If Hurricane Florence lands as a powerhouse Category 4 storm along the East Coast later this week,  the damage could be extensive – and long-lasting.

The storm, which intensified dramatically from a Category 1 to a Category 4 hurricane on Monday, could roar ashore with winds of up to 150 mph, according to the latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center.

A Category 4 hurricane has winds of 130 to 156 mph on the Saffir-Simpson Scale of Hurricane Intensity.

A Category 4 hurricane can cause catastrophic damage, the hurricane center warned: “Well-built framed homes can sustain severe damage with loss of most of the roof structure and/or some exterior walls,” the hurricane center said. “Most trees will be snapped or uprooted and power poles downed.”

In addition, “fallen trees and power poles will isolate residential areas. Power outages will last weeks to possibly months. Most of the area will be uninhabitable for weeks or months.”

The most recent Category 4 storm to hit the U.S. was Hurricane Maria last year, which plowed into eastern Puerto Rico with winds of 155 mph. That storm killed as many as 3,000 people and left the entire island without power for weeks and in some locations months. 

More: Hurricane Florence strengthens to potentially ‘catastrophic’ Category 4 storm

As for a hit on the U.S. mainland, the most recent Cat 4 at landfall was Hurricane Harvey last year, which hit Texas with winds of 130 mph. While the damage at landfall was catastrophic, most of the deaths and damage from Harvey were from the tremendous, record-shattering rain that fell across the Houston metro area, which caused disastrous flooding.

Other hurricanes that have smashed into the Carolinas include Hugo in 1989, Fran in 1996 and Isabel in 2003, according to weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue. Hugo was among the most intense, which made landfall in South Carolina as a Category 4 with 140-mph winds.

Hugo killed 27 people in South Carolina and caused more than $9 billion in damage, which was the costliest hurricane on record at the time.

Since 1851, only one hurricane has brought sustained Category-4 winds to North Carolina: Hurricane Hazel in 1954, Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach said.  

The only Category 5 hurricanes to hit the U.S. were Andrew in 1992, Camille in 1969 and an unnamed “Labor Day” hurricane in 1935.

 

 

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Former President Barack Obama is on the campaign trail, stumping for Democratic candidates in a midterm election in which he says our very democracy is at stake. And many conservative politicians and pundits were happy to get the chance to relive the Obama years and point to what they perceive as his failures in office. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in response to Obama’s speech that, “The more former President Obama speaks about the ‘good ol years’ of his presidency, the more likely President Trump is to get re-elected.” 

Former Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka said Obama’s “whole eight-year presidency was an embarrassment when it comes to everything from the economy to national security.”

Several conservatives jumped on Obama’s assertion that President Donald Trump was brought to power by the forces in America that “keep us divided and keep us angry and keep us cynical.” They said it was Obama, not Trump, who first used rhetoric to pit groups of Americans against each other.  

More: GOP thinks Obama’s anti-Trump message will rally Republican base during midterm elections

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent a series of tweets outlining times he felt Obama was guilty of using divisive language, including his infamous 2008 line where he accused “cynical” voters of clinging to “guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them.” 

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro derided Obama for a “full-throttled, savage attack” on Trump. She particularly took issue with Obama’s statement that Trump has been “capitalizing” on America’s historical resentments. 

More: Read transcript of former President Obama’s speech, blasting President Trump

“Are you kidding?” asked an incredulous Pirro. “If anyone has stoked racial hatred and divisiveness, it’s you,” she said, citing Obama’s actions in the wake of the 2014 police shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, that helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement. 

“The only reason that we have an outsider, businessman president is because of you, your lies, your policies and your divisiveness,” Pirro said. “You, Barack, you elected Donald Trump.” 

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also took issue with Obama’s attempt to blame America’s divisions on Trump, calling it “richly ironic” for him to refer to Trump as a “symptom” of the divide. 

“He was the president for the eight years when the cause was being created,” Christie said on “ABC This Week” on Sunday. “But the president acts like he’s detached from this, that somehow he was a dispassionate observer during the eight years beforehand.”

Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly slammed Obama for violating the unwritten code of former presidents not publicly criticizing their predecessors. But O’Reilly said Obama’s appearances will be good news for Trump and the Republicans because it reminds voters of two things: that Obama’s “economic policies harmed many Americans” and that “evidence points to powerful people within the Obama administration misusing the FBI and federal judges to illegally surveil the Trump campaign.” 

