ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 11pm - July 26, 2026

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

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Right now, live coverage from your local news leader, preparing you for tomorrow starting tonight and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. Right now at 11 concerns amid the ongoing drought, farmers and home gardeners feeling the strain despite our recent rainfall. This year was very challenging with the dry and all the heat and the hot weather. And tonight the Doppler net is still active as door. storms roll through parts of the viewing area. Skies in Raleigh clear at this hour, but that could all change as the rain moves its way through.

You're watching Iowa and his dudes at 11th this Sunday night. I'm Dwan Hogarth. Thank you so much for choosing to spend part of your evening off with us. Now we're going to start our time together this evening talking First Lord weather. Now after a dry day, those summer storms have once again fired up again tonight. So for that, we'll send things over to meteorologist Cruz Medina. He's in our First Lord Forecast Center. Cruz is always good to have you to join us.

Tell us when we could see some of those storms roll through the air. area specifically. Well Dewan, some of our northern counties are already starting to see these storms move in. So person County, Roxborough, you're probably just getting a few sprinkles now, but just a few storms out there. Thankfully, the complex that's moving in has significantly weakened from what it was doing up in central Virginia a little earlier this evening. So this will likely make it all the way south toward the triangle. Could take several more hours for it to get to rally, but those northern counties have the highest chance of seeing anything from these storms. Damaging winds, not really a huge concern for this evening.

We're really just watching out for a few garden variety storms that are going to move into the region. So aside from that, we will dry out later tonight. Tipters will be in the 60s to start the day tomorrow, low 70s down in the Sand Hill. So we'll be a little warmer and muggyer down toward Fayetteville and Lumberton. Here's how tomorrow. We will see temperatures pushing into the mid to upper 80s tomorrow a few spots around 90 degrees. We will have a partly to mostly cloudy sky during the morning hours and then we'll see see a bit more sunshine late in the day. Now I'm not ruling out a stray shower tomorrow during the

late afternoon hours. As we go into Tuesday, that's kind of when we see a better chance of rain and storms across the region. A few of those could be on the strong side. But again, tomorrow, heating up into the start of the week, 90 the high for Raleigh and Fayetteville, 87 and Roxborough. And then the rest of the week is pretty seasonable. So bouncing between a degree or two of 90 degrees each of those days. Coming up in your extended forecast, we're going to take a deeper dive into Tuesday. severe risk and also first alert you to another chance of rain that could impact next weekend. Back to you. All right all eyes and all ears. Thanks so much, Cruz. Well, tonight's rain comes as we continue to deal with drought conditions across central North Carolina. Now this video that you're seeing here, this is all from Falls Lake, this video all from Chomper 11th. You can just see how drastic those water levels are noticeably higher than they have been after the last time that we saw rain last week. Our Tom George, he's a lot for us in Wade County tonight. Tom, good evening. Now, this recent rain has been helping to ease the drought. We know that you spoke with local farmers and gardeners, but this still might not be enough to help them. What more are they sharing with you? Hey, look, Dewan, we can take all the rain we can get, but it is still not quite enough to be out of the woods from where we are right now. Here in Wake County, we're still under a severe drought further north in Durham and Orange counties, they are under an extreme drought. And whether you're gardening at home or you're a professional, a lot of us seeing the effects of that drought.

Dallas, Maven, and Cookie were on a mission at the state farmers market today, adding to their garden. Tomatoes. Yeah, got lots of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, Japanese eggplant, so a little bit of everything, cucumbers. Both the people with gardens in their backyards and the professionals dealing with some tough conditions. This year was very challenging with the dry and all the heat and the hot weather, but thank God in the last week week and a half, we've had over 10 inches of rain over our farm and nursery area. John Harmouth from Long Hill Nursery says he's giving people advice when they take his plants home. So the main thing that we tell them, don't buy more than what you can easily keep irrigated.

Don't buy more than you can just water easily. Advice Dallas and his family have been taking to heart. It has been some trial and error and some planning and, you know, talking about putting some rain barrels in place to kind of, you know, capture water and use that and just be a little bit more efficient and things of that nature. Across town at fifth season gardening, they're seeing more customers getting creative with irrigation, hoses, terracotta pots that slowly release water, and giant rain barrels to help conserve water. It's one of those things that's an investment. You just set it in your yard, let it go, it fills up, and then you have that water when you need it. With the drought causing chaos, some are having to start over, especially with their tomato crops. And so then your fruit starts to rot, stuff like that.

And just, you know, their tomatoes themselves are susceptible to that and just breaking open with, too much rain or too little rain, then they shrivel up and they don't grow. So we've also had people that have lost their crop and they're replacing them. Some crops are a little bit more resilient to that, so others are not. But until more rain comes, farmers hope you won't forget about them. I would say that come on out, the farmers really need people to come and buy the crops, whether it's nursery plants or corn or fruits or any kind of agriculture product they're really hurting this year. They all need to help, buy local.

