TCI'S THURSDAY AND FRIDAY WEATHER FORECAST
FORECAST FOR THURSDAY
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY, HOT, AND A BIT BREEZY WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS POSSIBLE.
WINDS: EAST TO SOUTHEAST AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS
SEAS: 4 TO 6 FEET
SUNRISE: 6:11 AM
SUNSET: 7:35 PM
HIGH TIDE: 10:13 AM (2.3 FT) 10:52 PM (3.0 FT)
LOW TIDE: 04:30 AM (0.7 FT) 04:26 PM (0.3 FT)
FORECAST FOR FRIDAY
WEATHER: PARTLY SUNNY, HOT, AND A BIT BREEZY.
WINDS: EAST TO SOUTHEAST AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS
SEAS: 4 TO 6 FEET
SUNRISE: 6:11 AM
SUNSET: 7:35 PM
HIGH TIDE: 11:09 AM (2.3 FT) 11:43 PM (2.6 FT)
LOW TIDE: 05:18 AM (0.7 FT) 05:22 PM (0.7 FT)
TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK: TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT SEVEN DAYS.
Thousands flee refugee camp after Israel carries out deadly raid on Palestinian city of Jenin
Thousands of people have fled a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank after Israel launched a deadly military operation on Monday.
At least 10 people have been killed and dozens wounded in the Palestinian city of Jenin after Israel carried out a wave of drone strikes and sent in hundreds of troops.
Several cities in the West Bank have reportedly declared a general strike for Tuesday in solidarity with Palestinians in the Jenin camp, which had been home to around 14,000 people.
It is Israel's most intense military operation in the West Bank in nearly 20 years and it's reminiscent of its military tactics during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s.
The operation comes at a time of growing domestic pressure for a harsh response to recent attacks on Israeli settlers, including a shooting last month that killed four Israelis.
Airstrikes started at 1.14 am on Monday using armed drones and destroyed a target in the center of Jenin's refugee camp, close to UN-funded schools.
Israel described it as a joint operations center "used as an advanced observation and reconnaissance center, a place where armed terrorists would gather before and after terrorist activities, a site for the armament of weapons and explosives, and as a hub for coordination and communication among the terrorists".
On Tuesday, a senior aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel was close to completing its Jenin operation.
The Islamic Jihad faction claimed four of the dead as its fighters. Hamas, another Islamist faction, claimed a fifth. It was not immediately clear if the other five fatalities - males aged 17 to 23 - were combatants or civilians.
he Israeli military said it had confirmation of nine Palestinians killed by its forces. All were combatants, it said.
Offices and businesses across the occupied West Bank were expected to close on Tuesday in response to calls for a general strike to protest the operation, which the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas has described as a "war crime".
Source- Sky News
‘Generations Of Haitians’ At Risk
In Port-au-Prince on Saturday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed solidarity with the Haitian people “facing a terrible and mutually reinforcing cycle of… crises”, and urged the deployment of an international force to assist the National Police in combating gang violence.
The UN chief expressed deep concern at the extreme vulnerability faced by the Haitian people – especially women and girls – because of brutally violent and “predatory” armed gangs, like those encircling the capital, blocking main roads, and controlling access to water, food, and health care.
“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the widespread sexual violence which the armed gangs have used as a weapon to instill fear,” he said, calling on the entire international community to urgently “put the victims and the civilian population at the center of our concerns and priorities.”
Speaking to reporters in the Haitian capital, Mr. Guterres said that lasting and fully representative political solutions in Haiti would be impossible without a drastic improvement in the security situation.
“Every day counts. If we do not act now, instability and violence will have a lasting impact on generations of Haitians,” warned the Secretary-General, calling on all partners to increase their support for the national police through financing, training, or equipment.
However, such assistance alone might not be enough to restore the authority of the State.
“I continue to urge the Security Council to authorize the immediate deployment of a robust international force to assist the Haitian National Police in its fight against the gangs,” emphasized the UN chief.
During his one-day visit to the Haitian capital, the Secretary-General met with Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the High Transitional Council, members of civil society, and the political parties, speaking to them on the need for a political entente to end the crisis.
“I call on all actors to create the conditions necessary for the restoration of democratic institutions,” said Mr. Guterres, inviting all parties involved to “rise above personal interests and make concessions” enabling the emergence of a common vision and setting a viable and credible electoral pathway.