In his speech Friday, Obama told the crowd that “when you hear how great the economy’s doing right now,” it is important to “remember when this recovery started.” 

Stephen Moore, who served as economic adviser to Trump during the campaign, called it “preposterous” for Obama to take credit for the booming economy. Moore said the economy was slowing down dramatically at the end of Obama’s second term and that the current growth started as “a result of the fact that Obama and Clinton were not going to be office anymore.” 

Fox Business host Stuart Varney called it a “stretch” for Obama to take credit for the economy. 

“Today’s stellar 4 percent growth is clearly the result of tax cuts and deregulation. That’s Trump, it’s not Obama,” said Varney. 

Conservative Eric Bolling tweeted that it is “disgraceful” to see Obama taking credit for Trump’s successes. 

But Democrats like their chances heading into November, and many are happy to embrace Obama’s message. 

Mike Levin, who is running for the seat left open by retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa in California, tweeted that Obama “left Trump an economy on third base. Trump thinks he hit a triple.” 

“I think President Obama is a powerful reminder of what a presidential leader looks like, and that’s a contrast to Donald Trump,” Katie Porter, who is running to unseat California Republican Rep. Mimi Walters, told Politico. 

But some, like Andrew Janz, who is trying to topple incumbent California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, are keeping more of a cautious distance. 

“I’m going to run my own race,” Janz told Politico. “I am really focused on making sure that the voters of my district know that I am not somebody that is going to be controlled by the national party.”

Contributing: Eliza Collins, USA TODAY

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The US Open final umpire whom Serena Williams called “a thief” has been defended by tennis’ governing body.

Williams, beaten in straight sets by Naomi Osaka, was docked a game for verbal abuse, having already had a point penalty for smashing her racquet and a code violation for coaching.

She later said it was “sexist” to have been penalised a game.

The International Tennis Federation said Carlos Ramos acted “at all times with professionalism and integrity”.

An ITF statement said: “It is understandable that this high-profile and regrettable incident should provoke debate. At the same time, it is important to remember that Mr Ramos undertook his duties as an official according to the relevant rule book.

“Mr Ramos’ decisions were in accordance with the relevant rules and were reaffirmed by the US Open’s decision to fine Ms Williams for the three offences.”

However, Williams’ claims have been backed by the governing body of women’s tennis, the WTA.

Chief executive Steve Simon said: “The WTA believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men versus women.

“We do not believe that this was done.”

Osaka, 20, won Saturday’s match 6-2 6-4 to become the first Japanese Grand Slam champion.

Williams, who was aiming to equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, refused to shake hands with umpire Ramos after the match.

Her $17,000 (£13,100) fine for the code violations, imposed by the United States Tennis Association, will be deducted from the $1.85m (£1.42m) she won as the runner-up.

What happened in the match?

The issues began when Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou made a hand gesture towards her early in the second set at New York’s Flushing Meadows – the rules say “communication of any kind” between player and coach is banned in Grand Slams.

Williams denied she received coaching, saying she would “never cheat to win and would rather lose”, and demanded an apology from the umpire Ramos.

Mouratoglou, however, later admitted coaching – although he said Williams was not looking at him.

Three games later Osaka was awarded a point when Williams was given another code violation for smashing her racquet.

Williams was furious, walking up to Ramos, shouting and pointing at him as the crowd started booing in support of the American in a toxic atmosphere.

At the next change of ends, Williams continued to rant, calling Ramos a “liar”, telling him to “say you are sorry” and describing him as a “thief” for awarding a point to Osaka.

“For me, it blows my mind,” the 23-time Grand Slam champion said. “But I’m going to continue to fight for women and to fight for us to have equality.

“This is just an example for the next person that has emotions, that wants to express themselves and wants to be a strong woman.

“They’re going to be allowed to do that because of today. Maybe it didn’t work out for me, but it’s going to work out for the next person.”

Image: liz pierson/mashable

A big change might be coming to this year’s rumored iPad Pros.

For months, the rumor mill has suggested Apple’s next-gen tablets will come with thinner bezels and Face ID support, but there might be an even bigger surprise in store: It might ditch the Lightning port for USB-C.