Hey, buy local, support your local farmers, always good advice, especially more so right now. And as Cruz mentioned, some more rain potentially in the forecast this week, but big picture, still not enough to move the needle, both Raleigh and Durham, showing no signs of lowering the restrictions they have in place right now. Reporting live in Wake County tonight, Tom, Georgia, ABC 11, Otis News. Yeah, a lot of folks just waiting on that rain to come through to help their gardens for local farmers as well. So Tom, again, thanks so much as we continue to track the latest drought conditions. And as we continue to do so, now is a good time to download our ABC11 mobile app. A great way for you to stay up to date on current weather conditions. Well, tonight we're working to learn more about a missing person on a Franklin County Lake.

According to the county emergency services, someone called 911 around 6 o'clock this evening, saying someone had fallen into Lake Royale. At last check, search and rescue teams were on the lake there searching for that person. We will continue to update you online and on air as we learn more. Over in Wake County, the sheriff's office is investigating a stabbing that sent a man to the hospital that happened along Gildridge Lane near Wendell. Deputies say that's where they found the man with a stab wound. He was taken to the hospital and is expected to be okay. No arrests have been made at this time.

Well, tonight, the desperate search for a missing carry mom who went missing while on vacation in the Caribbean is gaining national attention. 44-year-old Elizabeth Waddell or Liz was last seen on a beach on the southern coast of Grenada, Wednesday afternoon. Authorities there are now calling on fishermen, boat operators, and residents along the Southern Coast Line to be on the lookout for Liz Weddell. Her loved ones talking with Good Morning America's Rianne and Ali about the ongoing effort to find her. You know, the police and the Grenadian officials in government have been absolutely wonderful and very receptive and they're throwing all their resources at searching for Liz. You can watch that full interview on Good Morning America,

tomorrow morning right here on ABC 11. And if you have any details that could help investigators find Liz, we have those details on our website about how you can help. Well, it heads up for the Fort Bragg community. Starting tomorrow, Fort Bragg's All-American Gate will close for two years as major road upgrades begin. Several gates will remain open 24-7, while others will be operating on limited hours.

The All-American Gate Visitor Center will remain open as well during that closure. Coming up after the break, the fighting in the Middle East is on pause tonight, but tensions between the U.S. and Iran remain at an all-time high. What we know so far about the meeting happening this week between President Donald Trump and Israel's leader. And with just 100 days to go until the midterm elections, both sides of the aisle are now trying to seize the moment. momentum. And a juggler in Raleigh putting his skills to the test today as he attempts to break a world record.

And here's Cruz before we head back to break. All right, tipgers are in the 70s tonight. We're watching a few storms rolling in. But Tuesday, after going through a very active week of weather this week, we're already watching a chance of some strong storms on Tuesday. The latest timeline of that coming up in your seven-day forecast. Summer heats up in FX's The Shards. Set in 80s, Los Angeles, the Shards follows a group of beautiful, privileged prep school students who are preyed on by The Trailer, a serial killer targeting teenagers across the city. This fever dream of youth, beauty, sex, and mystery is a must see. FX's The Shards, streaming August 5th on Hulu on Disney Plus.

Sign up now at Disneyplus.com. Well, now to the war with Iran tonight, there's been a temporary pause in the fighting as the White House says it's considering escalating military force against the country. But now a new report says that might not happen. It comes as Israel's leader, heads to the U.S. this week. Tonight, here's ABC's Alison Kossack with more. For a second straight day, the U.S. and Iran are holding their fire. U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Mike Walsz tells NBC's Meet the Press,

the pause is designed to give peace talk some space, saying diplomatic activity has ramped up between both sides. The president is keeping all options on the table. Talks are ongoing. They're happening at every level from the more technical aspect of it all the way to the highest levels. But a new report from the New York Times says the president is backing off because the U.S. stockpile of Patriot anti-missile receptors, crucial to protecting U.S. assets in the Middle East, is depleted. Today, the U.S. ambassador pushed back on that reporting. I want to be crystal clear. The U.S. military, and I've verified this every which way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be.

The White House telling ABC News the president prefers a diplomatic solution with Iran, but is keeping all options on the table if attacks continue against the U.S. or allies in the Strait of Hormuz. Despite the break in fighting, the war expanded over the weekend with the U.S. boarding or re-reaching. redirecting several ships for violating its blockade of Iran. The Houthis and Iranian proxy group in Yemen have opened a new front targeting Saudi oil exports, claiming they hit state-run oil operations in the Saudi Kingdom, and declaring a maritime blockade on Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea's Babel Mandeb Strait, a vital trade route. Iran's foreign minister says negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are ongoing. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit the White House Tuesday for a meeting with President Trump.

