In Brief
[naviga:h3]Mississippi flooding moves downstream[/naviga:h3]
ST. LOUIS — The worst of the dangerous, deadly winter flood is over in the St. Louis area, leaving residents of several water-logged communities to assess damage, clean up and figure out how to bounce back — or in some cases, where to live.
Farther south, things were getting worse: Record and near-record crest predictions of the Mississippi River and levee breaks threatened homes in rural southern Missouri and Illinois. Two more levees succumbed Friday, bringing to at least 11 the number of levee failures.
The flood, fueled by more than 10 inches of rain over a three-day period that began last weekend, is blamed for 22 deaths. Searchers were still looking for five missing people.
[naviga:h3]Magnitude-4.5 quake shakes coast[/naviga:h3]
FERNDALE, Calif. — Another moderate earthquake in the Pacific about 30 miles offshore of far Northern California was felt lightly by some along the coast but brought no reports of damage or injuries.
A preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-4.5 quake struck at 9:11 p.m. Friday at a depth of about five miles. It was located about 40 miles southwest of Eureka and about 250 miles northwest of San Francisco.
[naviga:h3]Man crushed after NYC elevator rescue[/naviga:h3]
NEW YORK — A falling elevator trapped and crushed a man to death on New Year’s Eve. Witnesses said he helped a woman to safety before losing his own life.
The man, identified as Stephen Hewett-Brown, 25, was riding the lower Manhattan elevator around midnight when it malfunctioned. He was able to push a woman out of the lift and onto one of the building’s floors before getting pinned between the elevator car and the shaft as he tried to escape himself, witnesses said.
They said he wished onlookers a happy new year before he died from his injuries.
