Drunk driver wrecks Oklahoma State homecoming, kills four people
According to The Washington Post 25-year-old Adacia Avery Chambers was driving a car that drove into a crowd at Oklahoma State University’s annual Homecoming parade in Stillwater, Oklahoma, injuring 47 people and killing four more, including a two-year-old child. Chambers is now facing second-degree murder charges. As of Saturday night, five victims were in the hospital in critical condition, while another 12 remained in six different hospitals for treatment. The other 30 have been treated and released from hospitals. A bystander guessed that Chambers’ 2014 Hyundai Elantra was traveling at more than 40 mph before barreling in to the crowd towards the end of the procession. Oklahoma State’s Homecoming game went on as scheduled.
State officials say a minimum 10,000 dams are not regulated
According to The State, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division has estimated somewhere between 10,000 to 20,000 dams are not regulated by government dam safety. About 23 dams in the Columbia area collapsed due October 4th rainfall, contributing even more to last month’s historic rainfall and subsequent flooding. 2,400 dams are overseen by the state, while federal agencies oversee a few more major dams in the state (at Lake Murray and Fort Jackson). However, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ national dam inventory lists only 112 dams in Richland County, only one-quarter of which are in the Columbia area’s Gills Creek watershed where more than 100,000 people live.
Mexico spared of major damage as Patricia weakens
The most powerful hurricane ever recorded at sea, Hurricane Patricia, has dissipated in Mexico after the former Category 5 storm touched down in the southwestern area of the country on Friday, according to CNN. Thousands were evacuated as the storm’s 165-mph winds wreaked havoc on the area. Heavy rains caused mudslides, but late Saturday night Patricia was downgraded to a tropical depression with 35-mph wind as the mountainous terrain sapped much of the storm’s momentum. At the moment, there are no confirmed reports of storm-related deaths or major damage to the country’s infrastructure.