The river rose higher than ever re-corded there, to just over 18 feet. Water stood 6 to 7 feet deep downtown and rose over the roofs of some homes, according to McCaysville Police Chief Michael Earley. Crews made more than 140 rescues by boat and helicopter, Georgia and Tennessee officials said.

However, when the water receded, the trouble stayed.

McCaysville’s water plant stopped working. Families were told to boil their water before drinking it. Copperhill asked people to conserve water while the state worked to restore drinking water. Both towns closed to visitors and set a nighttime curfew. Schools closed. The Copperhill post office shut down.

At least six buildings caught fire during the storm. Officials believe lightning started them.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared an emergency in four counties, and Polk County, Tenn., declared one, too.

The Toccoa becomes the Ocoee River in Tennessee, the same river that hosted whitewater races in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Near Copperhill and Ducktown, Tenn., the river runs through an old copper-mining area that operated from the 1840s until 1987.

The mines left so much damage that the EPA lists the area as a Superfund site, a polluted place under federal cleanup. Tennessee says routine testing has found no current water problems from the old mines for people using the river. No agency has yet said whether this record flood stirred up old pollution.

New Mexico has also been impacted by flooding. In September, a flash flood near Newcomb, N.M., killed two adults and a child, Navajo police said.

Then, starting Oct. 22, storms pushed the San Juan River to historic levels. At Shiprock, N.M., it rose above 23 feet. Major flooding there starts at 20.5 feet. Upstream in Farmington, it reached about 14.5 feet, where major flooding starts at 12 feet.

Law enforcement officers made hundreds of water rescues between Farmington and Bloomfield, the office of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said. On Nov. 1 and 2, another storm flooded the region again.

What the water left behind

Untreated wastewater got into the San Juan River when floodwater reached Bloomfield’s treatment plant, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s office said. Downstream in Montezuma Creek, Utah, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority said its wastewater ponds broke open. It told people to stay out of the river and asked people on that system to use less water.

Evacuated neighborhoods in San Juan County, N.M., stayed closed for days. Officials pointed out damaged buildings, dirty water, downed power lines and possible gas leaks.

In Utah, the flood washed out a bridge on Highway 163 near Bluff . In Colorado, the supports under a bridge on U.S. 160 collapsed, and the bridge must be rebuilt. A natural gas pipeline was damaged, and cell phone service went out for a time, Colorado’s governor said.

New Mexico’s governor says recovery could cost $200 million to $300 million. The federal emergency declaration does not pay for clearing mud and wreckage, her office noted. San Juan County expects that work alone to cost $230 million to $240 million.

In California, no storm came ashore. However, extra-high tides, called king tides, rode in on warm ocean water and flooded streets in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.

On Oct. 27, Los Angeles Harbor saw its highest water level since records began in 1923, the National Weather Service said. Forecasters said the tides ran up to 1.7 feet higher than pre-dicted.

In Huntington Beach, seawater damaged about 114 homes and buildings, the city said. Six homes were yellowtagged, which limits who can go inside for safety reasons.

The city warns that tides in late November could be even higher.

Flooding also affected parts of Florida after heavy rain, forcing the move of 21 midterm polling locations.

AccuWeather preliminarily estimated total damage and economic loss from the devastating rainfall in Florida at $3 billion to $5 billion. Rainfall totals of 28.93 inches in Malabar and 28.13 inches in Palm Bay were recorded.

AccuWeather also reported that public schools closed in Brevard, DeSoto, Indian River and St. Lucie counties, according to the Florida Department of Education.

“For some Palm Bay residents, the flooding brought another hardship: water shutoffs. A water-main break along Port Malabar Boulevard NE forced the city to temporarily interrupt service to affected customers … . Officials said 4 feet of water prevented crews from accessing the repair site,” the weather service reported.

‘Watch the weather!’

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, warned that Allah (God) would punish America with the forces of nature for its evildoings and wickedness.

In His book, “The Fall of America,” in Chapter 35, titled “America Surrounded with The Judgment of Allah,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote: “The four great judgments that Almighty [God] Allah is bringing upon America are rain, hail, snow and earthquakes.”

His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, has warned America many times to ‘watch the weather.’ In his Oct. 14, 2012, address “Guidance for Our President and Our Nation,” Minister Farrakhan cautioned, “I said again, ‘Watch the weather!’—because God doesn’t fight with your cheap ‘weapons’!”

Student Minister Abdul Haleem Muhammad, the Nation of Islam’s Southwest Regional Student Minister and an urban planner, spoke with The Final Call on Nov. 6, days after the Nov. 3 election. “The weather is a sign that, in spite of the political victories that we seem to enjoy, God is sending us a signal that He’s still displeased with this nation,” he said.

He pointed to the Holy Qur’an, the Islamic book of scripture, Surah (Chapter 2, Ayat verse 153), which states, “O you who believe, seek assistance through patience and prayer. Surely Allah is with the patient.”

“Ofttimes we’re not patient with Allah, and we have to learn how to balance our spiritual and temporal desires,” he said. America, he said, is facing “afflictions in the form of His judgment raining down on America.”

Minister Farrakhan, like his teacher, has continued to be a warner to America and the nations of the Earth. “America is surrounded with the Judgment of God.

Climate control is very important in the context of war, but there’s no space on this earth that has received as much calamity from weather as the United States of America. Water glaciers are melting. Some of these glaciers are the size of some small states.

When you see a water glacier, what you see on top is nothing compared to what is on the bottom. So, when the top falls off , the bottom rises. And when the top begins to melt, the water rises,” Minister Farrakhan said in his July 2019 message, “The Man Jesus and How Not To Fall Into Idolatry.”

“So, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said the Holy Qur’an bears witness that Allah would curtail this place on both sides. He said he wouldn’t buy anything on either coast, because the coasts are going to be flooded.

You heard it first here. Now watch the news bear witness that a Messenger of God, a man taught by God, is telling you things that are and things to come,” said Minister Farrakhan.

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Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and her husband, Donald Lantz, were sentenced to decades in prison last year, after a case that revealed the inhumane conditions that the children suffered at the couple’s home in Sissonville.

Allegations included the children being forced to stand in the rain, being locked in a wooden shed, performing hard labor, having very little food, and other hardships.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers, who approved the settlement on Sept. 29, imposed the maximum sentences in March 2025—up to 215 years for Jeanne Whitefeather and up to 160 years for Donald Lantz.

The couple filed appeals that May. The state Supreme Court dismissed both on Oct. 31, 2025, after a final deadline to perfect them passed, WCHS-TV reported.

“As a mother of seven, this one hurt me,” Houston attorney Sadiyah Karriem told The Final Call. “Those babies were not ‘adopted;’ they were taken in to work and exploited.”

West Virginia Watch reported that the state’s Board of Risk and Insurance Management paid the maximum settlement each child could receive under its limits. Attorney Dante DiTrapano represented the siblings.

