ABC11 Eyewitness News - Eyewitness News at 5am - July 27, 2026

Episode Date: July 27, 2026

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Right now, live coverage from your local news leader, breaking stories from overnight and this morning, and your first alert forecast. Here's what's happening where you live. This is ABC 11 eyewitness news. 5 a.m. after a dark and stormy night. Good morning, Carolina. Welcome on this Monday. It's July 27th. I'm Joel Brown. And I'm Anna Rivera. Thanks so much for joining us today. Breaking news, a man and two dogs pulled from a house fire in southeastern Wake County. We'll have a line report on the lead to straight ahead. The search intensifying for a caring mom who disappeared during a Caribbean vacation, her family, now pleading for help. Flash flooding, toppled trees, heavy rain hitting the triangle overnight. We'll have live coverage of the aftermath throughout the morning. Right there for it. 2 a.m. Intense. Loud. Nice alarm clock.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Natural way to wake up. Lots of rain and in some places worse than others. We had some flash flooding near downtown Raleigh. Yeah, so a flood advisory for those areas impacted in the Raleigh area until 515, another 15. minutes on that. We'll get to it, but right now dry conditions for most of us this morning. Here's that flood advisory. It includes the Garner area, carry back towards Leesville and Raleigh proper. We're looking at still some ponding on the roads that could lead to some minor incidents out there, hazardous conditions on the road. This thunderstorm over Virginia was severe at one point. Now they've removed that tag, but it's still kind of strong with lots of lightning. I'll be tracking that as it could impact parts of Northampton County here as we get closer to

530 and even 6 o'clock this morning. Right now it's a little slow mover at this point. I still have a rain chance loath to the afternoon, 20 to 30%, but overall, you'll have a lot of dry time throughout the day today. We're seeing some clearing back to the west, and I do think we'll see some sunshine here at home. Damp conditions still around RDU, but no impacts now for those early morning flights. So you should be all good aside from some fog. Temperatures are in the 70s for most. Some 60s out there, too. It's really humid.

We do have some low visibility. Smithfield down the three miles. Four for Lewisburg, five for Roxborough and Pinehurst at eight miles. So we'll have mainly cloudy skies through the morning hours. A few showers this afternoon up to 82 at noon, mainly cloudy at 3 o'clock near 90 degrees by then. And then we'll see partly cloudy conditions building into tomorrow morning. Tuesday starts dry, but by the afternoon we'll have a risk for storms with our next front. This is a level 2 of 5 risk for tomorrow.

Damaging winds, the priority threat, but there is a hail potential and also a chance for an isolated tornado as well. We'll walk you through that and the rest of the week. That's coming up. Weather and traffic together, our first check, Anna, back to you. Quillan, it was busy overnight with all of the flash flooding that we saw. We still got a little bit of green left behind on the map, but overall things pretty quiet. Let's take a live look at the DOT cameras now. This is 40 and 540, the interchange there. Traffic is starting to fill in, and I'm even seeing some brake lights.

We've also got breaking news one on the scene of a tree down. You can see this massive tree that went down near Lake Johnson. This is a live look right now at Lake Dam Road, and it comes after that heavy rain-pounded parts of the triangle overnight. Be aware there are some road closures and there could be some delays in your morning commute. Meantime, we are over in the Breaking News Center following a house fire in southeastern Wake County. Eyewitness News has been on the scene here overnight. This is near Guy Road off US 70 near East Garner Road. And we just learned a man and two dogs were pulled out of that fire.

Sean coffee live on the scene for us. Sean, good morning. Yeah, good morning, Joel. Well, at this hour, there are only a handful of Wake County Sheriff's deputies still on seen here on Guy Road. No more fire cruises, the fire has since been put out. But you could see earlier today the large scene is our breaking news crew arrived just after 1 a.m. We could see a man being revived by Wake County EMS before being transported to WakeMed Hospital. We spoke with Garner Fire Chief Timothy Rooks earlier this morning who told us they responded to this home

after one, found that man unconscious inside with fire showing at the time from both the front and side of the house. He said that an update on the condition of the that man would come later this morning. He did say sadly two dogs were inside the home. One of those dogs did not make it. Excuse me. We asked if the fire was weather-related as well due to some of the lightning that was in the area

early this morning. Chief Rook said that he didn't believe so, but the cause of his fire is still currently under investigation. Again, we're hoping to get more of an update later this morning. You can look for the latest on that here on eyewitness news. For now we're live in Clayton, Sean Coffey, ABC 11. Eye witness news. Back to you. Okay, Sean, thank you.

