Flash floods kill 12 in Jordan, close kingdom’s main tourist attraction
PETRA, Jordan – The death toll from flash floods in Jordan rose to 12 on Saturday and the kingdom’s main tourist attraction, the ancient city of Petra, was closed for cleanup after what local officials said was the biggest deluge in the area in decades.
MALIBU, Calif. – Firefighters hoped that a brief lull in high winds would give them a chance Saturday to block, or at least slow, one of two massive California wildfires that have left at least nine people dead and driven a quarter-million people from their homes.
Cal Fire officials said the Woolsey fire that destroyed at least 150 homes and forced residents to evacuate the entire seaside town of Malibu was still listed as “zero contained.”
Two additional fatalities reported in Malibu may have been related to the fire that swept the area Friday night, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department Chief John Benedict.
The Camp Fire, which wiped out the town of Paradise in Butte County, 80 miles north of Sacramento, has consumed 156 square miles and was only 20 percent contained.
The brief respite in the high winds Saturday could give firefighters a chance to control the edges of the blazes and to swap crews, replacing firefighters who had worked for two days without rest, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby.
But with the winds expected to return to 35 mph gusts Sunday, it’s likely more homes will be lost, Osby warned. Ventura Fire Depart Chief Mark Lorenzen said the devastating Santa Ana winds could last through Tuesday.
Osby said his firefighters were reporting “conditions they have never seen in their lives.”
“We did lose a lot of homes,” he said. “But we saved thousands of homes.”
He said firefighters’ objectives Saturday included perimeter control along the 101 freeway, and in Bell Canyon and Malibu Canyon.
At Pepperdine University in Malibu,