The case began Oct. 2, 2023, after a 911 call about children locked in a barn. Deputies forced their way into the barn, where a 16-year-old girl and her 14-year-old brother were locked in a room. The girl said they had been there about 12 hours that day.

The sheriff’s office said it had “no running water, no bathroom facilities.” The office said deputies also found a small child locked inside the main home, alone in an unprotected loft.

Judge Akers said in 2024 that the indictment alleged the children were used essentially as slaves.

On Jan. 29, 2025, a jury convicted Ms. Whitefeather on all 19 counts and Mr. Lantz on 12 of 16, including forced labor, human trafficking, and child abuse and neglect. Ms. Whitefeather was also convicted of racebased civil rights violations; Mr. Lantz was acquitted on those counts. Four of the five children were victims in the criminal case; the youngest was not.

“I have defended people for 24 years and I believe in due process, but this jury got it right and so did the judge this time,” Atty. Karriem said.

CPS (Child Protective Services) was re-portedly notified several times about concerns about the children. WCHS-TV reported that a CPS worker testified at trial that she left a card in May 2023, then visited the home on May 27 and spoke with the children on the porch.

She said no follow-up occurred and the assigned worker was fired. The oldest girl said she did not tell the truth about the abuse and conditions because she felt Mr. Lantz could hear what she told the CPS worker.

According to West Virginia Watch, records show CPS received another report in August 2023, and that in November the state said it had no travel records showing workers checked on the children.

Atty. DiTrapano told West Virginia Watch that neighbors called many times, but he believes the agency made only one visit.

“The CPS folks who went out there let an interview take place in the presence of the parents, where the kids were not able to tell the truth about what was going on,” Atty. DiTrapano said,” according to reporting by West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

“CPS left, they didn’t do anything, and the kids suffered more for a while until the police finally came out there and arrested the couple,” the attorney said.

In a February 2024 order compelling re-cords in a separate foster care lawsuit, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cheryl Eifert described press allegations about the calls to CPS. “However, CPS failed to respond and perform an adequate investigation,” she wrote.

Lars Dalseide, spokesperson for Gov. Patrick Morrisey, said the department does not comment on specific settlements, according to West Virginia Watch. He said the prior administration fired an employee involved in the case but did not identify the person.

One online headline called the settlement “karma.” Atty. Karriem disagreed. “That $4.4 million is not karma,” she said. “That is West Virginia, the system, admitting it failed those children.”

Reports on the settlement do not say the state admitted liability.

West Virginia Watch also reported that Atty. DiTrapano and the Salango Law Firm plan legal action against Washington state’s child welfare agency, saying it approved the children’s transfer despite earlier abuse re-ports.

Atty. DiTrapano said the siblings have new adoptive families, West Virginia Watch reported. The $4.4 million settlement awarded to the five children will be placed into trusts for their future use.

Atty. Karriem, who grew up in foster care, urges more Black families to adopt Black children. “We cannot keep leaving our children in somebody else’s hands and hoping for the best. If we do not claim them, somebody else will. We must do for self or suffer the consequences, even with our children,” she said.

The post Black siblings ‘enslaved’ by White adoptive parents to receive settlement appeared first on Final Call News.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued an emergency order on Oct. 12, giving PJM Interconnection extra authority to reduce the risk of blackouts from Oct. 13 through Oct. 16. PJM is the regional organization that directs the power grid for more than 67 million people in all or parts of 13 states and Washington, D.C. The states include:

Delaware Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

According to the DOE, the order was needed to assess the grids as a precaution and reduce the risk of potential blackouts. The agency and PJM pointed to issues such as grid strain from unusually warm fall weather and the fact that many power plants were taken offline for planned fall maintenance and other work.

PJM is one of several regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and does not own the power plants or power lines it oversees, but it directs when plants run and how electricity moves across the lines and makes sure competing power companies and users get fair access to the grid.

On Oct. 12, U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright issued an emergency order stating in part that “This order will help ensure millions of American families and businesses across the mid-Atlantic have access to affordable, reliable, and secure electricity by making additional power generation, including backup power, available to use as needed.”

No power outages resulted from the temporary order or conditions, Jeff Shields, senior manager of external communications at PJM, told The Final Call. “None of these alerts impact everyday customers; they are directed at owners of generation plants and transmission equipment,” he said.

“It also alerts owners of data centers and other large load customers that conditions are tight and we could be calling on them to move to their backup generators so we don’t have any issues serving regular customers.”

Mr. Shields said PJM has never had to use that authority, calling it “a helpful tool to have at our disposal to protect residential customers from system interruptions.”

For Nation of Islam Student Southwest Regional Minister Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, based at Mosque No. 45 in Houston, who holds a Ph.D. in urban planning.

The emergency bears witness to a warning the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan issued on page 67 of his book “A Torchlight for America,” written more than three decades ago. Minister Farrakhan wrote about America’s national debt and the repercussions it could have.

“In 1993, when America’s national debt was approximately $4 trillion, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan warned America about the dangers of the growing federal debt and annual budget deficits. The national debt has now surpassed $40 trillion,” said Student Min. Dr. Haleem.

Student Min. Dr. Haleem said this relates to the DOE’s recent actions because the U.S. has neglected its infrastructure from 2001 to 2025. The U.S. spent approximately $16.8 trillion on national defense and military budgets and meanwhile, critical infrastructure, including the electrical power grid, continues to face serious challenges, Student Min. Dr. Haleem argued.

“So, the question I’m posing is what if a greater share of our national resources had been invested in modernizing our electric grid, strengthening the infrastructure, and protecting our communities?

National security must include the security, safety, and well-being of the American people. If we’d heeded the call of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan in 1993, perhaps we wouldn’t be in the condition that we’re in today,” said Student Min. Dr. Haleem.

According to the “2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure” released by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the country’s system gets a grade of D+.

U.S. energy infrastructure consists of facilities and related infrastructure needed to generate electricity from various sources (natural gas, petroleum, coal, solar, wind, nuclear, hydroelectricity), and transmission and distribution (T&D) networks needed to move this energy from its source to communities nationwide,” the 2025 report explains.

“Energy interruptions bear significant costs on U.S. industries and consumers, as even a brief power outage increases production costs and disrupts supply chains,” the report states.

“The U.S. is undergoing a transformational shift in how energy is used and generated through more than 12,500 utility-scale electric power plants.

Consumers and businesses are growing increasingly reliant on data storage facilities, artificial intelligence (AI), and electrified products such as EVs (electric vehicles), to name just a few examples of advancements adding immense strain to an already fragile and aging electric grid,” the report continues.

“Data centers alone are expected to demand 35 GW of electricity by 2030, up from 17 GW in 2022, growing roughly 10% per year. Electricity peak demand growth is at its highest point in two decades. After years of stable growth, summer and winter peak demands are expected to increase 15% and 18%, respectively, by 2034.”