And developing this morning, the search intensifying for a carry mom who disappeared during a Caribbean vacation. Elizabeth Waddell was last seen swimming along a beach in Grenada last Wednesday near Venezuela. Her family now pleading for help. Bianca Holman is following all of the latest from our Raleigh studio as the story gained some global attention. Good morning, Bianca. Yes, so family and friends, they are putting out the call. They want people to send in tips if they know anything about Liz Waddell's decision. appearance. And so right now, we know that seen on the beach on the southern coast of Grenada on Wednesday.

Authorities in the country now calling on fishermen, boat operators, and residents along the southern coastline, but to be on the lookout for her. Our loved ones talking with eyewitness news and Good Morning America about the ongoing search efforts. It seems that she went down to the pier and left her towel on the pier and went for a swim. If you have any, any information, No detail is too small. We are trying not to leave any stone unturned. And more of that interview will be on later on this morning at 7 on Good Morning America. And if you have any tips, if you've heard anything, if you know anything that could help out with the search, we have contact information for the investigators on our website, ABC11.com.

Live in Raleigh, Bianca Holman, ABC 11, I wouldn't snooze. Bianca, thank you. A heads up for the Fort Bragg community, starting today, the All-American Gate, down for two years as crews begin major road upgrades. Several other gates stay open 24-7. Others will run on limited hours. And the All-American Gate Visitor Center stays open through the closure. Heavy rain and flash flooding pounding parts of the triangle overnight. This is new video showing police and fire crews helping stranded drivers near South Saunders Street.

And despite all of this recent rain, North Carolina remains in a drought. Farmers across the state weighed in on the latest conditions over the weekend, saying they will need support. from the community amid water conservation efforts. 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 that really hurting this year.

They all need to help buy local. More rain is in the forecast this week, but Wake County remains in severe drought, while Durham and Orange counties remain in extreme drought. Current forecasts do not indicate any immediate changes to local water restrictions. 506 is the time. And we are following breaking news out of Seattle this morning. A gunman opening fire. Three people dead. One person in custody. The update coming up next half hour. Plus another arrest in the teen takeovers in Raleigh. Everything we know about the latest suspect coming up. Good morning. Hey, good morning. We are dry right now. Partly cloudy skies. Very warm with temperatures in the 70s. Highs today near 90. Just a low rain chance today. But storm chances go up tomorrow with a severe risk. I'll have more on that level two threat in my forecast. We did see that heavy overnight rain. So that did.

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Find out more at Cadillac Canada.ca. Luxury sales claim based on S&P Global Mobility, Canadian New Vehicle Total Registrations for calendar year 2025 for the Cadillac definition of luxury. 510, welcome back. It's Monday. We are rather dry right now after some stormy conditions overnight. One little spotty shower north of Pittsburgh. Here's a flood advisory.

So could see some instances of ponding on the roads around Raleigh, the Garner area back to carry, Leesville with some of those stronger storms at work through too. There's one strong storm into Virginia. I'll be tracking that potential impact in Departisan. parts of North Amden County, seeing some light showers east of Roanoke Rapids. In terms of totals overnight, one and a half inches and less for areas that picked up some of those heavier downpours.

So some quick action for you. We're dry at RDU right now. Still some damp roads out there and damp conditions in general, but nothing should obstruct or delay those flights out of RDU this morning. We have tips in the 70s around the 8 o'clock hour. Upper 70s, low to mid 80s by noon. Today I think it'll be fine for lunch outside. Could be a few spoty showers today.

30% chance highs near at 90 this. afternoon. Rain totals this month so far, approaching 10 inches that are due you bringing us into a surplus and now a surplus for Fayetteville as well. So we've had some really beneficial rains lately. Another shot at storms tomorrow. But with their storm risk comes severe potential, including a chance for damaging winds tornado threat as well. Upper 80s Wednesday as we dry out still upper 80s on Thursday too. At the coast, a low to moderate threat of rip currents today. A few showers, highs in the 80s and in the mountains. A few showers around Asheville and Bryson City. Highs in the 80s across the country tracking rain and storms and more heat. Big severe risk from Chicago to St. Louis back to the northeast. Full forecast coming up. Joel, back to you. Then Kuelan, thank you. Developing overseas wildfires turning deadly in Spain and France. A 78-year-old man is dead after flames tore through the town of Manis near Valencia over the weekend. More than 300,000 people forced from their homes.

