Page 27 - bon-dia-aruba-20220729

A27
u.s. news Diabierna 29 Juli 2022

Flooding in central Appalachia kills at least 3 in Kentucky

(AP) — Rescue workers throughout the night helping
plucked people off roof- people stranded by the rising
tops amid fast-rising water waters in eastern Kentucky’s
Thursday in central Ap- Perry County, where Emer-
palachia, where torrential gency Management Director
rains unleashed devastat- Jerry Stacy called it a “cata-
ing flooding that caused strophic event.”
at least three deaths in
Kentucky. “We’re just in the rescue
mode right now,” Stacy said,
Gov. Andy Beshear an- speaking with The Associ-
nounced the deaths but grim- ated Press by phone as he
ly predicted the state’s death struggled to reach his office
toll could reach double digits. in Hazard. “Extreme flash
He said hundreds of proper- flooding and mudslides are
ties could be destroyed. just everywhere.”
“In a word, this event is dev- The storms hit an Appa-
astating,” the governor said lachian mountain region
Thursday. “And I do believe where communities and
it will end up being one of homes are built on steep hill-
the most significant, deadly sides or down in the hollows
floods that we have had in between them, where the
Kentucky in at least a very only flat land often shoulders
long time. One emergency official in “Guys, I don’t know how Poweroutage.us reported creeks and streams that can
hard-hit eastern Kentucky much more rain Buckhorn more than 31,000 customers rise in a hurry. But this one is
“There are going to be a lot described the situation as can handle,” Marlene Abner without electricity in eastern far worse than a typical flood,
of people out there that need “catastrophic” as rescue crews Stokely said in a video she Kentucky, West Virginia and said Stacy, 54.
our help,” he added. “There’s searched for stranded peo- posted on Facebook, show- Virginia.
going to be a lot of people ple. Rising waters swamped ing how Squabble Creek “I’ve lived here in Perry
that are going to be displaced. roads, displaced families and overflowed and swamped a “There are a lot of people in County all my life and this is
And this is yet another disas- caused widespread damage historic Kentucky church. eastern Kentucky on top of by the far the worst event I’ve
ter that is going to take some “You can see it is pretty much roofs waiting to be rescued,” ever seen,” he said.
time to rebuild.” Flash flooding and mudslides taken over.” Beshear said earlier Thurs-
were reported across the day. “There are a number of Roads in many areas weren’t
Beshear was referencing the mountainous region of east- In Breathitt County in east- people that are unaccounted passable after as much as 6
rebuilding underway in west- ern Kentucky, western Vir- ern Kentucky, floodwaters for and I’m nearly certain this inches (15 centimeters) of
ern Kentucky, where sev- ginia and southern West Vir- covered roads and swamped is a situation where we are rain had fallen in some ar-
eral towns were devastated ginia, where thunderstorms homes and businesses. A vol- going to lose some of them.” eas by Thursday, and 1-3
by deadly tornadoes late last have dumped several inches unteer fire department had to more inches (7.5 centime-
year. of rain over the past few days. abandon its flooded-out sta- Youtube video thumbnail ters) could fall, the National
tion, authorities said. Rescue crews worked Weather Service said.

US economy shrinks for a 2nd quarter, raising recession fear

(AP) — The U.S. econ- whole is also grappling with Many of them point, in par- may be moving toward ap-
omy shrank from April Higher borrowing rates, a high inflation and weakening ticular, to a still-robust labor proving action to fight infla-
through June for a second consequence of the Federal growth, especially after Rus- market, with 11 million job tion under an agreement an-
straight quarter, contract- Reserve’s series of rate hikes, sia’s invasion of Ukraine sent openings and an uncom- nounced Wednesday by Sen-
ing at a 0.9% annual pace clobbered home construc- energy and food prices soar- monly low 3.6% unemploy- ate Majority Leader Chuck
and raising fears that the tion, which shrank at a 14% ing. Europe, highly depen- ment rate, to suggest that a Schumer and Sen. Joe Man-
nation may be approach- annual rate. Government dent on Russian natural gas, recession, if one does occur, chin, a West Virginia Demo-
ing a recession. spending dropped, too. appears especially vulnerable isn’t here yet. crat. Among other things, the
to a recession. measure would allow Medi-
The decline that the Com- The report comes at a critical “The back-to-back contrac- care to negotiate prescription
merce Department reported time. Consumers and busi- In the United States, the in- tion of GDP will feed the de- drug prices with pharma-
Thursday in the gross do- nesses have been struggling flation surge and fear of a bate about whether the U.S. ceutical companies, and the
mestic product — the broad- under the weight of punish- recession have eroded con- is in, or soon headed for, a new revenue would be used
est gauge of the economy ing inflation and higher loan sumer confidence and stirred recession,” said Sal Guatieri, to lower costs for seniors on
— followed a 1.6% annual costs. On Wednesday, the Fed anxiety about the economy, senior economist at BMO medications.
drop from January through raised its benchmark rate by which is sending frustrat- Capital Markets. “The fact
March. Consecutive quarters a sizable three-quarters of ingly mixed signals. And that the economy created 2.7 In the wake of Thursday’s
of falling GDP constitute one a point for a second straight with the November midterm million payrolls in the first government report, Biden
informal, though not defini- time in its push to conquer elections nearing, Americans’ half of the year would seem dismissed any notion that the
tive, indicator of a recession. the worst inflation outbreak discontent has diminished to argue against an official re- data depicted an economy in
in four decades. President Joe Biden’s public cession call for now.” recession. The administra-
The GDP report for last approval ratings and could tion has stressed that solid
quarter pointed to weak- The Fed is hoping to achieve increase the likelihood that Still, Guatieri said, “the econ- job growth and low unem-
ness across the economy. a notoriously difficult “soft the Democrats will lose con- omy has quickly lost steam in ployment show that the U.S.
Consumer spending slowed landing”: An economic slow- trol of the House and Senate. the face of four-decade high economy is still growing de-
as Americans bought fewer down that manages to rein in inflation, rapidly rising bor- spite two consecutive quar-
goods. Business investment rocketing prices without trig- Fed Chair Jerome Powell rowing costs and a general terly declines in GDP. Speak-
fell. Inventories tumbled as gering a recession. and many economists have tightening in financial condi- ing from the White House,
businesses slowed their re- said that while the economy tions.” Biden leaned on remarks that
stocking of shelves, shaving 2 Apart from the United States, is showing some weakening, Powell and other economic
percentage points from GDP. the global economy as a they doubt it’s in recession. In the meantime, Congress leaders have made.