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California OKs 15% Rate Hike for Liberty Mutual Condo Policies | Insurify [Video]

Condo insurance rates will increase an average of 15% next month for more than 34,000 Liberty Mutual policyholders. On Sept. 3, the California Department of Insurance approved the companys request for a rate hike that will see some policyholders annual premiums soar by more than $1,000. The hike is just the latest request from a

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Francine weakens and moves inland after lashing Louisiana [Video]

Francine weakened Thursday after striking Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, sent storm surge rushing into coastal communities and raised flooding fears in New Orleans and beyond.As the system moved inland, emergency crews began clearing roads, utility workers started restoring electricity and neighbors helped pick up the pieces. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries, Gov. Jeff Landry said.The human spirit is defined by its resiliency, and resiliency is what defines Louisiana, Landry told a news conference. Certainly there are times and situations that try us, but it is also when we in this state are at our very best.At the peak of the storm, 450,000 people in Louisiana were without power, based on numbers reported by the Public Service Commission. Many of the outages were linked to falling debris, not structural damage. At one point, around 500 people were in emergency shelters, state officials said.The amount of money invested in resilience has really made a difference, from the power outages to the number of homes saved, said Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, who attended the governor’s news conference.The storm drenched the northern Gulf Coast. Up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain was possible in parts of Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Georgia, with up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) possible in some parts of Alabama and Florida. Flash flooding threatened cities as far away as Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Atlanta.Video below: TIMELAPSE: Hurricane Francine moves over Grand Isle, LA Francine slammed the Louisiana coast Wednesday evening with 100 mph (155 kph) winds in coastal Terrebonne Parish, battering a fragile coastal region that has not fully recovered from a series of devastating hurricanes in 2020 and 2021. The system then moved at a fast clip toward New Orleans, lashing the city with torrential rain. The city awoke to widespread power outages and debris-covered streets. Home generators roared outside some houses.Rushing water nearly enveloped a pickup truck in a New Orleans underpass, trapping the driver inside. A 39-year-old emergency room nurse who lived nearby grabbed a hammer, waded into the waist-high water, smashed the window and pulled the driver out. It was all captured on live television by a WDSU news crew.Its just second nature I guess, being a nurse, you just go in and get it done, right? Miles Crawford told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. I just had to get to get him out of there.He said the water was up to the drivers head and rising. Crawford told the man to move to the back of the trucks cab, which gave him more room, and since the front end of the pickup was angled down, into deeper water.I wasnt really questioning whether I should do it it was just who is going to get it done, he recalled, adding that he never caught the man’s name.News footage from coastal communities showed waves from lakes, rivers and Gulf waters thrashing seawalls. Water poured into city streets in blinding downpours. Oak and cypress trees leaned in the high winds, and some utility poles swayed.By early Thursday, water was receding from flooded streets in Jefferson Parish, but canals were still high, parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said in a social media post. Pumps that operated through the night could not keep up with the storm, causing sewer system problems, she said.She asked residents to give the parish time to clear the streets, noting that the hazards after a storm can sometimes be more dangerous than the storm itself. As the sun rose in Morgan City, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where Francine made landfall, residents gathered tree branches that were strewn across their yards, where water rose almost to their doors. Pamela Miller, 54, stepped outside to survey the damage after a large tree fell on the roof of her home.It was a really loud noise, a jolt, and thats when we realized the tree had come down, she said. Luckily it did not go through the roof.Jeffrey Beadle, 67, emerged from the hotel room where he sheltered for the night.Beadle left his home in low-lying Bayou Louis, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside town, on Wednesday as the rain picked up. He lived there for 30 years without any major damage, but he was worried this time would be different because his home was right in the hurricanes path. He loaded his car in preparation to check on his home.Theres nobody over on that end I can call, he said, explaining that he did not know what he would find. “Hope everythings good.Sheriffs deputies helped evacuate dozens of people, including many small children, who were trapped by rising water Wednesday evening in Thibodaux. Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre said deputies also rescued residents in the Kraemer community.The National Hurricane Center downgraded Francine from a tropical storm to a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (56 kph) as it churned north-northeast over Mississippi. The system was expected to continue weakening and become a post-tropical cyclone later Thursday before slowing down and moving over central and northern Mississippi through early Friday.The sixth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Francine drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters.In addition to torrential rains, there was a lingering threat of spinoff tornadoes from the storm Thursday in Florida and Alabama.In the Louisiana town of Ashland, 73-year-old Wilson Garner stood on the steps of a FEMA trailer he has lived in since his previous home was destroyed by Hurricane Ida in 2021. He has been trying for years to get enough money to fix up the old place. The $1,000 monthly rental stipend from FEMA is not enough for him to move, he said.You find a place for $1,000, man, youre very lucky, he said. We just havent had no success. Where am I going to go? I dont know.

