CNN, KABC, KCAL, KCBS, @OCFIREAUTHORITY, X, GKN AEROSPACE, MIGUEL LOO, KCAL/KCBS, @OCFireAuthority/X

By Nina Giraldo, Taylor Romine, Emma Tucker, Alaa Elassar, CNN

(CNN) — Crews in Southern California are again working through the night to stop a massive tank filled with a toxic chemical from leaking or causing a catastrophic explosion as tens of thousands of residents remain evacuated due to possible health risks and the prospect of damage from a blast.

About 50,000 people in the roughly 9-square-mile potential blast radius in Orange County were told to leave their homes last week, with many spending the Memorial Day weekend in shelters, hotels or with friends and family outside the danger zone. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared an emergency for the area.

After discovering a crack in the tank at the GKN Aerospace facility Saturday night, crews returned to the structure late Sunday for an “all-night mission” to determine whether the fissure goes all the way through the exterior – a key step in confirming whether dangerous internal pressure has been released.

If the crack does not extend all the way, pressure could still be trapped inside, leaving the possibility of a “catastrophic worst-case scenario,” Orange County Fire Authority Interim Chief TJ McGovern told CNN’s Rosemary Church.

Since the tank began showing signs of trouble Thursday – with heat and pressure building inside – officials in the Garden Grove area have warned of two possible scenarios: an explosion that would send debris flying into the homes and businesses that surround the site or a leak that would send 7,000 gallons of methyl methacrylate into the soil and air.

Methyl methacrylate, or MMA, can cause respiratory issues and irritation to the skin and eyes upon exposure, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

McGovern reaffirmed Sunday there is currently no leak, telling CNN that authorities are doing continuous air monitoring in the vicinity.

Officials plan to vet findings from the overnight mission Monday morning and provide an update on the explosion threat.

If pressure has been released, officials can start looking at reducing the size of the evacuation zones, “and that’s kind of a step that we’re really looking forward to,” McGovern said.

Busy tourist destinations like Disneyland and another theme park, Knott’s Berry Farm, are nearby but are not included in the evacuation zone.

“At this time, there is no impact to Disneyland Resort due to this situation and the resort remains open to guests,” the Disneyland website said Sunday, adding the theme park is actively monitoring the situation and working with local authorities.

Here’s what we know about the tank and what authorities are doing to prevent a potential disaster:

Tank began to overheat Thursday

Authorities first responded to GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove on Thursday for a vapor release from the tank, McGovern said Fri

By Laura Paddison, CNN

(CNN) — New Orleans is locked into a watery future which could see it surrounded by ocean as early as this century, according to a new expert analysis, which says the city must start the relocation process now to avoid chaos.

The paper’s conclusions are stark, but it’s no secret that New Orleans is highly vulnerable to rising seas as the planet warms. Coastal Louisiana is one of the lowest lying regions in the world, and New Orleans, a city of 360,000 people, is particularly exposed. It sits in a bowl-shaped basin, mostly below sea level, in the middle of a rapidly shrinking delta.

The city is almost entirely surrounded by wetlands, which act as a buffer against hurricanes and storm surges. These are fast disappearing, however, as humans drain them for development, dredge canals in them for the oil and gas industry and construct river levees, depriving them of the sediments that stop them being submerged. Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost around 2,000 square miles of wetlands.

Coastal Louisiana faces sea level rise of around 10 to 23 feet, according to the analysis published in May in the journal Nature Sustainability. The impacts will be bleak: around 75% of its remaining wetlands are set to be lost and its shoreline could retreat inland by up to 62 miles, the scientists found.

The region has “crossed the point of no return,” the paper’s authors wrote, adding New Orleans “may well be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico before the end of this century.” They argue the city must seize the opportunity to develop strategies for relocation that could make it a model for places facing a similar fate.

Rising seas are coming for coastal towns and cities all over the world, from New York and London to Bangkok and Shanghai. “The main questions are how soon those futures will come, and how they will play out,” said Benjamin Strauss, CEO and chief scientist at Climate Central, a climate research nonprofit.

To map Louisiana’s future, the report’s scientists looked into its past. One of the authors identified an ancient shoreline roughly 30 miles north of New Orleans, which formed around 125,000 years ago when temperatures were similar to today, but the oceans were at least 10 feet higher.

“It’s very likely that sea level will rise to that elevation in the future,” said Torbjörn Törnqvist, a report author and a geology professor at Tulane University. The question is what should be done and when.

People are already leaving coastal Louisiana and have been for decades, said Brianna Castro, a study author and assistant professor of urban sustainability at Yale School of the Environment.

Since Hurricane Katrina — which slammed into Louisiana in 2005, killing nearly 1,400 people — New Orleans has lost around 25% of its population. The retreat has been a “pulse-like” process, where every major storm or flood prompts a spike in departures, Castro said.

The storms the city faces are only likely to get harder to endure. Approximately 99% of the population in New Orleans is at high flood risk, according to a recent study. “When another Katrina-like hurricane strikes the city, almost everyone would experience flood damages,” said Wanyun Shao, an author of that study and associate professor of geography at the University of Alabama.

Failing to implement a carefully managed relocation process risks a “chaotic” retreat which will come at a high cost, especially for the city’s poorest, the paper’s authors argue. As the popu

By Emile Nuh, CNN

(CNN) — Almost a decade has passed since Michael Phelps set the world alight on the Olympic stage at Rio 2016, when he took home the most medals of any athlete with five golds and one silver.