Alison Kosick, ABC News, New York. Meanwhile, the Pentagon has updated its war casualty database showing the total number of U.S. troops wounded in the war with Iran has surpassed 600. According to Defense Department figures, 18 service members have died and 624 have been wounded since operations began back in February. Officials also restored four service members killed last week who had briefly disappeared from the database following data glitches. The update follows scrutiny from lawmakers and media outlets over fluctuating totals. Well, tonight the suspect in that deadly attack at a Germany pride event is dead. According to Berlin police, 21-year-old Abdul B. is accused of ramming a car through a crowd of people at a pride celebration, killing at least one person and injuring dozens more.

Police in Berlin say the suspect was found near a garden complex and say he allegedly ran toward officers with a stabbing weapon. That's when police opened fire, killing him. Officials are now calling it an Islamist terror attack. Well, in your voice, your vote tonight. Today marks 100 days until those critical midterm elections. Republicans are trying to hold on to their slim majorities in both the House and the Senate, whereas the Democrats are looking to regain control of Congress. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is kicking,

off the final 100 days of the midterm campaign there in a battleground Pennsylvania. Jeffrey is talking about several key topics, including that war with Iran. We need to end this reckless and costly war of choice in the Middle East, which has directly skyrocketed gas prices for everyday Americans all across the country over $4 per gallon here in the Commonwealth and across America. That's unacceptable. President Donald Trump is campaigning for Republican candidates and key battleground states urging voters to protect the GOP's narrow house majority while shoring up support

for his second term agenda, including his voter ID legislation. A new Washington Post-IPSO's poll shows the battle for Congress remains tight tonight with Democrats leading the generic congressional ballot by just three points 48 to 45. And as we quickly approach the November election, here are some important dates to remember. October 9th is the deadline to register to vote. In-person, early voting is from October the 15th through October 31st. You can register to vote during early voting. And the last day of request an absentee ballot is October the 20th. November 3rd is election day. It is also the deadline for all absentee ballots. Well, they say money talks and tonight the powerball jackpot is still growing after no winning ticket was drawn Saturday night. However, some would

here in Central North Carolina joined the Lottery's Millionaires Club. Now, according to the North Carolina Education Lottery, one lucky person, Warren County, won a million dollar prize. That winner buying the lucky $2 ticket from Tobacco Plus on East Macon Street in Warrington. The ticket matching the numbers on all five white balls to win that $1 million prize. That person, however, in Warrington, not the only winner. One ticket worth $200,000 was purchased in Johnston County. That was bought up the Speedway there on North Brightleaf Boulevard in the town of Smithfield. The next power ball drawing is tomorrow night.

So good luck to you. Well, meanwhile in Raleigh, one lucky man is trying out his luck today at Poland Park, and this is professional juggler Chris Fowler, also known as Juggle Boy. That's the name. And he's hoping to break a world record by attempting to break the juggling record for catching the most baseball bats in one minute. The current record is 121 catches in one minute. Fowler tells us he made roughly 150 catches in one minute today. the International Jugglers Association,

they are the group to determine when a new record is set. I did not know Cruz, I was today years old, that was actually a thing, right? Just one minute and how many bats? That's first one, then number two. How do you figure out like how many you can juggle? Like at what point do you enter the conversation and say, hey, look what I could do.

I don't even know like how you figure out how to juggle. Like I've tried it before. Yeah, not successful, but. Let alone a bat of all things. Yeah, I'm surprised he didn't try to get Guinness wrapped up in that too. Next time, if I ever go, I'm just going to sit far back in case there's any accidents. I'm only getting hit with the bat by sitting so close.

That's right. All right. Well, tonight, some folks might get hit with storms. Oh. It's not going to be anything severe, so that's the plus. But the best chance of storms comes closer to midnight to about 5 a.m. Now, wherever these storms end up at tomorrow, that could be a boundary to re-trigger some new storms. We'll talk about that in just a moment.

We're back to seasonable tipter. So highs will be within a degree or two of 90. each day throughout this week. But Tuesday, we're watching a cold front move in. This is not going to cool us down all that much, but it is going to bring us a risk of strong storms with damaging winds as the main concern. So tonight, I don't think we're gonna see much

in the way of damaging winds. Could be some gusty winds with some of these storms, but you could see I'm moving in to our northern counties at this time. So if you're watching from Roxburgh, you're probably just getting a few sprinkles right now. Most of the storms are back to your west, but these could scrape past alimans,

Orange in Durham counties before moving into Wake County and hopefully dying out as they move to the south. So that's what first solar predictor seems to suggest. Watch these storms. This is 3 a.m. So they'd be near Raleigh at that point. And as they continue south, they kind of fizzle out. So that's the overall trend. But again, wherever those storms end up, that could be focused for new development tomorrow afternoon. So most of the day is dry. It's warm and muggy to start the day already near 70 degrees. Partly cloudy. And then here's that chance for a few pop-up showers or storms. It's mainly. mainly to the south of Raleigh and also to the east of Raleigh toward the coastal plain. That's mainly going to be during the afternoon and evening.