Days ahead of Apple’s big iPhone event on Sept. 12, Apple analyst and speculator Ming-Chi Kuo has dropped (via 9to5Mac) a bunch of tidbits for future Apple products.

Kuo reiterates that the next iPad Pros, which might be announced alongside the three rumored iPhones, will have Face ID. However, the most notable nugget is the switch from Lightning to USB-C.

This change would be a historic move for Apple, not just because it would be the first iOS device to use a non-proprietary Apple port, but because it’d make the iPad even more computer-like. Apple’s MacBook Pros switched to only USB-C ports in 2016, and though some people like yours truly miss the MagSafe charging connector, the world hasn’t ended.

Switching to USB-C would mean many accessories that utilize the port (i.e. flash drives, memory card readers, etc.) would work with the iPad Pro. Sure, there are some Lightning versions of these accessories, but those usually cost more than their USB-C counterparts.

Accessories would only be scratching the surface. Think outside of the box, and it’s not hard to imagine being able to plug something like an external GPU into an iPad Pro to supercharge its already powerful A-series chip.

The new iPad Pros, rumored to come in a new 11-inch and 12.9-inch models, will reportedly ship with an 18-watt USB-C charger. 

If Apple doesn’t announce them at its upcoming iPhone event, they will probably be unveiled at a separate event in October.

The bigger question is what becomes of the Lightning port on the iPhone if the iPad dumps it. Will the iPhone adopt USB-C, too? That doesn’t sound like Apple. Instead, what’s more likely is Apple will muster up another round of courage and remove it altogether for wireless charging (something we predicted with our iPhone 2020 concept last year).

Updates for 13-inch MacBook, Apple Watch, “iPhone XC”

Besides the new iPad Pros with USB-C ports, Kuo is also predicting the rumored 13-inch MacBook with Retina displays could replace the current 12-inch MacBook (which makes total sense) and might have a Touch ID fingerprint reader without the controversial Touch Bar as found on the MacBook Pros. Finally, some sensible laptop options.

He also thinks the new Apple Watch Series 4 might sport ceramic backs instead of composite glass and support advanced heart rate monitoring using electrocardiography. 

Lastly, Kuo says the 6.1-inch iPhone (rumored to be called the XC or XR) might not launch until late September to early October due to LCD assembly bottlenecks. Bloomberg first reported this iPhone might launch in “limited quantities” due to the same reason.

The Dallas police officer charged with manslaughter in the death of a black man she shot in his apartment last week thought she was in her own apartment and that the man was a burglar, a law enforcement official says.

The official, who spoke to the Dallas Morning News on condition of anonymity, said Officer Amber Guyger had just ended a 15-hour shift when she parked on the fourth level of the South Side Flats garage Thursday night. She normally parked on the third level.

The officials said Guyger, a four-year veteran of the force, then went to the door she thought was hers but was one floor too high. Guyger didn’t notice that Jean’s door had a red doormat, the official said told the Morning News.

Guyger put her key in the unlocked door and it opened, the official said. The official said Guyger told investigators she entered the dark apartment, saw someone inside and thought it was a burglary. Guyger said she pulled her gun and fired twice, the officials said.

More: Dallas officer charged with manslaughter after killing neighbor in his apartment

More: Dallas police officer fatally shoots man after entering wrong apartment

She turned on the lights and realized she was in the wrong apartment.

Botham Jean, a 26-year-old native of St. Lucia who worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Dallas, was shot once in the chest, the officials told the media outlet. Guyger called 911, and Jean was rushed to a hospital, where he died.

Guyger was freed on bail after being charged with manslaughter Sunday. Manslaughter in Texas is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson said the case would be taken to a grand jury, and that a more serious charge of murder was possible.

Mayor Mike Rawlings thanked the Texas Rangers for “thoroughly investigating this tragic case.” Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall had turned the investigation over to the state investigators to eliminate bias concerns.

Jean, a graduate of Harding University in Arkansas, had a reputation for volunteerism and charity work. Rawlings called Jean “a great man.”

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Jean’s family, said black people in America have been killed by police officers for simply “driving while black” and “walking while black.” Now, he said, “we are being killed living while black when we are in our apartments.”

Crump said the fact that Guyger remained free for days after the shooting shows she was receiving favorable treatment.

“Justice is a relay race, not a 40-yard dash,” Johnson said.