The recent emergency grid order told PJM to run certain power plants when needed. As a last resort, it also let PJM turn on backup generators before or during a Level 3 energy emergency alert.

Level 3 is the last of three alert levels, when grid operators may have to cut power to customers. PJM expected its cushion of extra power to get very thin because demand was high and so many power plants were offline.

In an Oct. 15 post, David Souder, PJM’s executive director of system operations, wrote that “PJM was working with only 66% of our generating fleet’s capacity,” meaning about a third was offline. He described the temperatures as “unseasonably warm, but not extreme.”

The order expired Oct. 16. As of Oct. 22, the Energy Department’s public list of emergency orders showed no extension.

According to Mr. Shields, PJM has always been able to maintain its reserve margins. A reserve margin is the extra power a grid keeps ready in case a power plant suddenly fails. He said investment in new power generation is not keeping up with demand growth.

Student Min. Dr. Haleem pointed out that the recent multi-state emergency grid order was a short-term measure that lasted only four days. However, he urged people to prepare now in case a power outage hits your area.

Just a few years ago, Texas was hit with a winter storm that left millions of people without heat and power for days. The 2021 storm severely strained and overwhelmed the state’s electric grid, causing billions of dollars in damage and 246 deaths, according to NPR reporting.

“Texas is unique in that it operates an isolated power grid. Only pockets of the state are connected to the United States’ eastern and western grids. During the 2021 storm the state’s grid struggled to keep up with surging demand for electricity as Texans turned up their heaters while much of the state endured sub-freezing temperatures for multiple days. Many of the state’s power plants failed as they were not designed to withstand extreme winter weather,” NPR reported in a February 13 article published this year, titled, “It’s been five years since catastrophic Texas blackouts. How much has changed?”

Since the 2021 storm. Texas has strengthened its grid for extreme weather, including adding more batteries to store electricity and increase supply when demand peaks. And, according to a spokesperson for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, 40,000 megawatts of power have been added to the Texas grid since the storm.

But even those efforts are no guarantee there will be no problems, as Texas, like many states, is also dealing with aging infrastructure. Other vulnerabilities, beyond extreme weather, can also affect electrical and power grids, including possible cyberattacks. A 2024 Reuters article noted that U.S. power grids are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks, with the number of susceptible points in electrical networks increasing by about 60 per day, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

In January of this year, Texas experienced another winter freeze. It was less severe than the one in 2021 and for the most part the grid held up, although according to several reports, there were some localized temporary power outages and a few deaths due to exposure

Months after a severe storm struck parts of Northwest Indiana, including Gary, there are reports that residents in that city still face occasional and intermittent power outages.

According to reporting by the independent non-profit news outlet Capital B, “Residents say there were occasional power outages before the Aug. 11 storm. But the hardship of enduring a weeks-long blackout has made the recent interruptions even more unbearable.”

Student Min. Dr. Haleem cautioned that it is critical to be prepared for all types of disasters and emergencies. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam. And the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan have taught the importance of storing food and water at home to prepare for such times. Disaster and emergency preparedness plans and actions are becoming increasingly important.

“You got to put together a plan for your family, for your business, for school, for work, home, even when you’re in the car,” said Student Min. Dr. Haleem. He recommended the website weatherwatchmen.org, which includes simple, step-by-step preparation instructions. Disaster preparedness videos are also available on watch.noi.org.

“It’s not too late, but it is late in the day…. we must not procrastinate,” said Student Min. Dr. Haleem.

Final Call Staff contributed to this report

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The demonstration came two days after CMPD named seven officers tied to the messages. According to CMPD, six officers were cited for termination and suspended without pay on Oct. 9 following allegations involving racist and offensive text messages.

CMPD’s records show five of the officers have since resigned in lieu of termination (Joseph Kelly, Matthew Osborn, Tredan Maronic, Mateo Juarez and Alexander Larsen). According to CMPD’s records, the seven officers were hired between June 2022 and February 2024.

One of the men, Jeremiah Todman, remains suspended without pay pending a Civil Service Board review. The seventh, Seth Elliott, had already resigned Aug. 4, the department said.

Police Chief Estella Patterson said at an Oct. 15 briefing that the messages show “racial, sexual” and “religious biases.” Civil rights leaders and activists say the problem goes beyond a few officers.

“It’s been a long-standing problem here in Charlotte and across the country,” local civil rights activist Kass Ottley told The Final Call. “… they’re claiming it’s only six officers. It’s more than that. It’s a culture, unfortunately, within the system.”

Student Minister Corey Muhammad of Mosque No. 36 in Charlotte connected the situation to the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s call for an end to police brutality and mob attacks as outlined on the inside back page of The Final Call. Student Min. Corey Muhammad said racist attitudes like those exposed in the text messages can precede harmful actions.

“We have to remember not just Charlotte, but all over the country and everywhere else, that The Honorable Elijah Muhammad told us in The Muslim Program, ‘What the Muslims Want,’ Point No. 6: ‘We want an immediate end to the police brutality and mob attacks against the so-called Negro throughout the United States.

We believe that the Federal government should intercede to see that black men and women tried in white courts receive justice in accordance with the laws of the land—or allow us to build a new nation for ourselves, dedicated to justice, freedom and liberty.”

The text messages from the officers allegedly included discussions on how many Black people they would be pulling over.

Student Min. Corey Muhammad raised concerns about whether their conduct affected prior stops, arrests, or pending cases, and said the extent remains unknown.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump wrote in an Oct. 16 post on X, “The reported texts, which date back years and include the N-word, is why communities fight so hard for transparency and oversight!”

CMPD said former officer Elliott was involved in the text-message matter and another controversy. According to CMPD, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) arrested him on July 29 on a charge of illegally accessing a government computer in connection with the misuse of Flock technology.

Chief Patterson addressed the case Oct. 15 at CMPD’s third-quarter public safety briefing. She said the messages “go back several years.” She said the case started with a State Bureau of Investigation probe of an officer who was misusing Flock, and that information from that criminal investigation was shared with CMPD for its internal investigation.

“It was from that internal investigation that we learned about these text messages…,” she said. The chief noted that because the case is a personnel matter, she cannot by law disclose specific information about the text messages.

“The allegations against them are serious. They’re deeply troubling, and frankly, I’m disappointed that we’re even having to talk about this today,” Chief Patterson said. “As a Black woman who began my career here in this very department.

It is especially painful and disheartening to hear concerns from our community about racism coming from within the ranks of this organization,” she said. “Now that I am the chief, I accept responsibility of what happens or doesn’t happen within this agency.”

She further said she has read some of the messages adding, “My personal reaction is one of disgust, anger, frustration.”