And when he called time on his legendary career after those Games as the most decorated Olympian of all time – with an astounding 28 medals across four Olympics – it seemed unthinkable that his name would ever be synonymous with anything other than swimming.

But the 40-year-old has found a new calling since stepping out of the pool, becoming one of the most prominent and outspoken advocates for mental health and well-being in sports and beyond.

“Water safety but also mental health – those two things are who I am,” Phelps told CNN Sports’ Coy Wire.

Those are also the key focuses of the Michael Phelps Foundation.

The organization, which launched in 2008, was initially set up to help young people by promoting healthy living and water safety – as the retired swimmer was himself scared of the water when he first took up the sport at seven years old.

However, as Phelps evolved, so did the purpose of his foundation. And in 2020, it formally expanded its mission to include mental wellness and emotional resilience support for children.

“Being able to implement mental health into my foundation along with swimming, it kind of gives me that purpose again I had when I was competing,” the 23-time Olympic gold medalist said.

Finding purpose beyond the pool

Phelps’ foundation is just one of the many ways in which he’s now diving into his newfound mission.

In 2023, he partnered with online therapy company Talkspace and fronted its “Start from the Top” campaign, an initiative focused on building sustainable mental wellness habits through five key pillars.

He’s also delivered several keynote speeches around the world in recent years, detailing his struggles with depression and the lessons he’s learned through his many trials and tribulations.

The man who spent nearly two decades relentlessly chasing perfection in the pool has now made it his life mission to help others by openly speaking about the treacherous journey it took to achieve it.

And for Phelps, there was one defining, lightbulb moment that changed everything.

“I honestly think it’s really when I got to that point of not wanting to be alive,” he explained. “Once I got to that point, I was like, ‘OK, something is wrong. I need to ask for help.’

“That was the first time that I ever asked for help because I just didn’t know what to do, (and) I’m very thankful that I got the help that I needed because I wanted change.

“And then, at that point, (it was about) just being able to find that ground to stand on and be OK sharing the stories that I talk about.”

Saving lives trumps everything

For many athletes, especially those who have reached the absolute pinnacle of their sport like Phelps did, retirement normally signals the end of an arduous journey and a time for nostalgic reflection.

But for Phelps, when he jumped out of the pool professionally for the final time in Rio 2016, his work was far from finished.

There was still another race to run. One that, according to the Olympic icon himself, has a far greater reach than any of his sporting achievements.

“I remember after the 2016 Olympics, I was at Microsoft and this kid … I say ‘kid,’ he was probably 25 years old, stood up and he was like, ‘I have my dream job. Everything I’ve ever wanted to do has happened. And I don’t want to be alive anymore.’

“And

By Alaa Elassar, Alisha Ebrahimji, CNN

(CNN) — Some of Mary Ellen Klinner’s happiest memories were of watching her son outdoors — camping, hiking and spending long days beside his father — and later seeing him become a devoted dad to three young children of his own.

But since her son Maj. John ‘Alex’ Klinner was killed in the Iran war, those memories have become both a comfort and a painful reminder of the “nightmare” her life has felt like in the past couple of months.

John Klinner is one of the 13 US troops killed in connection with Operation Epic Fury, the name the Pentagon has given to the war with Iran. He died alongside five other crew members who were aboard a US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft when it crashed on March 12 in western Iraq.

Earlier that month, six other service members were killed on March 1 after an Iranian strike in Kuwait’s Shuaiba port. A service member died March 8 following an attack by Iran on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

“If any of their deaths mean anything – then please, do not look away,” Klinner’s aunt Jean Marie Dillon wrote on Facebook. “Military lives are not expendable. The people who decide when and where we go to war answer to us.”

President Donald Trump has said meeting with some of the fallen soldiers’ families did not give him pause about the war. He and senior officials have made clear there would likely be more casualties.

Approximately 400 service members have been wounded in action during Operation Epic Fury, Capt. Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesperson, told CNN. The vast majority of injuries suffered were minor and 90% of service members returned to duty, Hawkins said.

At least 3,375 people have been killed in Iran since the US and Israel began strikes on the country, according to state media Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. One strike killed at least 168 children.

As families of service members still deployed overseas wait anxiously for the war to end, the loved ones of the 13 who were killed are mourning not only the soldiers lost but the vibrant, deeply loved people they were beyond the uniform.

Maj. John ‘Alex’ Klinner

When asked if he has a favorite memory of his son — a beloved husband and father of a 2-year-old and 7-month-old twins — John Klinner pauses.

“Gosh, there’s so many,” he told CNN. “Alex and I did a lot of camping trips. He loved the outdoors, and so we would go up to North Carolina every summer for years and just camped at this beautiful place. I’ve got a lot of good memories from those trips.”

Klinner was “the perfect son, the perfect child,” Mary Ellen says quietly in a classic Southern twang as the pair sit in their Alabama home.

Just a day ago, they visited their grandchildren, who will now grow up without a father. “We’re heartbroken that he won’t be there for them,” John Klinner says. “He loved those children.”

His loss “has left an immeasurable voi

* WHAT…Northwest winds 20 to 35 mph with gusts to 45 mph expected.
Local gusts to 50 mph near Gaviota and Refugio.

* WHERE…Santa Barbara County Southwestern Coast and Santa Ynez
Mountains Western Range.

* WHEN…From 6 PM Tuesday to 6 AM PDT Wednesday.

* IMPACTS…Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree
limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.
Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high
profile vehicles. Use extra caution.

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