Wildfire scorches LA's Griffith park

LOS ANGELES - A wildfire roiled through rugged brush-covered hills in the city's sprawling Griffith Park on Tuesday, triggering evacuations of the city zoo, a museum and other popular sites as dangerously hot and dry conditions plagued Southern California.

A towering column of smoke rose over the middle of the city as hundreds of firefighters and five water-dropping helicopters rushed to Los Angeles' landmark park — a mix of wilderness, cultural venues, horse and hiking trails and recreational facilities set on more than 4,000 acres on the hills between Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

Residents of neighborhoods along the park's edge nervously watched billowing smoke.

"Most of us saw this on TV and raced home to turn on our sprinklers," said Chad Griffin, 33, a resident of the Los Feliz district. "This is an early wake-up call for everyone in this area."

The blaze was reported at 1:30 p.m. and grew to 150-200 acres. Containment was estimated at 20-25 percent by late afternoon, said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

No homes were immediately threatened but authorities said the battle would continue into the night. The city requested help from the state and two retardant-dropping airplanes arrived in the late afternoon.

Authorities were investigating whether the fire broke out after a person discarded a cigarette at one of the park's golf courses, a law enforcement official familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

The person tried to put out the fire but was badly burned and was taken to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, the official said.

Deputy Fire Chief Mario Rueda told a news conference that authorities were questioning a person who walked out of the brush onto a golf course.

"He's not a suspect. He's just somebody we're questioning," Rueda said.

The man, possibly homeless, told investigators he fell asleep while smoking and was burned on his stomach and shoulders, said a high-ranking city official who requested anonymity since the arson unit had not announced its findings.

"The man claims he fell asleep on the trail, and his injuries appear to be consistent with that version," the official said.

At one point, flames came very close to a firefighting crew using a hose to douse flames near a pedestrian bridge. Aerial news footage showed flames roaring up a hill and the firefighters retreating under the bridge. Crews behind them tried to beat back the fire with hoses and moments later a helicopter dropped water on the area. Fire officials said none of the firefighters were injured.

The fire erupted on the second day of a heat spell. The National Weather Service said downtown hit 97 degrees, 23 degrees above normal, tying the record for the date. Humidity fell to just 9 percent during the day. The region was already woefully short of moisture, with rainfall measured downtown more than 11 inches below normal.

Rangers evacuated the park's Vermont Canyon area, which includes the Los Angeles Zoo, two golf facilities, a merry-go-round and a magnate school, said Jane Kolb, a city Department of Recreation and Parks spokeswoman.

Fire Capt. Rex Vilaubi said the evacuations were voluntary and the areas were not in imminent danger of being overrun.

The Autry National Center, which includes a museum of Western artifacts, was evacuated. Staff threw tarps over its collection of memorabilia and artifacts to protect them in case the sprinkler system went off, said Faith Raiguel, chief operating officer.

"We can see the fire from here ... it's up the hill," she said.

"It looks really dark and evil and ominous," Brian Wotring, 35, catering manager at the museum cafe, said before jumping into his car. "It looks really scary."

The fire burned to the east of Griffith Observatory and it was closed down although it never appeared threatened, said director Ed Krupp. However, tourists were sent away and staff was sent home.

Departing tourists appeared calm and stopped to take pictures of the flames.

"It's far enough away that I don't feel threatened," said Katherine Coates, 24, of Little Rock, Ark. "Right now it's more spectacle than anything else."

Heavy smoke and debris may have caused a momentary drop in power in a high voltage transmission line that runs by the park, said Joe Ramallo, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokesman.

The dip in power was observed around downtown as energy was rerouted to other transmission lines, Ramallo said.

In March a fire burned 150 acres of brush in Griffith Park. Authorities said it was started by two boys playing with fire.

To the south in San Diego County, a 1,250-acre fire at Camp Pendleton was 80 percent contained late Tuesday afternoon and the rate of spread had "significantly slowed," the Marine Corps said in a press release. No injuries or structural damage were reported. The fire began Monday on a training range.

In neighboring Orange County, a 140-acre fire in Featherly Regional Park was 70 percent contained.

Several daily heat records were broken Monday. Among them, Los Angeles International Airport recorded a high of 88, beating the 80-degree record set in 1984.

Midwest flooding could near 1993 levels

AGENCY, Mo. - Five burst levees along the Missouri River sent a deluge of water that submerged the tiny town of Big Lake on Tuesday, as thousands in the region fled their homes amid warnings that the flooding could near the devastation of 1993.

The levees broke Monday south of Big Lake and the rush of river water immersed the town on Tuesday, said Mark Sitherwood, presiding commissioner of Holt County. Many of the buildings in town had several feet of water inside, said Holt County Clerk Kathy Kunkel.

"The town is a loss. At this time, we don't know, but it looks like that's what's going to happen," he said.

No injuries were reported. Most Big Lake residents evacuated Monday but a handful had to be rescued by boat Tuesday, Sitherwood said.

Big Lake is about 95 miles northwest of Kansas City and had a population of 127, according to 2000 census reports. Nearby, the communities of Craig and Fortescue also were being threatened, Sitherwood said.

In Agency, a town of about 100 surrounded on three sides by the Platte River, most had already evacuated. The town was hit hard in 1993 in one of the most costly and devastating floods in U.S. history. That flood claimed 48 lives in the Midwest and caused $18 billion in damage.

