FARGO, N.D. — Numerous workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are in flood-threatened Fargo — including the agency’s acting administrator Nancy Ward. Ward said she wanted to see the situation firsthand to better understand the challenges. She said the New Orleans hurricanes taught FEMA that it must have people on the scene sooner and work with local and state governments to make sure the agency offers the help they need. She complimented local leaders for their organized response to the surging Red River, and noted the spirit of the volunteers filling sandbags.
Missouri: Ice shuts airport
Kansas City International Airport has reopened after canceling and delaying dozens of flights because of a mix of freezing rain and snow. Airport officials said they reopened the airport around 3:30 p.m. Saturday after closing it to departing and arriving flights for two hours and 15 minutes. They said maintenance crews couldn’t keep up with waves of freezing rain and snow that began moving into the Kansas City area Saturday morning and that conditions had been too slick for aircraft to operate safely.
Massachusetts: Viral woes
A college is shutting down for several days after 100 students and staff were sickened by a virus that causes stomach flu. Students and faculty have been afflicted with severe nausea and vomiting at Babson College in Wellesley, just southwest of Boston. The college has about 3,400 undergraduate and graduate students. It’s expected to be closed until at least Wednesday while campus buildings are cleaned. A State Department of Health spokesman said the norovirus is “miserable” but isn’t life threatening.
New York: Pedestrian death
A van driver has been arrested on manslaughter and other charges after police said he plowed onto a midtown Manhattan sidewalk at rush hour, killing a pregnant woman and seriously hurting another woman. Twenty-seven-year-old Keston Brown of the Bronx has also been arrested on charges of felonious assault and driving while intoxicated in Friday’s wreck. The wreck killed Ysemny Ramos, a 29-year-old mother of two from Brooklyn. Some witnesses said the van’s driver and a passenger had been driving alongside the women, catcalling them.
Indonesia: Death toll hits 91
Rescue officials said the number of people killed when a dam burst outside the Indonesian capital has climbed to 91. The toll is expected to rise with more than 100 still missing. The flooding occurred Friday when a large lake bordering a low-lying residential area southwest of Jakarta overflowed following a torrential downpour. Water first cascaded over the rim of the Dutch-colonial dam and then, hours later, a huge section of the earth wall tore away, sending muddy water crashing into homes like a tsunami, tossing cars, uprooting trees and dragging bodies for miles.
Somalia: Pirates release ship
A gas tanker that was hijacked by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa in January was released Saturday with all 13 crew members unharmed, a company that manages the vessel said. The Longchamp was loaded with liquefied petroleum gas when it was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on Jan. 29. It is registered in the Bahamas and managed by Hamburg-based Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement. A company spokesman declined to comment on how the release was achieved. The ship was en route from Norway to Vietnam when it was hijacked.
Chile: U.S. keeps Cuba policy
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday that the United States is not planning to lift its trade embargo on Cuba. Biden, who was in the Chilean resort city of Vina del Mar for a summit of center-left leaders from Latin America and Europe, replied “no” when asked by reporters if Washington plans to scrap the decades-old embargo. He and President Barack Obama “think that Cuban people should determine their own fate and they should be able to live in freedom,” Biden said after taking part in the Progressive Governance Summit.
Aruba: Search for U.S. teen
Authorities in Aruba are helping a U.S. private investigator search a pond for signs of missing U.S. teen Natalee Holloway despite having no new leads in the case. Firefighters are using a hose to blast mud and debris out of a pond that witnesses previously identified as a possible location for her remains. The pond was drained for the search. The investigator said Saturday they are still searching. He was hired by Holloway’s father to search the pond even though it has been scoured before.
From Herald news services
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