More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Damage to critical infrastructure and the arrival of more heavy rains hampered efforts Sunday to help Kentucky residents hit by recent massive flooding, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
As residents in Appalachia tried to slowly piece their lives back together, flash flood warnings were issued for at least seven eastern Kentucky counties. The National Weather Service said radar indicated up to 4 inches (10.2 centimetres) of rain fell Sunday in some areas, with more rain possible.
Beshear said the death toll climbed to 26 on Sunday from last week's storms, a number he expected to rise significantly and that it could take weeks to find all the victims.
As many as 37 people were unaccounted for, according to a daily briefing from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). A dozen shelters were open for flood victims in Kentucky with 388 occupants on Sunday.
Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the U.S. National Guard Bureau, told The Associated Press about 400 people have been rescued by National Guard helicopter. He estimated that the guard had rescued close to 20 by boat from hard-to-access areas.
At a news conference in Knott County, Beshear praised the fast arrival of FEMA trailers but noted the numerous challenges.
"We have dozens of bridges that are out -- making it hard to get to people, making it hard to supply people with water," he said. "We have entire water systems down that we are working hard to get up."
Beshear said it will remain difficult, even a week from now, to "have a solid number on those accounted for. It's communications issues -- it's also not necessarily, in some of these areas, having a firm number of how many people were living there in the first place."
The governor also talked about the selflessness he's seen among Kentucky residents suffering from the floods.
"Many people that have lost everything but they're not even getting goods for themselves, they're getting them for other people in their neighbourhoods, making sure that their neighbours are OK," Beshear said.
Among the stories of survival that continue to emerge, a 17-year-old girl whose home in Whitesburg was flooded Thursday put her dog in a plastic container and swam 70 yards to safety on a neighbour's roof. Chloe Adams waited hours until daylight before a relative in a kayak arrived and moved them to safety, first taking her dog, Sandy, and then the teenager.
"My daughter is safe and whole tonight," her father, Terry Adams, said in a Facebook post. "We lost everything today ... everything except what matters most."
On an overcast morning in downtown Hindman, about 200 miles (322 kilometres) southeast of Louisville, a crew cleared debris piled along storefronts. Nearby, a vehicle was perched upside down in Troublesome Creek, now back within its debris-littered banks.
Workers toiled nonstop through mud-caked sidewalks and roads.
"We're going to be here unless there's a deluge," said Tom Jackson, who is among the workers.
Jackson was with a crew from Corbin, Ky., where he's the city's recycling director, about a two-hour drive from Hindman.
His crew worked all day Saturday, and the mud and debris were so thick that they managed to clear one-eighth of a mile of roadway. The water rushing off the hillsides had so much force that it bent road signs.
"I've never seen water like this," Jackson said.
Attendance was down for the Sunday morning service at Hindman's First Baptist Church. Parishioners who rarely miss a service were instead back home tending to cleanup duties caused by floodwaters and mud.
The Rev. Mike Caudill said his church has pitched in to help the reeling community, serving meals and setting up tents for people to pick up cleaning and personal hygiene supplies.
Totes filled with clothes and photos were stacked on retired teacher Teresa Perry Reynolds' front porch, along with furniture too badly damaged to salvage.
"There are memories there," she said of the family photos she and her husband were able to gather.
Her husband's wallet, lost as they escaped the fast-rising water Thursday to go to a neighbour's house, was later found.
"All I know is I'm homeless and I've got people taking care of me," she said.
Parts of eastern Kentucky received between 8 and 10 1/2 inches (20-27 centimetres) over 48 hours. About 13,000 utility customers in Kentucky remained without power Sunday, poweroutage.us reported.
U.S. President Joe Biden declared a federal disaster to direct relief money to more than a dozen Kentucky counties.
Last week's flooding extended to West Virginia, where Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for six southern counties, and to Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin also made an emergency declaration that enabled officials to mobilize resources across the flooded southwest portion of the state.
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Raby reported from Charleston, W.Va. Associated Press writer Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this report.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
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A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”