clark County Fairgrounds, 17402 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield.

Level 3 “Go Now” mandatory evacuation area has expanded to include the Larch Mountain Corrections Center and outlying areas in Camas and Washougal, including the Bear Prairie and the Ireland area near Livingston Mountain.

Level 2 “Get Set” voluntary evacuation area now expands into Hockinson and north Camas and Washougal.

Level 1 “Get Ready” warnings extend throughout Camas and Washougal and as far west as Northeast 182nd Avenue and as far north and Northeast Sunset Falls Road.

Those in “Level 3 Go Now” should evacuate to the south toward Washougal River Road into Washougal. Authorities are working with the American Red Cross to open a shelter location in Washougal. A location will be announced once information is available.

“Please understand that this is a very dynamic situation and if you are anywhere near this area, you should take precautions to evacuate,” a bulletin from CRESA said.

The fire activity has increased as the area remains under a red flag warning for wind and low humidity levels through 6 p.m. Sunday. Southeast winds of 10-20 mph are forecast in the area of the fire, with gusts up to 30 mph and humidity as low as 22 percent.

The National Weather Service reported that an air quality alert remains in effect for the area through 5 p.m. Monday. The AirNow.gov website shows air quality in the moderate to unhealthy in parts of Southwest Washington due to wildfire smoke.

The Nakia Creek Fire started on Oct. 9 in an extremely steep area covered with a mix of brush, medium logging slash and timber. Prior to the fire’s expansion Sunday containment was estimated at 20 percent.

The fire had been smoldering and creeping with some torching observed and short-range spotting. Fire managers said the potential for fire growth remains, and containment lines are being put in place.

This story will be updated.



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World

Russia Urges Evacuation of Occupied Kherson, Steels for Ukrainian Advance

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KYIV, Ukraine—Russian-installed officials in occupied areas of Ukraine amplified calls for residents to leave the south as Kyiv’s forces step up their campaign to retake the region and Russia builds fortifications to thwart their advance.

Ukraine has recaptured vast swaths of land in southern Kherson as its forces push toward the regional capital, having severed key Russian supply lines with attacks on bridges and other infrastructure Moscow has used for months to keep its troops equipped and send in reinforcements.

“It’s no secret that shelling of Kherson region is dangerous first and foremost for civilians,” Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-appointed deputy head of Kherson, said in a video address on Friday, adding that attacks on a dam across the Dnipro River could cause major floods in the region.

Mr. Stremousov asked people not to panic and reiterated calls from Russian officials for Kherson residents to leave for Russian cities “to avoid casualties among the civilian population” as Russia worked to push Ukrainian forces back. He described the evacuations as “rest and recreation” trips.

A motorist drives by a Ukrainian tank in the eastern region of Donetsk.



Photo:

anatolii stepanov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

A member of Ukraine’s territorial defense takes Russian ammunition left behind in the Kharkiv region.



Photo:

Francisco Seco/Associated Press

Some 350 people want to leave Kherson, according to Volodymyr Saldo, the region’s Russian-appointed leader, cited by Russian state news agency TASS. He said the recommendation to leave was voluntary.

Calls for an evacuation from Kherson come amid growing concerns among Russian pundits and pro-Kremlin public figures that Moscow’s lines of defense risk collapsing, despite a military mobilization of tens of thousands of Russian men who were meant to stabilize Russia’s position and shore up its control over occupied areas.

Russian military bloggers supportive of the invasion of Ukraine have lambasted the country’s military leadership after reports of numerous front-line deaths this week among the newly mobilized men. Many new recruits are arriving in Ukraine with minimal training and often outdated equipment, according to analysts and Ukrainian officials.

Videos posted to social media show some Russian prisoners of war identifying themselves as mobilized soldiers, recounting their journeys to the front line and details of their capture by Ukrainian troops. Russian military bloggers, who aren’t subject to the censorship imposed at state media outlets that whitewash Russia’s campaign, have dismissed official figures that play down the country’s losses.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this week acknowledged that mistakes were made during the mobilization process and said that measures are being taken to fix them.

A girl stands outside the remains of her school in Konstantinovka, in the Donetsk region.



Photo:

yasuyoshi chiba/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The Kremlin has been under pressure to escalate in Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces bear down on Russian troops defending occupied territory, seeking to recapture as much land as possible before the onset of winter and the logistical challenges it brings. Western and Ukrainian officials say Russia’s stock of advanced weaponry is being depleted after months of intense combat.

Russia has launched missile strikes against infrastructure across Ukraine this week, but its campaign to take territory has stalled since July, and fortunes on the battlefield have dramatically turned since Kyiv staged a lightning advance that recaptured most of the northeastern Kharkiv region last month and retook a large part of the Kherson region from Russia.

Unable to move forward in the south and north, Russian forces have focused on accomplishing a task that has eluded them for months: seizing the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, which would open up their route to the major population centers of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.

The U.K.’s Defense Ministry said on Friday that Russia’s forces had made tactical advances toward the center of Bakhmut and captured two settlements next to the city.

“Russia continues to prosecute offensive operations in central Donbas and is, very slowly, making progress,” the ministry said, referring to the eastern area made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. “However, its overall operational design is undermined by the Ukrainian pressure against its northern and southern flanks, and by severe shortages of munitions and manpower.”

This week’s strikes on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine, Moscow’s response to Kyiv’s attack on a strategic bridge that links Russian territory with the occupied Crimean Peninsula, went some way toward appeasing hard-liners in Russia’s leadership and nationalists clamoring for President

Vladimir Putin

to officially declare war on Ukraine and reorganize the military leadership.

Satellite images from Wednesday show repair work on the Kerch Bridge after a major blast damaged a vital link for Russian troops fighting in Ukraine. Cargo truck drivers waited in long lines for days to leave Russian-occupied Crimea. Photo: Maxar Technologies/Associated Press

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S.-based think tank, says that in the absence of such decisions, “the Kremlin remains trapped in a cycle of appeasing its pro-war constituencies but retaining Russian President Vladimir Putin’s vision of a limited war in Ukraine that is incompatible with their demands and expectations.”

The missile barrage this week was Russia’s broadest and most intense of the war, targeting electricity substations and other objects with more than 80 missiles and drones. Ukraine’s air defenses shot down roughly half of the Russian missiles on Monday, but the attacks have continued throughout the week.

“Russian rockets are still capable of driving Ukraine into bomb shelters,” Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky

said in a video address posted on Friday. “But none of our people are shaking there. Ukrainians sing in the shelters.”

Russia’s Investigative Committee said Friday that an ammunition depot blew up in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian army. The incident left people dead and wounded, the committee said. Kyiv didn’t immediately comment.

—Georgi Kantchev contributed to this article.

Write to Matthew Luxmoore at Matthew.Luxmoore@wsj.com

Georgian volunteers in Kyiv gather at the funeral of a comrade killed fighting for Ukraine.



Photo:

Efrem Lukatsky/Associated Press

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