He commended the recent inter-Haitian talks, facilitated by the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group, aimed at reaching an agreement on the formation of a national unity government and the expansion of the High Transitional Council.
“Only an inclusive national dialogue – with the full participation of women and young people – will help end the insecurity and find lasting political solutions,” Mr. Guterres said and added that the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) and the entire UN system would continue to back these efforts.
While in Port-au-Prince, the Secretary-General met local men and women.
“I felt all the exhaustion of a people who have long been grappling with a cascade of crises and unacceptable living conditions. I listened to their call for help,” said the UN chief, noting that currently, one in two Haitians lives in extreme poverty, suffers from hunger, and does not have regular access to drinking water.
With the Haitian people facing such grave challenges, the Secretary-General lamented that the UN humanitarian response plan, which requires $720 million to assist more than three million people, is only 23 percent funded.
It is “a matter of solidarity and moral justice” that the international community step up, he stated.
He specially commended the courage and dedication of humanitarian workers who provide assistance despite many obstacles and asked all stakeholders to uphold human rights and international law and to ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access to people in need in Haiti.
Only inclusive and sustainable development will help to break the historical cycle of crises, address the humanitarian and security challenges, and create a stable constitutional and political environment, stated the UN chief.
“No solution can be found without the Haitian people,” he continued but acknowledged that the scale of the problems demands the full support of the international community.
To garner that and more, the Secretary-General said that he is heading on Sunday to Trinidad and Tobago, where he will participate in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit, which brings together the region’s 20 countries, among others.
Source- Caribbean News Now
TCI Sports Commission hosts 2023 National Sport Governing Bodies Annual General Meeting
National Sports Governing Body (NGB) executives in the Turks and Caicos Islands gathered at the Gustavus Lightbourne Sports Complex on June 15 for the National Sport Governing Body Annual General Meeting.
NGB executives and TCI Sports Commission met to discuss the advancement of sport in the Turks and Caicos Islands. In the time spent, fruitful discussions were held including topics such as sports regulations, policy and strategic plan development; sport funding and financial management; long-term athlete development; child safeguarding in sports; coaches and officials education; marketing and public relations; sports facilities development; hosting of international competitions; grassroots and youth sports programmes; community sport initiatives, anti-doping in sport; and athlete preparation for podium finishes.
In attendance were NGB Executives:
· Edith Cox – Executive – Turks and Caicos Commonwealth Games Association
· Godfrey Been – President – Turks and Caicos Commonwealth Games Association
· Paula Virgil – Vice President – Turks and Caicos Softball Federation – Vice President
· Edith Skippings – President – Turks and Caicos Amateur Athletics Association
· Rosalie Ingham-Hall – General Secretary – Turks and Caicos Amateur Athletics Association/Turks and Caicos Commonwealth Games Association
· Michael Pereira – President – Turks and Caicos Islands Cricket Association
· Brent Robinson – Representative – Turks and Caicos National Darts Association
· Oliver Smith – General Secretary – Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association
· Dane Ritchie – Technical Director – Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association
· Frazer Dodds – President – Turks and Caicos Islands Golf Association
· Trevor Cooke – President – Turks and Caicos Islands Basketball Association
· Ezekiel Hall – Executive – Turks and Caicos Islands Swim Federation
Turks and Caicos Islands Sports Commission representatives included Director of Sports Jarrett Forbes, Deputy Director Alvin Parker, Compliance and Support Manager Joddy Harvey, Sports Programmes Manager Cheryl Obiakpani, Media and Communications Specialist Nandina Hislop and Head of Sports Performance Angelo Garland.
The Minister of Education, Youth, Sports and Social Services, Hon. Rachel Taylor was in attendance along with the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education Youth, Sports and Social Services, Mrs Cherylann Jones. Hon. Taylor addressed a number of sports issues and challenges and reiterated her commitment to sports development. Hon. Taylor also discussed new projects coming on stream such as the construction of an Aquatic Centre and expressed gratitude to the NGBs for their intricate and collaborative work, resulting in the advancement of sports in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Director of Sports Jarrett Forbes shared, that "The Sports Commission has taken every effort to advance the agency as a new statutory body and to work collaboratively with the various National Sport Governing Bodies to strategically achieve consistent and sustainable growth and development in sports in the Turks and Caicos Islands."
