The Latest on major flooding Oklahoma and Arkansas from severe weather across the central U.S. (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
Officials say a small town in eastern Oklahoma is completely surrounded by water and without power from major flooding on the Arkansas River.
The River Spirit Hotel and Casino has flood waters surrounding it on the Arkansas River on Friday, May 24, 2019, in Tulsa, Okla. (Tom GilbertTulsa World via AP)
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain says about 260 residents live in Braggs and it is not clear how many people evacuated before the flooding began.
Cain says Muskogee County officials are urging voluntary evacuations of low-lying areas along the river, where water could be seen up to roofs. Wagoner County officials are also urging evacuations for areas along both the Arkansas and the rising Verdigris River.
Cain says water rescue teams are on their way to assist in Muskogee, Wagoner, Rogers and Nowata counties.
Homes are flooded on the Arkansas River in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday, May 24, 2019. The threat of potentially devastating flooding continued Friday along the Arkansas River from Tulsa into western Arkansas. (Tom GilbertTulsa World via AP)
Across the state, 87 people have been injured in the flooding, which has not yet peaked in some areas.
12:10 p.m.
Oklahoma officials are urging residents to prepare to evacuate some Tulsa neighborhoods that are near stressed, old levees along the Arkansas River.
City officials said Saturday that people living west of downtown should consider leaving for higher ground, even though the levees aren't currently considered to be in danger of failing.
Mayor G.T. Bynum says the levees were built in the 1940s and haven't had to hold back this much water since 1986. Officials also say the levees will need to hold back that amount of water until at least Wednesday, which is three days longer than they previously expected.
Officials say if an evacuation becomes necessary, it would need to happen quickly.
The Arkansas River in Tulsa was four feet above flood stage Friday.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.
The Houthis said they shot down the Predator with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.
The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.
Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”
The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.
Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.
Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.
The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.
A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
