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SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) —
With already-saturated soils and flooded roads, East Coast states were bracing for another day of dreary, possibly dangerous weather Friday but got some comfort as forecasters said the powerful Hurricane Joaquin would likely stay out at sea.
Separate from Joaquin, the rainstorm that was already hitting the coast was being blamed for at least one death in South Carolina, where heavy rain has fallen for days.
Governors declared states of emergency in at least five states as forecasters warned of flash floods from historic Charleston, South Carolina, to Washington, D.C. — regardless of whether Joaquin comes ashore or tracks farther out to sea.
Many feared the dangerous Category 4 hurricane would give the rainstorms an added punch. But on Friday, U.S. National Hurricane Center director Rick Knabb said Joaquin was no longer expected to make a direct hit.
"The models have become much more in agreement and we are pretty confident the hurricane is going to pass well offshore of the East Coast of the U.S.," Knabb said.
But that didn't mean the danger was over.
"I know we like to focus on the hurricane," said David Novak, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. But whatever track Joaquin takes, "we're becoming increasingly confident and concerned about the heavy rainfall."
Streets and homes can still get walloped with rain and flooding associated with the hurricane even if it is 1,000 miles away, forecasters said. And because Joaquin can keep funneling tropical moisture into storm No. 1 from afar, even an out-to-sea Joaquin can worsen flooding.
The certainty of additional damaging rains and floods in coming days prompted governors to declare states of emergency in Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
The fatal unpredictability of the rain was shown when a Thursday morning downpour dumped 4 inches on Spartanburg, South Carolina in a short time, causing flash floods that submerged several cars.
Sylvia Arteaga was driving home after a night shift at Grace Management Group on Thursday morning when authorities said the floodwaters trapped her underneath a railroad bridge at the edge of Spartanburg, drowning the 56-year-old woman.
Hattie Palafox, a middle-school teacher and family friend, described Arteaga as a "very sweet, very kind, very loving" mother of 17- and 20-year-old daughters. Palafox said she had discussed the weather forecast with Arteaga earlier this week, but she hadn't seemed concerned about the expected heavy rains.
"She was very, very soft-spoken. I couldn't say enough about her," Palafox said after placing a bouquet of flowers at Arteaga's home, not far from where she died.
Palafox said she made it a point to keep up with Arteaga and her two daughters after Arteaga's husband died of a heart attack two years ago.
Authorities around the region have warned of saturated soil giving way to falling trees, which officials said might have played a role in a death near Fayetteville, North Carolina. North Carolina Highway Patrol Lt. Jeff Gordon said the fatal crash happened on Interstate 95 about 1:30 p.m. when a tree fell across the road, hitting two vehicles.
Gordon says the passenger in one of the vehicles died, and the driver was taken to the hospital. There was no word on the survivor's condition, and the driver of the second vehicle was not hurt.
Gordon said the area has had a lot of rain in the past several days. The National Weather Service reported light rain and winds of about 10 mph around the time of the crash.
Elsewhere, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued 12 people who abandoned their 212-foot cargo ship that began taking on water north of Haiti. Coast Guard officials in Miami said the rescue took place Thursday evening as the area experienced heavy weather caused by Hurricane Joaquin. There were no major injuries reported.
ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) —
Armed with multiple guns, a 26-year-old man walked into a morning writing class at a community college in this rural Oregon town and opened fire, hitting some students with multiple gunshots. One witness said the attacker demanded to know students' religion before shooting them.
Students in a classroom next door heard several shots, one right after the next, and their teacher told them to leave.
"We began to run," student Hannah Miles said. "A lot of my classmates were going every which way. We started to run to the center of campus. And I turned around, and I saw students pouring out of the building."
At least nine people were killed and seven others wounded Thursday, the fourth day of classes at Umpqua Community College in this former timber town 180 miles south of Portland. The worst mass shooting in recent Oregon history was raising questions about security at the college with about 3,000 students.
"I suspect this is going to start a discussion across the country about how community colleges prepare themselves for events like this," former college president Joe Olson said.
The killer was identified as Chris Harper Mercer, according to a government official who was not authorized to speak publicly and provided the name on condition of anonymity. The gunman died following a shootout with police. Police were not saying whether they knew of any motive.
Mercer lived in an apartment complex in nearby Winchester, where investigators found a number of firearms, Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said Friday. Details about the number and type of guns would be released later, he said.
A neighbor, Bronte Harte, told The Associated Press that Mercer "seemed really unfriendly" and would "sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light."
Harte said a woman she believed to be Mercer's mother also lived upstairs and was "crying her eyes out" Thursday.
Social profiles linked to Mercer suggested he was fascinated by the IRA, frustrated by traditional organized religion and tracked other mass shootings.
There didn't seem to be many recent connections on the social media sites linked to Mercer, with his MySpace page just showing two friends.