By midday Tuesday, a few homes were partially submerged, as were nearby roads and a cemetery.

"It isn't as bad as 1993," said Pauline Gibson, 71, who did not evacuate her trailer home was packed if she had to leave quickly. "But it's working on it. We don't want it like '93, but they say more rain is coming and that's not good."

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency and mobilized National Guard troops to help. At least 19 Kansas counties declared local disaster emergencies.

"Once we've dealt with the entire flood across the state, we'll begin to evaluate the damage and find out what kind of assistance might be available to compensate or help people impacted by the damage," Blunt said Tuesday at a news conference in St. Joseph.

River towns across much of Missouri were evacuating low-lying areas Tuesday or seeking help filling and stacking sandbags.

"We're scrambling around here," said Steve Mellis, who was volunteering near the central Missouri town of Easley as residents moved boats and equipment to higher ground.

Two-thirds of the town of Mosby, 20 miles northeast of Kansas City, was already under 2 to 4 feet of water from the overflowing Fishing River, said D.C. Rogers, Clay County director of emergency services. He said the town's 242 residents began evacuating Monday morning. By evening, only one route into the community remained open.

Evacuations were voluntary in several western Missouri counties, but a mandatory evacuation was imposed in Parkville, just across the Missouri River from Kansas City, said Jessica Robinson, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Communities across the central Plains faced flooding from the weekend-long thunderstorms that spawned the deadly tornado that wiped out Greensburg, Kan.

Parts of Missouri, Iowa and Kansas received 4 to 8 inches of rain in a 24-hour period, the National Weather Service said. In some areas, Tuesday morning was the first time in several days that rain wasn't falling, but runoff was still raising streams and rivers.

Flooding in Oklahoma was blamed for the drowning death of a man whose car was swept off a county road. A Kansas man died when his vehicle overturned in a water-filled ditch near Wichita, Butler County officials said.

Nearly 1,600 people were urged to evacuate the southwest Iowa town of Red Oak on Monday as the Nishnabotna River rose out of its banks.

Levees broke near Willow Creek in the western Iowa town of Missouri Valley, and some residents had to be evacuated by boat Monday, said Mayor Randy McHugh. "Appliances are just floating around," he said Monday.

Authorities rescued about 500 people Monday from flooding around Topeka, Kan., said Dave Bevans, a spokesman for Shawnee County emergency operations. Officials reported similar evacuations in Saline County, about 100 miles to the west, and flooding forced the evacuation of New Cambria, a town of about 150 people northeast of Salina.

Since the 1993 floods in the Mississippi and Missouri river basins, only two or three other flooding episodes have been comparable to what forecasters are predicting in the next several days, weather service meteorologist Andy Bailey said.

There will be differences though. The 1993 flood was caused by melting snow combined with heavy rain over a two-month period. After that, state buyouts of property on flood plains left fewer residences in danger of future floods.

"But make no mistake," Bailey added, "this is a major flood."

White House denies Iraq war hampers home rescue efforts

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House on Tuesday dismissed charges that the Iraq war effort had stripped the United States of resources needed to fight catastrophes at home in the wake of a devastating Kansas tornado.

"I think they're separate issues... just as in a time of war, you know, the Pentagon plans for more than one conflict at a time, you have to be able to do more than one thing at a time," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

"So the fact that you have people deployed in a time of war to protect Americans is important, but at the same time you also maintain your capability of dealing with domestic concerns."

US President George W. Bush is to visit Greensburg on Wednesday after the small Kansas prairie town was flattened by a tornado on Friday which left at least 10 people dead.

Bush is still haunted by the specter of Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans in August 2005, and left US authorities heavily under fire for failing to act quickly to send in rescue and emergency services.

Greensburg, a town of some 1,800 residents about 120 miles (200 kilometers) west of Wichita, was virtually obliterated by the giant twister which struck late Friday, and Democratic Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has already complained of a lack of lifting equipment to help the rescue effort.

She charged that the necessary machines had been deployed out of the US for the war in Iraq, increasing pressure on Bush locked in a standoff with the Democratic-controlled Congress over funding the conflict.

Democrats are seeking ways to force Bush and the Republican administration to bring home US troops from Iraq, and touched off new skirmish on Tuesday, with a plan to finance the unpopular war for just three months, while retaining the option to cut funding in July.

With the approach of hurricane season in June, the issue of the country's readiness to deal with natural disasters is likely to shoot to the top of the agenda again.

Snow said the country would be ready for the new hurricane season. "We certainly hope so. Again, you don't want to make predictions. But on the other hand, there is an enormous amount of planning going on so that you have the flexibility."

Much of the focus is on the National Guard, whose members serve each US state, often in domestic emergencies, but also has members deployed in Iraq.

Snow acknowleged that many states had "expressed concerns about National Guard levels into the future. And they have talked about Iraq deployments."

"It's one of the reasons why the president talked about expanding the military, in part to take pressure off National Guard units," he added.

But in the case of Kansas, he said, out of the 6,800 available National Guard, only 566 were needed to help in the crisis.

Earlier Snow reiterated that the US administration was "eager to provide what Kansas needs."

But he added: "It's interesting because as far as we know, the only thing the governor has requested are FM radios. There has been no request of the National Guard for heavy equipment."

Authorities said Friday's twister damaged or destroyed about 90 percent of the commercial and residential buildings in Greensburg.