Mr Forbes emphasized that the Commission has been committed to delivering quality service to the islands through access to facilities, meaningful programmes and events, and proper regulation and support of sports federations.
“The government’s plan for sports includes: acquiring, managing, maintaining, and developing property for sporting purposes; providing oversight and support to National Sports Governing Bodies; and implementing fit-for-purpose sports programmes and events to improve the national sporting outlook to the benefit of both the Government and the people of the Turks & Caicos Islands.”
Mr Forbes further stressed the importance of National Sport Governing Bodies remaining athlete-focused and positioning our athletes to excel in sports. National Governing Bodies are conduits and gatekeepers for athlete development, and they must make every effort to empower our athletes toward sports excellence!
“Sports can play a critical role in strengthening national identity and pride, developing safer communities, improving the health of residents as well as creating a greater quality of life in local communities. It is the aim of the Commission to continue to work hand and hand with the National Sport Governing Bodies to deliver on shared objectives that will lead in the promotion and advancement of sports within the Turks and Caicos Islands."
Forbes also announced that this year the Sports Commission would focus more on Child Safeguarding and Anti-Doping.
Energy firms warned against paying dividends
Energy suppliers have been warned they should retain profits rather than pay out returns to shareholders, to ensure firms can weather future price shocks.
Regulator Ofgem said firms "must learn the lessons of the energy crisis", adding "a return to the practices we saw before isn't on the table".
Some 30 suppliers have gone bust since energy prices started to rise in 2021.
Higher wholesale gas prices, driven by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, made price deals to customers undeliverable.
The biggest supplier to go bust was Bulb, which had 1.6 million customers. It was bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of about £3.8bn and has since been taken over by Octopus Energy.
Households have seen their gas and electricity bills soar, but prices are starting to fall, with the bills for using a typical amount of energy being £2,074 a year on average.
However, despite a drop of £426 per year, bills are much higher than before the Covid pandemic.
The reduction in wholesale gas prices means domestic suppliers are expected to return to profit after five years of losses.
While companies such as Shell and BP have made record profits in recent years from oil and gas extraction, the two firms - along with other smaller domestic energy suppliers - have been making much less, often inducing losses, for selling that energy to households.
Jonathan Brearley, chief executive of Ofgem, warned firms that he expected "no return to paying out dividends" until suppliers had met the regulator's financial stability requirements, which are aimed at preventing a repeat of mass company collapses.
In an open letter to the bosses of energy suppliers, Mr. Brearley said an energy industry where companies can make "a reasonable profit" was important to "create a sustainable and competitive market for consumers".
"However, a return to the practices we saw before the energy crisis isn't on the table - suppliers must reciprocate the support the sector was given by consumers and taxpayers when wholesale prices increased by behaving responsibly as prices fall and profits return," he added.
The Ofgem boss also warned that this winter, if prices remain as forecast, it is likely "a large group of customers will struggle to pay their bills, so the sector will need to be fully focussed on how best to support customers in financial distress".
Since 2019, Ofgem has set a price cap on energy bills, which is the maximum price that suppliers can charge customers per unit of gas and electricity. It applies to households on variable or default tariffs in England, Wales, and Scotland.
After the price cap soared, the government stepped in with the Energy Price Guarantee which limited annual bills to £2,500, but that has since ended now the cap is £2,074.
Last week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt met with several regulators, including Ofgem, and told them they needed to "work at pace" to ensure businesses reflected any falling costs in the prices they charged customers.
Mr. Brearley said firms needed to "play their part by making sure they're financially robust" in order to "absorb potential losses".
He said while he was "observing some good practice" the regulator was also finding evidence that some suppliers may have "breached" pricing rules. "We are investigating further and will take action if we find abuse," Mr Brearley warned.
Source- BBC
Ex-Liverpool midfielder named manager of Saudi Pro League Al-Ettifaq
Former England and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard has been named manager of Saudi Arabian side Al-Ettifaq.
The 43-year-old had said in June he had been invited over to the country to "look at a potential offer" but that he would not be taking it up.
"Without a doubt, Gerrard's presence will be an addition and a quantum leap to our league," said Khalid Al-Dabal, the club's chairman.