Chief Patterson said an independent chainof-command board unanimously agreed to cite the officers for termination. “I fully concur with that decision,” she said. The final decision rests with the Civil Service Board, and according to a CMPD attorney at the briefing, officers who have a Civil Service Board hearing can appeal to superior court.

Meanwhile, she said CMPD will pursue revoking the officers’ North Carolina law enforcement certificates “so that they cannot be an officer anywhere in our state. And I hope that they will not be an officer anywhere in this country.”

“We immediately conducted audits of their body-worn footage. We reviewed their traffic stops, their traffic stop data. We looked at their arrest records, and we looked to see if any of those officers had external complaints,” Chief Patterson said. “As of this point, we have not found any evidence of this, but I have asked our federal partners to look at the possibility of civil rights violations.”

At an Oct. 16 press conference, Rev. Corine Mack, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP, framed the incidents as nothing new. “We know that racism is the number one disease in this country,” Rev. Mack said. “And no matter who approves it, whether it’s from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or right here in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, it will not be tolerated.”

She said she wants the Criminal Justice Standards division, which certifies police officers, to decertify every officer involved. She also wants the district attorney’s office to review all of the officer’s conduct for any violation of Giglio, saying, “and we believe that there is.”

Giglio refers to Giglio v. United States, a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case. Under it, when a prosecutor knows of material evidence that casts doubt on an officer’s credibility, the prosecutor must share it with the defense.

Rev. Mack said the FBI must conduct an outside investigation. She said the department should investigate everyone, including every officer’s text messages, and that deleting messages “should become a red flag,” adding, “this is much larger than 6 officers.”

She called on the governor and attorney general “to push for a deeper investigation,” and said she is thankful that Chief Patterson is taking a serious stance on this issue. Of the Civil Service Board, she continued, oftentimes when the chief requests termination, “the request for termination is not upheld. We’re watching you too.”

Pastor Kenneth J. Robinson, president of Concerned Clergy of Charlotte, said, “We support the chief, but we still ask for accountability.” He said he has been pulled over “for just being a Black man driving and committing no crime.”

Ms. Ottley urged people to learn how Black and Brown people have been treated in this country and to challenge qualified immunity, which she said keeps officers from being sued.

“We’ve talked to the chief. We’ve talked to several chiefs. You know, we’ve had committees, we’ve had workshops…” Ms. Ottley said. “… until we really get to the root cause of the issue and hold people accountable for their activity, nothing’s going to happen.”

At the Oct. 16 press conference, Student Min. Corey again raised Point No. 6, from “The Muslim Program,” stating: “We want an immediate end to police brutality and mob attacks!”

The post Demands for change, accountability following police racists text messages in Charlotte appeared first on Final Call News.

These calamities bear witness to the warnings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad. In Chapter 35 of His book, “The Fall of America,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes, “The four great judgments that Almighty Allah (God) is bringing upon America are rain, hail, snow and earthquakes.

We see them now covering all sides of America, as the Holy Qur’an prophesies, curtailing her on all her sides. And these judgments would push the people into the center of the country, and there they would realize that it is Allah (God) Who is bringing them and their country to a naught.”

His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, has carried that warning across the country and the world for decades in three words: “Watch the weather.”

On Oct. 9, Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph, The Weather Channel reported. Isaias became a tropical storm in the Gulf on Oct. 7, according to the National Hurricane Center. Nearly 900,000 customers lost power in the first hours, mostly in Florida and Alabama, the AP reported.

That same weekend, Tropical Storm Rachel sent waves crashing into homes on California’s Long Beach Peninsula, city officials said. Its remnants flooded Ensenada, Mexico and Baja, California authorities said.

Rain from Rachel also hit Nevada. In Las Vegas, 1.08 inches of rain tied the city’s record for a single October day, set in 1947, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

At Final Call press time, at least 16 people were dead across Florida, Alabama and Mexico, according to figures from those state officials and Mexican authorities. Over the same weekend as Rachel, Hurricane Simon’s rains killed a 71-year-old in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, when a wall collapsed, Guerrero Gov.

Evelyn Salgado said, the AP reported. In Hawaii, Hurricane Nolo veered away from the Big Island in late September, but rain gauges still recorded 17.65 inches at Laupahoehoe, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported.

In Long Beach, Calif., the city red-tagged eight structures covering 13 addresses, yellow-tagged one more and ordered residents of the 6400 and 6500 blocks of Seaside Walk to evacuate, Mayor Rex Richardson said at an Oct. 10 city community update.

The Peninsula’s bulkhead and boardwalk, city infrastructure that has served the community for more than 100 years, sustained significant damage, said Todd Leland, the city’s marine bureau manager.

Crews braced the wall with lumber and thousands of sandbags, using a crane to place heavy-duty sandbags with a 3,000-pound capacity and tripled pumping capacity, he said. “Our infrastructure was not built for this,” said Mayor Richardson.

In Newport Beach, City Manager Seimone Jurjis, acting as director of emergency services, declared a local emergency Oct. 9 after higher-than-normal surf and elevated tides flooded streets on the Balboa Peninsula. The declaration “will help the city secure additional resources as crews continue working to protect homes, property and public safety,” the city said.

The NWS issued a coastal flood warning for San Diego and Orange County coastal areas, cautioning that “low-lying property including homes, businesses, and some critical infrastructure may flood.”

Both the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan warned that these weather calamities would continue to strike America and they are also being seen in other parts of the world.

In a message delivered on Aug. 16 from Mosque Maryam in Chicago, Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, reminded the audience of what Black people must do to prepare for when these calamities strike.

“We have to get our survival gear in place. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught us what foods to store, and he taught us to prepare for this that we are witnessing,” stated Student Minister Ishmael.

In a June 4, 2025, interview on the Underground Dialogue Podcast, Nation of Islam Student Southwest Regional Minister Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, an urban planner and environmental analyst, said families can’t wait on outside help. “Brother and sister, nobody’s coming to save us. We’re going to have to organize ourselves,” he said. “You can’t thrive until you survive.”

He urged people to make small sacrifices now and put money toward emergency supplies. He also cited recommendations from Sister Landra Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam and a disaster preparedness researcher. Some of the tips recommended:

• Spend for survival. Skip the new outfit and buy extra water and nonperishable food such as rice and (navy) beans, plus an alternative way to cook.
• Light the dark. Keep a flashlight and batteries.
• Get organized. Write down family contacts, doctors, pharmacies, medications and insurance information.
• Learn the basics. Know how to turn off household gas and water, learn basic first aid and keep a fire extinguisher.
• Pack two bags. Keep a shelter-in-place bag at home and a go bag holding medications, snacks, water and important papers such as deeds, insurance documents and passports.
• Plan an exit. Map out your home’s layout and know where you will go.

Sister Landra urged families not to wait to prepare. “The best time to have started preparing was yesterday. The next best time is to start today. Start wherever you are,” she told The Final Call.

