1 Flooding In Grand Canyon Leaves At Least One Dead And 14 Missing
One person is dead and several others remain missing or unaccounted for after a major flash flood hit the Grand Canyon. Park officials said 14 people were still unaccounted for yesterday, after earlier reports put the number above 20; more than 60 people were flown out of Phantom Ranch and the lower North Kaibab Trail. The flooding hit Saturday afternoon in Bright Angel Canyon, destroying nearly every footbridge across Bright Angel Creek and damaging the park’s water pipeline. Several trails and campgrounds are closed, overnight hotel stays are being stopped, and more storms could bring additional flooding, rockfalls, and debris flows.
2 NASA Launches Roman Space Telescope Successfully
NASA has launched the $4.3 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center. The telescope is now beginning a roughly 100-day trip to a point about one million miles from Earth, near the James Webb Space Telescope. Roman will use a wide 300-megapixel camera to study dark matter, dark energy, billions of galaxies and thousands of planets outside our solar system. NASA expects it could help raise the number of known exoplanets from about 6,200 to more than 100,000. Another instrument will block the glare of distant stars so scientists can study the atmospheres of large planets orbiting them.
3 At Least 85 Americans Still Missing In Nepal/Tibet Flood
The death toll from massive flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border has climbed to 797, while more than 3-thousand people remain missing. Nepal says 781 bodies have been recovered and 2,502 people are still missing, while Chinese officials report 16 deaths and another 546 people missing on the Tibetan side. At least 85 Americans were still missing as of yesterday, according to the U.S. State Department, while nine Americans have been evacuated. The United States has also approved $3.6-million in emergency aid, including food help for as many as 10-thousand households for up to three months.