Gerrard has signed a two-year contract with the Saudi club.
Al-Ettifaq was seventh in the 16-team Saudi Pro League last season, finishing 35 points behind champions Al-Ittihad.
Gerrard has been out of work since being sacked as Aston Villa's manager in October last year.
The former England midfielder's move to Saudi Arabia follows a summer of heavy investment by Pro League clubs as several top European players have joined Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo in the Middle East.
Former Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves, and Chelsea trio N'Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly, and Edouard Mendy are among those to move to Saudi Arabia, with Inter Milan's Marcelo Brozovic to Al-Nassr the most recent deal to be completed.
Fulham-managed Marco Silva has also reportedly turned down a £17m offer to coach Al-Hilal.
The trend underlines the league's ambition to be one of the top five in the world and follows a decision in June by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns Newcastle United, to take over four leading clubs in the country. Al-Ettifaq is not one of those clubs.
Gerrard retired from playing in 2016 and his first managerial role was at Scottish club Rangers.
He took over the Ibrox side in 2018 and led the club to their first Scottish Premiership title in 10 years in 2020-21.
Gerrard then became Villa boss in November 2021 but left after 13 wins from 40 games during his time in charge.
Source- BBC
Actor behaved like a 'predator', accuser says
Kevin Spacey was a "predator" who would attack one of his accusers when the two were left alone together, a court in London has heard.
The trial of the actor heard testimony from one of the four men who accuse him of sexual assaults committed in the UK between 2001 and 2013.
The court heard the man was groped so forcefully on one occasion while driving that he swerved off the road.
Mr Spacey has pleaded not guilty to all 12 charges against him.
As the trial against him heard from its first witness, the 63-year-old sat in the dock of Southwark Crown Court and listened to his accuser detail the alleged abuse, which relates to seven of the charges against him.
Jurors were played a recording of the first complainant's police interview, before the man - who has lifelong anonymity under UK law due to the nature of the charges - was questioned in court by Mr Spacey's lawyer.
The man alleges Mr Spacey assaulted him up to 12 times, saying this happened when they were "in a car or in a lift, any time when we became alone".
"Multiple occasions he would try and grope me," he said.
He said that over a number of years, Mr Spacey's behaviour progressed from "eerie and awkward" to physical groping and how the actor would "laugh it off and change the subject".
The complainant said Mr Spacey started making him feel awkward a few weeks after they first met, adding: "Right from the get-go I would say he was grooming me."
The man added that Mr Spacey had told him he could introduce him to A-list celebrities.
When Mr Spacey groped him, the complainant said he would make it clear the actor's behaviour was wrong, but he felt Mr Spacey "was getting more excited by this".
If he attended the American actor's south London apartment, Mr Spacey would be "half-naked, if not naked" and would "try to touch me" before he left, the court heard.
He said on one occasion Mr Spacey grabbed his crotch while he was driving, forcing him to come off the road.
Mr Spacey spent significant periods of time in the UK while serving as the director of the Old Vic Theatre in south London between 2004 and 2015.
Cross-examining the complainant, defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC questioned the timing of the alleged incident. The accuser said he was assaulted on the way to Elton John's White Tie and Tiara Ball, an annual charity event held by the singer for a number of years.
The barrister said it was "completely untrue" as Mr Spacey went to the ball once in 2001 - and the complainant said the alleged incident had taken place in the mid-2000s.
"You'll have to forgive me if I've got the dates wrong, it happened 20 years ago," the complainant responded.
The man said he would be relieved when Mr Spacey went back to the US on trips.
"I used to dread when he was coming back," the complainant told police, adding: "My heart used to sink."
The complainant said Mr Spacey was "pretending to be nice" but was a "predator" who was "aggressive".
He described Mr Spacey as a "slippery, snaking, difficult person", adding: "He would tell me he had a troubled childhood. He was a confused man. Didn't know at the time whether he was gay or straight."
The complainant alleged it was "well-known he [Mr Spacey] was up to no good" among those associated with the Old Vic theatre and young, good-looking people were warned to "be careful".
He said he now cannot bring himself to watch anything featuring the actor and it "makes me feel sick thinking about that man".