“If you have $5 per week, dedicate $5 to something, whether it be food or some type of supply that is dedicated for preparedness. You may not use that until an emergency, and you have to have some type of discipline with this,” she recommended.

“Minister Farrakhan taught us we have to depend on Allah (God) … and each other to do something for ourselves,” Student Min. Haleem said.

The post Severe weather strikes West Coast and Florida’s Panhandle appeared first on Final Call News.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Oct. 2 announcement of an agreement with the Natomas Unified School District over its treatment of students validated what Black parents in the area had long suspected, according to Carl Pinkston, chairperson of the Black Parallel School Board, who has worked with families there. Their children were being pushed out of the classroom at higher rates, and in some cases illegally. The district disputes the findings.

For Mr. Pinkston, the bigger story is that Natomas is not unusual. “No, this is not an anomaly,” he told The Final Call. “This is pervasive across the country.”

The California Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in Sacramento County Superior Court on Sept. 26, along with a proposed stipulated judgment. The filings came after an investigation by its Bureau of Children’s Justice that began in January 2023.

Investigators found that from the 2018-19 through 2024-25 school years, Black students and students with disabilities were substantially overrepresented among students referred for discipline.

They were also more likely to receive harsher, exclusionary punishments such as out-of-school suspension or expulsion. The DOJ concluded those practices were not necessary to meet a legitimate educational purpose, because less discriminatory alternatives were available.

The DOJ also found that the district issued out-of-school suspensions for disruption or willful defiance, in several cases to children in kindergarten through eighth grade, in violation of state law. It also found the district released confidential student records to third parties without required parental consent.

Under the proposed two-year agreement, which awaits court approval, Natomas Unified would be required to revise its discipline and records policies, work with a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) provider, train staff annually, and hold yearly information sessions for parents. The state would monitor its progress for multiple years.

The DOJ said Natomas Unified had proactively begun implementing several policy changes and worked cooperatively with the state on the agreement. Mr. Bonta said giving all California children a fair and equal chance at success in school is a top priority for his office.

“The Department of Justice’s alleged findings do not reflect the realities faced at Natomas Unified and the significant work our District has undertaken over the past several years. Natomas Unified has continued evaluating and strengthening its programs and supports for all students.

Several of the changes outlined in the agreement highlight work Natomas Unified had already initiated independent of the DOJ, and that work will continue,” the school district said in a statement. The district also said protecting student privacy remains a priority and that it regularly reviews its safeguards.

Sister Kathleen Muhammad, student directress of Muhammad University of Islam at Muhammad Mosque No. 45 in Houston, said environment alone can produce a change, and that the Natomas findings took her back to her family’s experience since 2019 as foster parents.

When they enrolled foster children in public schools, she said, staff tried to place the children in a box based on past behavior. She described IEP (Individualized Education Program) and behavior-assessment meetings built around records from previous schools, even when the child was not showing those behaviors in the new setting.

“We’ve seen it in public school. We’ve seen it in foster care. So, we’ve seen it across the board,” Sister Kathleen Muhammad said.

Muhammad University of Islam is an independent school system established by the Nation of Islam when the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the Muslims in the 1930s withdrew their children from public schools in Detroit who were being miseducated.

Sister Kathleen Muhammad cited the impact of the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Study Guide 21, which addresses a new educational paradigm needed for the 21st century.

“Being in our environment and being blessed to be on the post as the Student Directress here at Muhammad University of Islam in Houston, Texas, we advocate with our parents for our children to let them see the best opportunity that they could possibly have,” she said.

Mr. Pinkston traced the problem to the founding of California’s public schools. In 1860, he noted, the state legislature passed a law stating that “Negroes, Mongolians, and Indians, shall not be admitted into the public schools.” The April 28, 1860, law allowed districts to set up separate schools for those students instead.

“Our public educational system is, with the best of intentions, racist by design,” he said.

Suspension, Mr. Pinkston argued, “is a way of sorting you out to the prison.” It is one of the most common approaches, he said, and “it disproportionately impacts Black students and Black students with disabilities, in particular.”

He pointed out that Black families who moved to the suburbs are now meeting the treatment once associated with places like Oakland and Compton. He also said he hears from people in Contra Costa County, Newark, and parts of Texas.

In New Jersey, he added, the Black Parents Workshop settled a 2018 federal lawsuit in 2020 that accused the South Orange-Maplewood School District of discriminating against Black students.

Dr. Denice Price, CEO of New Hope Academy of Change Educational Corporation in Long Beach, Calif., said the DOJ’s action was justified.

“I support the settlement agreement with the California Department of Justice and believe it was warranted,” Dr. Price said in a written statement to The Final Call. “The district must be held accountable for protecting the confidentiality of all student records,” she continued.

Dr. Price said the problem starts young. “I am concerned that disparities in discipline affecting Black students and students with disabilities begin as early as preschool,” she said.

She said those children may be left out of classroom activities or placed in isolation time-outs.

As an elementary school principal, Dr. Price said she has implemented programs that teach students to understand conflict, practice self-control, and strengthen their conflict-resolution skills. Staff and parents are trained so students get consistent support.

“I believe every educator should embrace the principle that all students can learn when they are given equal access to meaningful opportunities and support,” she said.

Mr. Pinkston said parents must organize, because many do not know their rights.

“You have to go from me to we,” he said. “It’s not just simply my child.”

The fight, he said, is for all Black students. “You don’t have to call yourself a parallel school board,” he added. “Just get organized.”

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—The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, “Four Great Judgments of America” from “The Fall of America”

LOS ANGELES—From the Atlantic coast to the Pacific, severe storms and floods have hammered coastal and inland communities in a single week, stretching the country’s disaster system thin.

As of Oct. 1, FEMA’s records show one federal emergency declaration tied to the storms: in Hawaii for Hurricane Nolo. From the tail end of September into the beginning days of October, America is getting inundated with storms that have generated severe flooding and powerful winds.  

A powerful nor’easter swept the East Coast Sept. 25–28, bringing coastal flooding, damaging winds and rough surf from New Jersey to Massachusetts. New York reported more than 28,000 power outages statewide on Sept. 26, and New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said crews had restored power to about 180,000 customers by Sept. 27 morning.

The storm turned deadly on Sept. 26. The New York City Housing Authority said an employee, Leighton Brown, 56, was killed by a falling tree in Brooklyn.

In New Jersey, the storm brought coastal flooding, rescues and severe beach erosion. Water in Atlantic City rose Sept. 26 to its highest level since Superstorm Sandy in 2012, according to AccuWeather.

Gov. Sherrill declared a state of emergency for Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, Cumberland, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Salem counties, effective Sept. 25.  “I urge all New Jerseyans to take this storm seriously, stay safe, and be prepared,” she said.

The same day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency for the Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties and their contiguous counties.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, consistently warned Black people that America was surrounded by the Judgment of Allah (God) and that Allah (God) would use the forces of nature to humble the country.