Once we lose the daytime heating, though, all of that fades away and we're back to dry conditions as we go into tomorrow night. So tipters will be coolest in our northern counties tomorrow. Mid-80s there, closer to 90 for the triangle and the sand hills. Obviously heating up pretty fast, I should say, compared to what we've seen throughout this weekend. First alert predictor will give us the heads up for what to explain. expect Tuesday, we start off dry. We could have some widespread fog into Tuesday morning.

Here's the cold front getting closer. And so this is going to spark some clusters of storms. And this is that severe potential. Again, it's going to be during the evening. If you have a flight or something Tuesday evening, this is something to watch. Those storms dive to the south and look to gain strength as they push farther south and tap into some warmer

temperatures and higher humidity. So the storm prediction center already outlooking us, level two out of five severe risk. It's possible that increases depending on the exact timing of these storms. But right now, damaging winds look to be the primary concern, and that doesn't look to be a widespread issue, but of course that could change in time as well. So here is that front.

Once it's past us, high pressure starts to take over again. We're back to a pretty quiet pattern Wednesday through Friday, and then our next rain chances won't come until next weekend. And so you'll see that here in your first alert, Accuather, 7-day forecast, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, all within a degree or two of 90 degrees. Lots of sunshine. Those are great days to get stuff done outside.

By the time we get into the back half of the week, you could see that on Saturday could be a spotty storm out there. Temperatures are in the upper 80s. We drop into the mid 80s on Sunday as another front moves in and also brings us a chance of showers and thunderstorms.

Duwan, back to you. A good old classic North Carolina week here in a summer. Absolutely. All right, thanks, Cruz. Next at 11, a Raleigh Man is turning tragedy into grief support. The IP created. All designed to help us. navigate their own loss.

And as a reminder, you can find eyewitness news live on ABC11, Disney Plus, and everywhere you stream. This... Hey, y'all, it's Kelly Clarkson with Wayfair. Ever order furniture online and wonder, what if? Like, what if it doesn't hold up? That sofa was four days old.

You should have ordered from Wayfair. With Wayfair, there's no what if. Just style you love and quality you can trust. Visit Wayfair.ca. Wayfair, every style, every home. Well, right now, 11, coping with loss can be challenging, and everyone's experience can be different. One local brother who lost his sister and who is dealing with the grief himself

has created a resource for others. Bianca Holman, sharing more tonight. Meredith Lynn Smith, 17 years old, passed away suddenly as a result of a tragic car crash on July 26, 2012. She had aspirations to go to Princeton. She would have been the first four-year varsity cheerleader at her high school. She was an accomplished gymnast. She was just amazing. Meredith's brother, Zach Smith, was 18 years old at the time. her life was cut short. My mom came running in my room in the middle of the night screaming Meredith's dead over and over again and then when I went out to the living room and saw the state troopers there it kind of really hit and I understood what was going on and it was I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Smith describes

his grieving process. It is the worst feeling in the entire world. For the first days you're in a fog you don't really know what's up and down you don't sleep you can't eat he realized dealing with loss is a journey so Smith created stages an anonymous peer-to-peer grief support app on top of therapy it basically matches people with others who have experienced the same type of loss kind of just want somebody to talk to to talk you through your grief and know that it's coming from a good place The app, Smith spent building on nights and weekends, is already in use across the country and in Canada. Smith honoring Meredith's memory to ensure it lives on forever. I just think that helping each other and I just want to help people and help them through their grief experience,

just like I wish somebody had for me. Bianca Holman, ABC 11, eyewitness news. I'm Bianca, many thanks for that. Look, we're bringing in Trayvon Miles now to talk all things, sports. And what I love is that every day that goes by is a day closer to football back on TV regularly. We're getting closer to the game, man. The Hall of Fame game, the Panthers actually have that on August the 6th. So we are getting closer as the calendar flips to August.

Yeah, Dwan, I can't wait. It's camp season. Could the Panthers have their next great linebacker? We'll discuss that more when we come back with sports. families here in the triangle they are filling the impact of the recent nationwide snap benefit cuts on one local food bank is managing increased demand life and science is paying tribute to the carolina hurricanes will tell you how they're doing so when we come back