Mr Gibbs asked the man if he found Mr Spacey's behaviour "a bit exciting" or "a bit naughty", to which he replied that he has a female partner and found it "distressing".
As questioning continued, he said: "I was ashamed... after the event, yes I was ashamed."
He dismissed a question about his own sexuality as "ridiculous" and refuted any suggestion he had solicited attention from Mr Spacey or reciprocated contact.
The complainant said: "You're trying to suggest we had something going on which we... a million per cent didn't."
The man said it was "not true at all" that he reported the allegations to the police because he "saw a bandwagon coming" and decided to "hop on board".
"It was the fact that it was in the news and it was all coming back to me. It made me have those feelings that I had then, thinking some others have been brave enough to come forward. It caused me to come forward and tell the truth as well," he said.
In January, Mr Spacey - who is referred to in court proceedings by his full name, Kevin Spacey Fowler - pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
He also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.
It is these 12 charges which Mr Spacey is currently on trial for and he continues to deny them.
All four accusers are entitled to lifelong anonymity under the law.
The trial continues.
Source- BBC
Twitter began to restrict how many tweets its users could read
Elon Musk tweeted that unverified users could read 1,000 tweets, and verified users 10,000 per day.
People began to share screengrabs of messages that they'd "exceeded" their daily allowance of tweets.
Elon Musk was doing something that seems unfathomable for a social media company - he was limiting user activity.
The move has baffled advertising executives.
However, this is part of a much longer game that Elon Musk is playing - a battle with AI companies.
Let's first start off with how Twitter actually makes money. The vast majority of its revenue comes from advertising, just like Meta and Google.
When users go onto the platform, they're served ads. The more time they spend on Twitter, the more ads they see. The equation is pretty simple. That's the business.
However, Elon Musk has traditionally eschewed advertising. Tesla famously doesn't do ads.
In 2019 he tweeted "I hate advertising".
And yet he's bought a company that is totally reliant on it.
So, Elon Musk is desperate to generate different revenue streams.
This is not just a business decision. He believes that advertisers hold too much power over social media companies when it comes to moderation.
Advertisers can, and have, pulled their money from Twitter.
Advertisers don't want their ads placed next to racist or extremist content. And so Twitter's main revenue stream also has an influence over how much "free speech" is allowed on the platform.
Mr. Musk told me in April that "most" of the advertisers had returned after initially pausing their ads from Twitter after his takeover.
However, Mr. Musk has another plan to turn Twitter into a profitable company.
He wants Twitter to make money out of the vast amount of data it holds.
Platforms like Twitter and Reddit hold a treasure trove of hundreds of billions of real human conversations - an incredible resource for AI companies.
Large language models (LLMs), can learn from these interactions, and work out how to respond to questions in more human-like ways.
But platforms like Twitter and Reddit want to be paid for the use of their data in this way.
In April, Reddit's chief executive Steve Huffman told the New York Times that he was unhappy with what AI companies were doing.
"The Reddit corpus of data is really valuable," he said. "But we don't need to give all of that value to some of the largest companies in the world for free."
At around the same time, Elon Musk said that Microsoft was "ripping off the Twitter database, demonetizing it (removing ads), and then selling our data to others".
On Saturday it became clear how frustrated Mr Musk was getting.
"We were getting data pillaged," he said.
"Almost every company doing AI, from start-ups to some of the biggest corporations on Earth, was scraping vast amounts of data," he said.
And so, by restricting usage, Elon Musk is hoping to prevent its data from being pulled into LLMs. He wants to negotiate with AI companies and get paid for the content that they take.
Source- BBC
Tesla delivers record number of cars
Electric carmaker Tesla says it delivered a record number of vehicles in the three months to the end of June, after cutting prices to boost sales.
It has lowered prices in markets including the US, UK, and China to compete with rival manufacturers.
This weekend, major Chinese car makers also reported a surge in sales in June.
Earlier this year, Tesla boss Elon Musk said he believed pursuing higher sales, with lower profits, was the "right choice" for the company.
On Sunday, Tesla said it delivered 466,140 vehicles in the second quarter, which was more than 80% higher than a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the company said it had increased vehicle production to nearly 480,000 in the same period.
"Tesla has made a strategic choice to be a volume manufacturer," Bill Russo, the founder and chief executive of advisory firm Automobility, told the BBC.