“America is in the grip of divine judgment. America is in the position toward her once slave, so-called Negro, as Pharaoh was with Israel as his slave.

She is in this position because of  the injustice done to the American so-called Negro slave, brought to America over four hundred years ago, and refuses to let them go free,” the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes in His book, “The Fall of America,” in the chapter, “Four Judgments of America.”

His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, called this book the best book one could have in their collection. “The Fall of America is the best book that you could have in your library. White and Black and Brown, Asian: All of this affects us all.

Every one of you “scholars” should get this book.  All of you who preach The Gospel, whether you are an imam, whether you are a rabbi, whether you are a “leader” of religious groups:

Get this book, and study it, because the Honorable Elijah Muhammad gives you the clearest exegesis of the scriptures that foretell ‘The Fall of America’ and ‘The Destruction of this Present World,’” Minister Farrakhan said, in part 10 of this 58-week lecture series, “The Time and What Must Be Done,” in 2013.

Nation of  Islam Student Eastern Regional Minister Arthur Muhammad is based in New York and said the storms should be read as a warning. “When the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks, he does not speak idle words,” he said.

“So, when he says, ‘Watch the weather,’ he’s not like a content creator trying to get a buzz or push the envelope.  He is literally warning the people of God,” he told The Final Call.

At Final Call presstime, New York was still being hit with rain. “Anyone who goes in or near the water this weekend is literally gambling with their life,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said, as AP reported.

Student Min. Arthur Muhammad said the damage is exacerbated by infrastructure that can’t withstand the severe rain and flooding “So the water drain pipes … they’re not built to take extreme water. 

The roofs are not built to take the extreme weight of heavy, heavy rain. So, as it intensifies, what building departments deemed as safe buildings—buildings are not going to be safe. 

Infrastructure, utilities, everything is going to be affected,” he said, adding, “Not only do individuals have to be ready, but literally municipalities have to be ready for what’s coming. … And remember what Jesus said, ‘This is just the beginning of sorrows.’”

Student Minister Abdul Haqq Muhammad of Mosque No. 25 in Newark, New Jersey said the weather has been “very unpredictable.”  In New Jersey, he said, places like Hoboken often flood when it rains hard, and the Nor’easter brought very strong winds that knocked down trees in various areas.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a Nor’easter is a storm along the East Coast of North America, named for winds that typically blow from the Northeast.

“We see what happened in Gary, Indiana,” said Student Min. Abdul Haqq Muhammad.

In August, residents of Gary were left without power for two to three weeks after a violent storm struck Northwest Indiana.

“We all have to be prepared. Let that serve as a sign of what potentially could be coming,” he said. 

Student Min. Abdul Haqq Muhammad said that Minister Farrakhan’s consistent warning to “watch the weather” is not out of joy, but because he is a diligent, benevolent warner, as is the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, from Almighty Allah.

“I pray that our people, in general, and us in the Nation of Islam, specifically, would not fall asleep and continue to remain vigilant and heed to His warning that we must be as prepared as we can. We know the Bible says no man knows the hour, and He teaches us that when the Judgment comes, even the righteous won’t be spared of death.”

West Coast impact

Hurricanes Nolo and Polo were two powerful storms that were active in the Pacific Ocean in September at the same time.

In Hawaii, Gov. Josh Green announced Sept. 25 that the president had approved a pre-landfall emergency declaration for Hurricane Nolo. Nolo passed south of the islands without making landfall.

Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda told Hawaii Public Radio that Nāʻālehu and Waiʻōhinu were flooding, and communities were still recovering from Hurricane Lala in August.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a statewide state of emergency Sept. 21 to prepare for an El Niño winter that his office said could become the strongest on record.

The same unusually warm Pacific fueled Hurricane Polo, which grew from a tropical storm into a Category 5 hurricane in about a day, with top winds of 175 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Polo struck Mexico’s Baja California Sur early Sept. 29 with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, according to AP, then crossed the Gulf  of  California and weakened as it moved inland. Its remnants battered the U.S. Southwest.

In South-Central New Mexico, fears that the McLeod Dam could fail prompted evacuations of hundreds of residents in Rincon, Salem, Garfield, Hatch and Placitas. The weather service issued a Flash Flood Emergency for the Hatch Valley. Most residents were allowed home late Sept. 29, but Rincon remained evacuated, according to Weather.com.

The weather service expected heavy rain to spread into Texas and the central U.S. through the week. Texas had made more than 1,900 state responders and 1,500 pieces of equipment available for flood response.

According to reporting by the Associated Press, “Parts of Texas, Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa were still under flood watch October 1 afternoon as storm remnants continued to batter the region, flooding streets and neighborhoods and setting off water rescues.”

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad warned what was still in store for America. In the chapter, “America Surrounded with The Judgment of Allah,” He writes: “All around the Southern Border of America, storms are raging.

There are tornadoes and heavy rains and more storms are on the way—one right after another. And in the North and Far West and in the East, America is surrounded with the judgments of Allah (God). There are earthquakes and the sea is raging. The Pacific Ocean is now angry and is raging and tossing up great waves as never before.”

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Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan, affectionately called by family and close friends as “B.J.,” was a quintessential embodiment of a woman of God. She was as stern as she was beautiful, her heart full of love for the Believers, in particular for the women of the Nation of Islam. While her tenure as National M.G.T. and G.C.C. Captain of the Nation of Islam was and is legendary, her impact in farming and agriculture was and is just as impactful.

Always willing and eager to assist her father, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, in his mission as the National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Sister Betsy Jean began studying agriculture and farming.

She learned from Will Allen, of Growing Power, and was trained in his Sustainable Food Training Program where she became deeply engaged in the science of healthy soil and organic food production. Mr. Allen, a retired professional basketball player turned urban farmer, was very instrumental in that effort.

He told The Final Call that he met Sister Betsy Jean after Minister Farrakhan visited Growing Power for a tour, and later, Mr. Allen hosted she and her husband Brother Maurice, in a five-month training program. They learned how to grow produce and raise red worms to get the worm castings as fertilization for the Michigan Farm. Mr. Allen also worked with Sister Betsy Jean in her desire to construct hoop houses. “And they started growing inside, and all their bedding plants, and then her worm farm started expanding, and I was very proud of them that they followed through on it,” said Mr. Allen.

“I think it’s been a great example of her being able to demonstrate how you can do it, especially with people from the Nation coming up there and seeing what she’s doing. I think that is what has inspired a lot of people to want to grow in their backyards or side yards or do a community farm. So, I think she’s been very instrumental in moving some of the work that I’ve been doing many, many years forward. I think I’m just shocked that we’ve lost her. That was a shock to me …,” said Mr. Allen.