Dramatic new video showing what one evacuee called an apocalyptic scene across Spain, regional region. Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron is huddling with his crisis team right now, trying to get a handle on the response. Happening today, traffic will start flowing across a new bridge over the Detroit River that connects the U.S. and Canada. It will serve as a key route for trade, jobs, and tourism. Canada celebrated the bridge's completion last week with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. U.S. and Michigan officials were uninvited after President Trump announced new tariffs on Canadian goods entering the U.S. Time now on your Monday, 512 and new this morning a drowning at a local lake. Authorities in Franklin County sharing new details overnight, everything we know about the victim coming up. Plus rallying for voting rights.

Details on a major event happening on Jones Street today as state lawmakers returned to Raleigh. And a reminder, you can find eyewitness news live on ABC 11, Disney Plus, and everywhere you stream. Hey, y'all'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.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. 515 and developing overseas, this suspect in a deadly terror attack at a pride event in Germany is now dead. According to Berlin police, police, 21-year-old Abdul B., that's how they are identifying him, drove a car into a crowd of people killing at least one person, injuring dozens of others. Police say he allegedly ran toward officers with a weapon. authorities then shot and killed him. Happening tomorrow, President Trump sits down with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

The two will hold talks at the White House on the latest in the Ukraine-Russia war. Zelensky will also be in Washington to attend South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham's funeral. The two leaders were close. Graham had just met with Zelensky in Kiev days before the senator's death earlier this month. In your voice, your vote, we are less than 100 days until the midterm elections, and Republicans are trying to hold on to their slim majorities in the House. and Senate, while Democrats try to regain control of Congress. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries made campaign stop in the critical battleground state

of Pennsylvania over the weekend, discussing several key topics like the war in 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. Meanwhile, President Trump is campaigning for Republican candidates in key races, 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 poll shows the battle for Congress remains tight, with Democrats leading the generic congressional ballot by just 3.48, 3 points to 48 at 45. And as we approach November, here's some important dates to remember.

October 9th is the deadline to register to vote. In-person, early voting is from October 15th through October 31st. You can register to vote during early voting. And the last day to request an absentee ballot is October 20th. November 3rd is Election Day. It's also the deadline for all absentee ballots. Back in our area, we are following a major rally for voting rights on Jones Street. In a matter of hours, voting rights groups will gather at the legislative.

building to demand free and fair elections. This comes as state lawmakers return to Raleigh this morning. They're expected to continue debating a sweeping elections bill that critics say could make absentee voting more difficult. Today's rally begins at 10 o'clock. Well, if you are awake now at 518, but you were asleep at, I don't know, 2 a.m. or so, take my word for it. It was loud. It was dark. It was stormy. But the worst, the worst is over. Yeah, those storms came through parts of Wake County this morning and we had some heavy downpours that led to some flashlighting too. We're finished with that. A few showers possible later today.

Highs near 90. Tomorrow more storms will develop with our front and they could turn severe. There's a level 2 of 5 risk for severe tomorrow ahead of the storm's. Very hot, high, slow to mid-90s. Feels like temperatures for some. In the triple digits by Wednesday,

we're drying out highs near 90 in the afternoon. Here's at level 2 of 5 risk for tomorrow. It's for the entire viewing area. Again, afternoon and evening hours. This morning, things are rather quiet for us after early this morning. We had a flood advisory for parts of Wake County because of those downpours.

led to one to almost two inches of rain and spots. Advisory has since expired. There's another storm into Virginia. Did have a severe tag, not now, non-severe, but it's a slow-moving system now, and so it's producing some flash flooding concerns just across the state line near Northampton County. We'll track that to see if it can hold together into Northampton soon.

A live look into downtown Raleigh, 70 degrees right now. The triangle, 74 in Fayetteville, Goldsboro, 72, Sanford, 70, Rocksboro, 70 as well. Very humid to start in your morning. and some fog out there too. No major issues with dense fog, but could cost some limited visibility and spots. 75 degrees at 9 a.m. mainly cloudy.