Contributing: Bill Keveney, USA TODAY; WFAA-TV in Dallas; The Associated Press

 

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England took complete control of the fifth Test against India on an astonishing fourth day at The Oval in which Alastair Cook signed off with a century and James Anderson equalled the record for Test wickets as a pace bowler.

Cook made 147 in his final innings before international retirement and captain Joe Root weighed in with 125 as England declared on 423-8.

Anderson then drew level with Australian Glenn McGrath’s pace bowling record of 563 Test wickets as India, chasing an improbable 464 for victory, floundered.

The tourists, who have already lost the series 3-1, ended the day on 58-3, trailing England by 406 runs.

The near-capacity crowd spent much of the day on their feet as Cook and Root with the bat, and then Anderson with the ball, put India under the cosh.

It was a historic day all round for Cook, who surpassed Kumar Sangakkara to become the fifth-highest Test run scorer – and most prolific left-hander – before reaching his 33rd and final Test century.

The former captain shared in a huge partnership with his successor Root, putting on 259 runs for the third wicket.

Cook was given a standing ovation at the start of the day, then again when he reached three figures, before the entire ground stood to applaud as he left the field after batting for the final time.

With India looking mentally exhausted, Anderson made hay in a frenetic evening session, dismissing Shikhar Dhawan and then Cheteshwar Pujara in the space of three balls to move himself within one wicket of passing McGrath outright and becoming the leading fast bowler in Test cricket.

India captain Virat Kohli fell for a golden duck to Stuart Broad as the party atmosphere grew in the sun-soaked stands.

The crowd chanted Cook’s name throughout the final five minutes of the day, and the team applauded the fans as they made their way off the field at the close of play.

It was a day filled with ‘where were you?’ moments – and it has put England within touching distance of an emphatic final-Test victory.

Cook revels in Oval warmth

Cook has not looked fluent at times in this series but, resuming on Monday on 46, he showed flickers of the player who for so long has been the backbone of England’s batting.

There were clips off the hip and cuts against the spinners, as well as a fine straight drive as he moved through the gears.

India lost their lines when bowling to Cook, and their only real chance came when Jasprit Bumrah bowled a sustained spell of short deliveries to try and tempt him into a loose hook.

Cook’s century came up in farcical fashion – on 96, he pushed and ran for a single, but a poor throw from Bumrah went for four overthrows, and took him to 101.

He was embraced by Root and received a second standing ovation of the day – eventually having to ask the crowd for calm so play could resume.

His dismissal was almost a shock, caught behind as he tried to cut Hanuma Vihari, the ball after Root had been caught at deep mid-wicket.

Each member of the India team shook his hand as he departed to yet another standing ovation, lingering on the boundary rope for an extra second to soak in the applause.

Anderson draws level with McGrath

Much as Cook has done with the bat, Anderson has spearheaded England’s bowling both home and away for the past 10 years.

Cook and Root’s partnership, as well as some late hitting from the middle order, kept India in the field for 112.3 overs, and Anderson was able to exploit their scrambled minds when the tourists came out to bat.

Opener Dhawan played around a full delivery and was trapped in front of middle stump before Pujara, who made a century in the last Test, missed an inswinger and was dismissed lbw as well.

That brought Kohli, who Anderson has not dismissed in this series despite snaring him several times during the last tour, to the crease.

It seemed inevitable that on such a dramatic day India captain Kohli would be the wicket to take Anderson past McGrath’s long-standing record.

However, Stuart Broad interrupted that storyline. He tempted Kohli into a loose shot to the first ball he faced, and the resulting edge was caught by wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow to leave India 2-3.

The Oval once again got to their feet as they, and England’s slip cordon, seemed convinced Anderson had trapped KL Rahul lbw, but a review showed the ball was going over the top of the stumps.

Anderson, as much as he strived, could not find the wicket to take him past McGrath’s record and add to his tally of 23 wickets in the series so far, and will instead hope to do so on the final day of the match – and series – on Tuesday.

A tale of two tons

If Cook’s century was a farewell, then Root’s was a welcome return to form ahead of the winter tour to Sri Lanka in November.

Prior to today, Root had not made a half-century for eight innings, and his last century came in August 2017 against West Indies.

He was given two strokes of fortune. Ajinkya Rahane shelled a difficult chance at slip off Ravinda Jadeja with Root in the forties, before Pujara dropped Root on 94.