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Israel releases video of a Gaza tunnel where it says Hamas militants killed 6 hostages

The Israeli military on Tuesday released video footage of a Gaza tunnel where it says six hostages were recently killed by Hamas. The video shows a low, narrow passageway deep underground that had no bathroom and poor ventilation.The discovery of the hostages bodies last month has sparked a mass outpouring of anger in Israel and the release of the new video could add to the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas to bring the remaining hostages held by Hamas home.Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday the footage of the Gaza tunnel had been shown to the hostages families, and that it was very hard for them to see how their loved ones survived in those conditions.Hagari revealed the video in a nationally televised press conference after visiting the tunnel himself. He said the tunnel was reached by a shaft buried under a child’s bedroom in a home in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The tunnel was about 70 feet underground and stretched about 130 yards.In the video, a hunched-over Hagari, unable to stand upright in the narrow arched passageway, describes the conditions as extremely humid and difficult to breathe. He showed bottles of urine, a bucket that appeared to have served as a makeshift toilet, a chess board and ammunition for an automatic rifle believed to have been used by the captors.They were here in this tunnel in horrific conditions, where there’s no air to breathe, where you cannot stand,” he said.The six included Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, a native of Berkeley, California, whose parents led a high-profile global campaign seeking his release. Goldberg-Polin lost part of his left arm to a grenade in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war in Gaza. In April, Hamas issued a video that showed him alive, sparking protests in Israel. The army identified the others as Ori Danino, 25; Eden Yerushalmi, 24; Almog Sarusi, 27; Alexander Lobanov, 33; and Carmel Gat, 40.Three of the six including Goldberg-Polin had reportedly been scheduled to be released in the first phase of a cease-fire proposal discussed in July, further fueling anger when they were found dead.The Hostages Families Forum, a group representing relatives of hostages, said in a statement that time is running out and called for an immediate deal to return those kidnapped.Every day that passes is a danger to their lives, hanging by a thread, at the mercy of terrorists capable of the worst crimes against humanity, the group said.Pathology tests on the bodies of the six, who were found by the military in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday, Aug. 31, showed they had been killed sometime on the night of Aug. 29, Hagari told reporters.Hagari said Israeli soldiers found evidence indicating the hostages and at least two captors had been there for more than a few days. Mattresses, clothes, assault rifle magazines and shells were also found, as was some food, mainly energy bars and tuna. There were blood stains on the floor, he said.The day before the bodies were found, Hagari said, the army had killed two militants trying to run away from a complex of tunnels near where the hostages were found. There was a probability that the two had been those who killed the hostages, he said. DNA tests were being carried out to verify this, he added.Hamas kidnapped about 250 people during the Oct. 7 attack. More than 100 were released during a brief cease-fire in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Eight have been rescued by Israeli forces, while Israeli troops mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages who had escaped captivity in December. Israeli authorities say 101 hostages remain in captivity, including 35 who are believed to be dead.Shai Dickman, the cousin of Gat, one of the hostages who was found dead in the tunnel, told Israel’s Channel 13 TV that the government should move immediately to reach a deal to bring home the remaining hostages.There are still people living like this, she said, holding back tears. If there had been a deal on time, Carmel would be sitting here.Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants. But negotiations on a cease-fire have failed to produce any deal.___Melzer contributed from Nahariya, Israel.