I do have a few showers into early afternoon. Could impact some of your outdoor lunch plans, 82 at noon, near 90 at 3 o'clock this afternoon. Dry conditions overnight, little fog possible into tomorrow morning as well, temps in the 70s. So we have the boundary to the south, cold front also to the west. This is the front that will approach into tomorrow,

bringing us to storm risk. So your commutes in the morning will be dry, Even through lunchtime, I think we're still dry by the afternoon. Here comes a storm action working in. Some of those could be strong to severe with certainly downpours. That could lead to some quick flash flooding too. Action is out of here before midnight tomorrow night. Then we're back to dry weather and a really nice setup for Wednesday with a northerly flow.

So humidity values on Wednesday will be a little lower. Rain totals on tomorrow will be mainly around one inch or less for most of us. Then we're dry the rest of the week. I have better rain chances into the weekend as at front that comes. comes through tomorrow kind of hangs out stationary so to influence the weekend forecast. In the tropics, we're nice and quiet, no development expected in the next seven days. So again, today, temperatures will be in the 80s, close to 90 lows tonight, upper 60s and low 70s. First alert day Tuesdays, we check out your first alert 70 forecast powered by ACUweather,

storm action developing later in the day Tuesday. Wednesday, partly cloudy 89 degrees, upper 80s Thursday. We're back to the 90s Friday and into your weekend with storm chances a little higher Saturday and Sunday lows in the 70s. Weather and traffic together. Anna, back to you. So, Quaylon, it is quiet on the roads right now for the most part. We're seeing some minor crashes, but really nothing that's going to slow you down at this point. But I do want you to keep in mind if you are getting ready to head out,

we do have some wet roads and spots because of those overnight downpours. Let's take a live look outside of the DOT cameras now. This is 885 and Ellis Road. You can see traffic is moving nicely, but it is starting to fill in. We'll be right back after the break. 524 is this smart glass. market continues to expand. Apple is reportedly taking extra steps to prioritize user privacy as it prepares to enter into the space. Here's ABC Sophie Fleigh with this morning's TechBites.

In today's TechBytes, Apple, getting into the Smart Glass's market, but privacy concerns are reportedly delaying their release. Bloomberg reports Apple is working on new privacy features. The Smart Glass's release date has now reportedly been pushed to 2027. The Wall Street Journal reports and videos and talks with Open AI to provide some 200, $150 billion in financial guarantees to lease a new data center in Ohio. The project, which is expected to cost more than $500 billion in total, would be one of the largest data centers in history. The CEO of AI Platform HuggingFace is calling for radical transparency after the unprecedented hack by OpenAI. OpenAI acknowledged one of its models went rogue. HuggingFace's CEO wants the company to release traces from the hack so researchers can study what happened.

Those are Techbytes. I'm Sophie Flee. Have a great day. Comic Con, wrapping up over the weekend in San Diego, the Marvel Cinematic Universe stole the show yesterday. Directors Joe and Anthony Rousseau surprised the crowd by introducing more than a dozen cast members of Avengers Doomsday. They say this is the most ambitious Marvel movie yet. Look, it's the biggest crossover event in Marvel history. I miss a massive movie. 25 years in the making, you have the X-Men, the Avengers. Yeah, the Fantastic Four, all on screen together for the first time in movie history. Being on set with Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart, it's kind of life-affirming, career-assuring.

Marvel Studios also announcing a new Ghost Rider film is in the Works with Ryan Gosling set to star. Sean Levy will direct and we'll see that film in theaters in 2028. If you're feeling lucky, grab your powerball ticket now. Before tonight's drawing, the top prize is now worth $633 million. And we've learned someone from Warren County won a million dollars over the weekend. The winner bought the lucky $2 ticket from Tobacco Plus on East Macon Street in Warrington. Another ticket worth $200,000 was purchased in Johnston County at the Speedway on North Brightleaf Boulevard in Smithfield. And we do have breaking news this morning. overnight storms downing this tree near Lake Johnson in Raleigh. This is a live look at the

scene right now. Blocking that road completely, we'll have an update. Plus the latest on a desperate search for a carry mom. She's missing in the Caribbean this morning. We'll have all the latest details coming up after the break.