In-between there were some fine shots, notably when Root skipped down the pitch and struck Jadeja down the ground for six.

His century was celebrated in emphatic fashion, Root running a quick single off Jadeja before letting out a roar of relief.

He and Cook seemed barely troubled by a tiring India attack and it was ultimately a misjudgement from Root, caught as he tried to attack Vihari, that ended a profitable partnership.

Some late hitting heaped further misery on India.

Ben Stokes hit a 36-ball 37, flogging Jadeja for six down the ground before lifting Shami over the slips for four.

Even number nine Adil Rashid chipped in, sweetly cover driving and turning the ball down to third man, before the declaration arrived with England in total control.

‘One of the great days of English cricket’

Analysis by former England captain Michael Vaughan

“It has been one of the great days of English cricket. For Alastair Cook to find that rhythm with the bat in hand, after the emotional rollercoaster he must have gone through this week, is remarkable.

“We have watched him for 12 years but that innings was up there with one of his best.

“He had all of his family up on the balcony, and he had a crowd of 18,000 who came out to watch him bat, and he didn’t disappoint.”

Cook reflects on ‘unbelievable’ day

England’s Alastair Cook, speaking to Test Match Special: “It was an unbelievable way to end. It was strange week but I was just determined not to get out early because it would have been an anti-climax, but to go out like that is the prefect way to end.

“I don’t think there was any doubt I could still play but I certainly found the last 12-18 months harder.

“My greatest skill is to be able to take a lot of emotion out of my batting and to be able to take one ball at a time, and if there has ever been a test of that, it has been this week.

“To perform like that probably just shows my greatest strength.”

Asked about how he feels, Cook added: “I can’t really describe how I feel. I want to go back and watch it now to see how special it is.”

First Man is a big film about the small things that went into an enormous event. 

It’s no spoiler that the climax here is Neil Armstrong’s 1969 walk on the moon. For the first 90 minutes, though, First Man holds back on the inherent drama of that premise.

It follows Neil (Ryan Gosling) as he makes his way through the NASA ranks, and at home as he mourns the death of his young daughter. It spends time on a bunch of promising missions that go nowhere, and on complex questions the engineers will have to solve. There’s some action sprinkled in there, and a few precious moments of euphoria. Mostly, it’s sweating the small stuff.

That choice is puzzling at first, even frustrating: We know the guy gets to the moon, so let’s get on with it already! Why are we wasting time with all this minutiae? 

But those tedious concerns and disappointing dead ends are exactly the point. First Man is about work, and more specifically about the enormous amount of work (and luck) that goes into an achievement as momentous as the moon landing. It demands patience, but it gave back what I put into it several times over. 

Director Damien Chazelle keeps his eye on the unromantic details that usually get glossed over in retellings of historical events. Literally: Much of this movie is composed of shots of dials, switches, and the top half of Gosling’s face. The vast expanse of outer space is usually shown from the ground, or from the dinky scratched-up windows of a rocket. 

Likewise, the emotions in this movie tend to be muted. Neil weeps for his daughter Karen early on, then rarely brings her up again after that. Her death is simply the cloud hanging over everything that he or his wife Janet (an underused Claire Foy) does. He’s so reserved, even repressed, that even after two hours he feels like an enigma. 

First Man doesn’t just show us what it looks like to go to the moon. It considers how it must have felt to go to the moon.

All of which just means that when First Man does go big, it feels immense. I saw the film in IMAX, and for much of its runtime I wondered why they’d bothered – the jumbo screen wasn’t really adding anything to the shaky view from inside a cramped spaceship, or the extreme close-ups of rivets and screws. 

Then when the IMAX sequence kicked in, and I knew right away that I’d be seeing this again when it opened, and on the biggest IMAX screen I could find.

First Man doesn’t just show us what it looks like to go to the moon. It considers how it must have felt to go to the moon, after years of fretting and fine-tuning and trying not to think too hard about the fact that anything and everything could go wrong at exactly the worst moment. I can’t speak to how Armstrong actually felt in that moment, and neither can Chazelle. But watching a simulation of that moment, I felt overwhelmed. 

Here is the Apollo 11 mission presented not as solitary and singular success or the culmination of some dramatic destiny, but as the result of a hundred, a thousand, a million calculations and failures and disappointments and incremental revelations. And here is a movie that knows that all the waiting and working is what makes the payoff worth it.