"This was the main contributor to the sales increase, as its mainly higher-volume Model 3 and Model Y benefitted from the price war," he added.
Dan Ives from investment firm Wedbush Securities told the BBC that "the price cuts in China have been a smart poker move that was massively successful for Tesla".
China is Tesla's second-largest market after North America.
The firm has been cutting prices in the world's second-largest economy, where it faces competition from local electric car makers.
Over the weekend, Beijing-based Li-Auto said its deliveries had hit an all-time high of 32,575 in June, marking its third consecutive monthly sales record.
Meanwhile, deliveries by Shanghai-based Nio and Guangzhou-based Xpeng jumped to 10,707 and 8,620 respectively during the month.
Tesla has also been grappling with increased competition in other parts of the world, and the impact of higher borrowing costs for customers.
It has responded by cutting prices this year.
In April, Tesla said it had no plans to stabilize the prices of its vehicles, even though repeated price cuts had dented profits.
"We're not 'starting a price war', we're just lowering prices to enable affordability at scale," Mr. Musk wrote on his social media platform, Twitter.
At the time Tesla said that its overall revenue had risen by almost a quarter in the first quarter from a year ago, as car sales increased.
However, its profit for the same period dropped by 24%, because of price cuts and higher costs of raw materials and other commodities.
The company is due to report its financial results for the second quarter on 19 July.
Source- BBC
Up To 9 Inches Of Rain Floods Chicago Metro Area
Chicago is cleaning up after torrential rain led to flooding problems Sunday.
Swim bans have been lifted at almost all Chicago beaches as of 3 p.m.
The bans were initially put in place due to unsafe water quality from elevated levels of bacteria after the rain forced the city to reverse the flow of the Chicago River into Lake Michigan to prevent downtown flooding.
As of 4 p.m. Monday, a swim advisory was still in place at Foster Beach, Rainbow Beach, and South Shore Beach, while the only remaining swim ban was at Marion Mahony Griffin Beach.
Sunday's flooding meant city officials had to reverse the flow of the river into Lake Michigan. The flooded Riverwalk had receded by Monday, and the city was cleaning up the leftover debris and muck.
By Monday night, the city reopened the eastern half of the Riverwalk but the portion west of Clark Street remains closed.
So much water came down Sunday that locks in Wilmette and Navy Pier had to be opened to relieve pressure on the system, but it wasn't enough to prevent water from backing up into at least 2,000 homes in the city, primarily on the West Side.
"I'm angry but I don't know who to point the finger at, me or the city," said Al Thomspon, whose West Side home flooded Sunday afternoon. "I don't know. I'm just very disappointed and upset. I mean, I woke up yesterday to my whole basement being flooded."
The two bedrooms where his sons sleep are ruined. Two hot water heaters and his furnace were also destroyed by the water that overwhelmed three sump pumps he bought after it started flooding.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Alderwoman Emma Mitts toured parts of the 37th ward, talking to residents to see the impact firsthand.
"And we're not just showing up to say hi, we're showing us to hear and listen. And again we have the full force of government on display today," Johnson said. The mayor is a resident of the city's Austin community.
Tim Williams said his basement filled up with nearly three feet of water. He said he's never seen so much rain come down.
"I still have to get someone down here to clean this all out. My hot water tank is out my heater is out, freezers, refrigerators, everything's destroyed," he said.
"We had USGS gauges with eight and a half inches of rain," said Ed Staudacher, assistant director of maintenance for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. "That's it, it was a large amount of rain in a short amount of time that short timespan also has a big impact because you get so much all at once. There's nowhere for that rain to go."
On Sunday evening, in the 4600 block of West Roosevelt Road, cars were stranded after trying to make it through with several feet of water still in the roadway Sunday night. At one point Sunday at least seven vehicles and their passengers were trapped in a flooded viaduct near I-290 at 5th Avenue and Cicero Avenue.
Katera Fisher had to be towed after her SUV couldn't make it through the rising water.
"I went and my car just started floating, and I said, 'Oh, snap.' So, my first reaction was to try and get out of the car. I opened the door, and the water started flooding my feet," Fisher said.
OEMC said from Sunday into Monday morning, they received 59 calls of flooded viaducts, 1,485 calls of water in basements, and 396 calls of water on the street.
Source- abc7