In addition to the MySpace page, Mercer appeared to have at least one online dating profile, a torrents streaming account and a blog.
On a torrents streaming site and blog that appeared to belong to Mercer, posts referenced multiple shootings and downloads included several horror films and a documentary on a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. A blog post urged readers to watch the online footage of Vester Flanagan shooting two former colleagues on live TV in Virginia, while another lamented materialism as preventing spiritual development.
A MySpace page that appeared to belong to Mercer included several photos and graphics of the Irish Republican Army as well as a picture of Mercer holding a rifle.
Mercer previously lived in the Los Angeles-area suburb of Torrance with his mother. Neighbors there recalled him as uncommunicative.
His father, Ian Mercer, said late Thursday that it's been a "devastating day" for him and his family, and he has been talking to police and the FBI about the shooting. He spoke to KABC-TV and several other media outlets gathered outside his house in Tarzana, California.
Step-sister Carmen Nesnick said the shooting didn't make sense.
"All he ever did was put everyone before himself, he wanted everyone to be happy," she told KCBS-TV.
Hanlin, the sheriff, said Thursday that he was not going to say the shooter's name because that's what he would have wanted.
"I will not name the shooter. I will not give him the credit he probably sought prior to this horrific and cowardly act," said a visibly angry Hanlin.
Hundreds went to a candlelight vigil Thursday night, with many raising candles as the hymn "Amazing Grace" was played.
Sam Sherman, a former student, said the school helped broaden his opportunities.
"That's all I could think about today. There's 10, 9 kids who won't get those doors opened," he said.
Roseburg is in Douglas County, a politically conservative region west of the Cascade Range where people like to hunt and fish. But it's no stranger to school gun violence. A freshman at the local high school shot and wounded a fellow student in 2006.
After Thursday's shooting, anguished parents and other relatives rushed to surviving students.
Jessica Chandler was desperately seeking information about her 18-year-old daughter, Rebecka Carnes.
"I don't know where she is. I don't know if she's wounded," Chandler said.
Carnes' best friend told Chandler that her daughter had been flown by helicopter to a hospital.
Students described utter fear and panic after hearing the shots.
Sarah Cobb, 17, was in a next-door classroom. She heard a shot. A teacher said they needed to get out, and the class ran out the door as she heard two more shots.
"I was freaking out. I didn't know what to think, what to do," she said.
Before the Roseburg shooting, a posting on the message-board site 4chan included a photo of a crudely drawn frog used regularly in Internet memes with a gun and warned other users not to go to school Thursday in the Northwest.
The messages that followed spoke of mass shootings, with some egging on and even offering tips to the original poster. It was unclear if the messages were tied to the shooting because of the largely anonymous nature of the site.
Investigators went door to door in the neighborhoods near the college and the shooter's apartment seeking clues, Hanlin said Friday.
The sheriff has been vocal in opposing state and federal gun-control legislation. In 2013, Hanlin sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden after the shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school, declaring that he and his deputies would refuse to enforce new gun-control restrictions "offending the constitutional rights of my citizens."
ROSEBURG, Ore. (AP) —
A gunman opened fire at an Oregon community college Thursday, killing at least 13 people before he died during an exchange of gunfire with police, authorities said.
The shooting happened at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, about 180 miles south of Portland. The local fire district advised people via Twitter to stay away from the school.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said 13 people are dead. State police Lt. Bill Fugate told KATU-TV that at least 20 others were hurt.
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin said the 20-year-old gunman was killed during an exchange of gunfire with officers. The sheriff did not say whether the shooter was killed by officers or took his own life.
"We locked our door, and I went out to lock up the restrooms and could hear four shots from the front of campus," UCC Foundation Executive Director Dennis O'Neill told the Roseburg News-Review.
A photographer for the newspaper said he saw people being loaded into multiple ambulances and taken to the local hospital.
The school has about 3,000 students. Its website was down Thursday, and a phone message left at the college was not immediately returned.
Neither state police nor the sheriff's office immediately returned calls from The Associated Press seeking details.
The sheriff's office reported on Twitter that it received a call about the shooting at 10:38 a.m. Students and faculty members were being bused to the county fairgrounds, the sheriff's office said.
Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg reported that it had received nine patients from the shooting, with more on the way.
Former UCC President Joe Olson, who retired in June after four years, said the school had no formal security staff, just one officer on a shift.
One of the biggest debates on campus last year was whether to post armed security officers on campus to respond to a shooting.
"I suspect this is going to start a discussion across the country about how community colleges prepare themselves for events like this," he said.
The White House said President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation by his Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco. He was to continue receiving updates throughout the day.
The rural town of Roseburg lies west of the Cascade Mountains in an area where the timber industry has struggled. In recent years, officials have tried to promote the region as a tourist destination for vineyards and outdoor activities.