With her new training, Sister Betsy Jean set out to teach others. In July 2015 she organized and helped host the first Michigan Farm Agricultural Workshop at The Farm. For the past several years she also helped bring the Michigan Farm Farmers Market into fruition where fresh, healthy and organic produce is made available for sisters and brothers in the Central Region of the Nation of Islam to travel to and and support the farmers market.

Those who labored alongside Sister Betsy Jean at The Farm shared the impact and influence she had on them as they witnessed her commitment and dedication to growing healthy food and training others to do the same.

Brother Dr. Ridgely Abdul Mu’min Muhammad is manager of Muhammad Farms in Georgia, a Student Minister of Agriculture for the Nation of Islam, and a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group. Though she was a city girl, she turned herself into a farm girl, and has led the sisters and other believers into doing their own gardening, and some into farming, he noted.

He recalled meeting her in 2002, when Minister Farrakhan invited him and his wife, Sister Ann, to his home at the Michigan Farm to spend time with the family. Sister Betsy Jean was present. “I didn’t really know at that time how much of a farmer that she would become,” said Brother Dr. Ridgely.

“So, she could have been a beauty queen, and she was a beauty and a queen all the way to the end,” said Brother Dr. Ridgely. She gave inspiration to the Nation to get back into farming, “so I say All Praise is due to Allah for Sister Betsy Jean Farrakhan!” he added.

Some members of her team, whom she considered family, reflected on her life and journey, including awards she received for her relentless sacrifice and work. That includes receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2026 Saviours’ Day Awards Banquet.

Sister Mele Muhammad, who began assisting Sister Betsy Jean with with the growing of produce at the Michigan Farm in 2017, described her as an exceptional sister, friend, teacher—strict and highly knowledgeable, while also loving, motherly, and deeply appreciative of the workers.

“That’s what makes everything be successful. She is very on top of what she wants, how she wants it, all the way down to the science of why. We always knew and were able to explain in depth and in detail why she does things the way she does,” said Sister Mele.

Sister Betsy Jean was a wonderful teacher and student, an in-depth researcher who asked questions, she continued. “She’ll look at from the front, from the back, from the side to side, because her goal is to never, and she said this a lot, never let her father down. That was her ultimate goal. Yes, the farmers market, but it was to always to please the Minister. She put that in us day after day: ‘Do not let my father down. I cannot let my father down. This needs to be pleasing to the Minister,’” she stated.

That spirit carried into every effort, according to Sister Mele, from beautifying the area to handling the vegetation. “The spirit we have when we’re handling the vegetation, she always talked about how that’ll go into the food and the taste,” she said.

Sister Mele feels that Sister Betsy Jean’s legacy must and will go on, by Allah’s Grace, Mercy and Will, “and that in her name, we will be able to perpetuate everything that she’s built and continue to provide healthy produce for the believers and just make it better and better each year.”

Sister Shahidah Muhammad, a homesteader with her husband, Brother Student Minister Shahid Muhammad, of Mosque Maryam in Chicago, shared that growing food is one of the many lessons she learned from Sister Betsy Jean.

“I learned from her the importance of tilling the soil, working the land, and it was really more than just the food. It was a spiritual journey that I had with her about working and becoming one with Allah,” she stated, adding, “because when you’re tilling the soil and you’re planting the seed, you’re literally creating life that you will take in, ingest, and it will sustain your own life.”

Sister Shahidah said that she also learned in those many moments together with Sister Betsy Jean in the garden, about the Black women that they were literally cultivating the soil, but also talking about the cultivation of women and what is necessary to nourish the land, the soil, in order to produce the proper food.

“Sister Betsy Jean was a protector and a defender of women, and in those many years that we would go through with the cultivation of the land, and I saw how she took nothing—land that was not useful—and made it useful. She literally created soil! So, I learned so much about Black women and how to cultivate myself under her as a woman learning how to till the land. I will never ever, ever be grateful enough for that,” said Sister Shahidah.

Sister Melody Muhammad met Sister Betsy Jean through the Community Urban Agriculture Certification course led by Mr. Allen in Milwaukee. Their relationship developed through shared physical work, fireside conversations, humor, and a common passion for agriculture, she told The Final Call.

Sister Melody said that Sister Betsy Jean was a hands-on example who duplicated Mr. Allen’s program at The Michigan Farm. “She’s not with us physically, but she’s with us in spirit. … She’s a mentor to me,” said Sister Melody, who brought what she learned at Mr. Allen’s farm and under Sister Betsy Jean’s tutelage to Chester, Pennsylvania.

“I’m just so blessed that I’ve got a chance to know her on a personal level because I know that doesn’t happen for everybody. She was so down to earth and she was so funny,” she added.

Sister Angelita Muhammad, an urban farmer, who has been growing quick crops year-round for retail at local farmers markets for the last eight years, met Sister Betsy Jean in 2014 during agriculture training at Mr. Allen’s Growing Power.

“The farm would serve the 50-plus participants dinner in their warehouse and amidst all the eating, cocktail chatter and movement, in walks this tall, imposing figure that immediately caught my attention. When I realized it was my sister, I excitedly approached her with the greetings and introduced myself. We had the best conversation about composting, of all things,” Sis. Angelita recalled.

“We were like two schools girls giddy about our love of composting. The conversation, although brief, was full of excitement and laughter. I had no idea, at the time, the impact she would have on me and our Nation, being a true vanguard as a Black, Muslim farmer. I am so grateful to have shared time and space with her. May Allah continue to reward her and us for the best of what she accomplished in this life.”

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In the U.S., the summer of 2026 through today has been marked by active wildfires, thunderstorms, and a string of coastal and seismic events. These events will become more frequent, and as the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, warned, “the worst is yet to come.” His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, has constantly warned to “watch the weather.” For decades, both Divine Servants and Warners taught their followers to prepare for these pending calamities.

September is National Preparedness Month and was established in 2004 by FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) to encourage individuals, their families, neighborhoods and communities to prepare for natural and man-made weather-related and other disasters and emergencies.

Weather and warning

Southern California felt the effects of Tropical Storm Marie over Labor Day weekend in early September, even though the storm itself never made landfall, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). Its Los Angeles/Oxnard office reported a significant southerly swell producing hazardous surf conditions – reaching up to 5- 15 feet high on some beaches and life-threatening rip currents along the coast- alongside increasing heat and humidity causing moderate to major impacts focused on the coasts and valleys.

In Malibu, a beachfront driveway on Sea Level Drive collapsed on September 8, forming a sinkhole roughly 25–30 feet deep and 30 by 60 feet wide, and rupturing a natural gas line, prompting the proclamation of a local emergency the same day. City building inspectors ultimately red-tagged seven properties for direct structural damage from the collapse and red-tagged an additional 24 homes because the destroyed roadway cut off emergency vehicle access. The 31 properties were placed under an evacuation order, according to an official statement and Emergency Proclamation, Sept. 8–9.

Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad is the National Assistant to the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and a son of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and he recently spoke on these extreme weather events and what they signify.

“I wish we could tell you that it’s going to go away soon. It’s not. It’s not. The only way that God will stay His hand is if America does a miraculous thing,” he said, in part 4 of his message, “Accept Your Own And Be Yourself,” delivered September 16, 2026 at Mosque Maryam in Chicago. He referenced the Bible and the book of Jonah 3:6 and the King of Nineveh and the people humbling themselves before God to repent. Nineveh was a great and powerful nation, and God sent the prophet Jonah to warn them of their wickedness before His Judgment.

“He came out in sackcloth and ashes, and repented, and asked God, but it was from the king all the way down to the little man, and the whole city went out in sackcloth and ashes, and that stayed the hand of God,” Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad explained.

“What if we just did that in a city? … Pray to your God. But the whole point is, see, unless we repent, unless we ask God for forgiveness, then things are not going to get better. But America? America is under divine judgment. That’s the point I’m making: the weather is going continue to intensify, and Minister Farrakhan has told us for years. What does he say?” he asked the audience.

“Watch the weather!” some replied. He repeated, “What did he say?” “Watch the weather,” they replied. “Okay. Well, these rains and these storms are only going to intensify,” added Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad.

The damage from Hurricane Marie sustained in Dana Point, located in Orange County, California, impacted the area’s Beach Road/Capistrano Bay community beginning August 28. When a residential deck was destroyed by coastal erosion undermining a home’s foundation. Inspectors inspected it and red-tagged it the same night.

“It is a war zone down here,” Chris Rogers told ABC 7. Their back deck is gone, and their kitchen now opens up to the ocean, she reported during a tour of their property.

The City’s Director of Emergency Services issued a formal Proclamation of the Existence of a Local Emergency for the Capistrano Bay Community Services District on September 9.

In Long Beach, waves generated by the remnants of Hurricane Marie battered the Peninsula neighborhood for several consecutive days beginning around September 6. The Long Beach Fire Department issued mandatory evacuation orders for approximately 20 homes in the Seaside Walk community, between 63rd and 67th Place, after waves compromised a seawall and damaged the boardwalk.

Earthquakes near Compton and nationwide wildfires

A magnitude 3.1 earthquake struck on September 6 about 2.5 miles Southeast of Compton, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This followed a similar-magnitude earthquake near Ontario, in neighboring San Bernardino County, on September 2. On September 17, USGS recorded a second magnitude 3.1 earthquake at the identical location.

Nationwide, wildfire activity remained severe through late summer. As of August 31, approximately 8.2 million acres had burned across the country and the National Preparedness Level stayed at Level 5, the highest possible, throughout August, with active-duty military and international crews from Australia and New Zealand brought in to help with firefighting resources, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

By early September, the national preparedness level had eased to Level 3, though 56 large fires remained uncontained nationwide as of September 17, with 86 new fires reported in a single day and more than 12,000 personnel assigned to incidents, USGS reported.

Texas became one of the season’s most active states in late August, when the Ross Fire ignited August 24 near Fort Worth and grew to roughly 80,000 acres, prompting the evacuation of about 630 homes overnight, according to Governor Greg Abbott’s office.

Preparedness is key

Nation of Islam Student Southwest Regional Minister Dr. Abdul Haleem Muhammad, an urban planner, strongly suggested that people stop procrastinating and take this lull before the next calamity to prepare to either learn what is required to shelter in place or evacuate during these natural and man-made disasters. “Your very life is at stake. The frequency, intensity, and the sudden unfolding of these events should heighten our awareness and efforts toward preparedness,” he said.

Sister A’ishah Muhammad, a member of the Nation of Islam Shura Executive Council and National Student Auditing Coordinator, said the pattern of disasters striking unfamiliar regions demands a mindset shift. “It doesn’t matter where we live anymore,” she said. “We used to expect tornadoes in certain parts of the country and hurricanes in others … but at any moment, at any time, it could strike any one of us.”

She described residents of her own town walking around “in a trance” after an EF-1 tornado, unable to believe their community could be hit—and she pointed to Minister Farrakhan’s longstanding instruction to “watch the weather” as guidance too many still dismiss until disaster forces the point home.

“Although we have been talking about and encouraging and pushing and warning others to pay attention to the Divine Warner, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, some of us, as they used to say in the South: ‘don’t believe that fat meat is greasy,’ until we are faced with it, unfortunately. Now we don’t have to really try to convince too many because they see it for themselves. There are still those of us who don’t get it until we feel it, and unfortunately we will have to feel (it) hard! Hopefully we can live beyond that to make sound decisions going forward,” she told The Final Call.

In practical terms, Sis. A’ishah Muhammad explained that it is better to have the items and supplies needed to prepare ourselves and our families than to have nothing.

“It’s better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it,” she said, describing how households in flood-prone areas should keep a small boat, raft, or canoe with paddles, wading boots, and life vests on hand.

She stressed neighborhood-level readiness—meeting neighbors, discussing what has worked and what has not, and arranging walkable backup shelter agreements—alongside power redundancy. Power redundancy, she explained, means that generators need backups of their own, and even a sump pump’s battery should be swapped every three years, since a working indicator light doesn’t guarantee full power.

She recalled Indiana residents stranded at gas stations during outages, one paying “two dollars and some change” just to beat someone else to the last portion of the fuel.

Sister A’ishah Muhammad also flagged less obvious preparedness gaps, such as safely managing dry ice used to preserve food during extended outages and planning for basic sanitation if toilets stop working.

The Nation of Islam has made online videos available that cover several practical preparedness areas to help individuals protect themselves and their families while sheltering in place as severe weather becomes more frequent.

Panelists discussed situational awareness, cybersecurity, how to respond in a medical emergency, how to secure one’s home, being security-minded, protecting self and family while building alliances in the community, how to secure, organize, and occupy children while sheltering in place, what to do to prepare for an emergency evacuation, handling stress, and other tips.

The videos are available to view on media.noi.org or watch.noi.org under the titles: “The Days of Trouble: Are We Prepared?” and on The Nation of Islam official Facebook Page.

The post Are you and your family prepared? appeared first on Final Call News.

By far the largest outbreak this year involves Cyclospora-contaminated iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico and reportedly supplied by Taylor Farms. Cyclospora is a parasite that can cause cyclosporiasis, an intestinal illness. The lettuce made its way into thousands of Taco Bell locations before the link was identified. As of the FDA’s August 27 update, lab results had confirmed 11,458 illnesses across 20 states directly traced to the recalled lettuce, with 495 hospitalizations and two deaths in Michigan.

For decades, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, taught the importance of Black people growing their own foods amid dangers associated with depending and relying on food grown, regulated and sold by the government or by unreliable sources.

Minister Farrakhan in a 2010 interview with The Final Call under the headline, “Why We Must Produce Food and Control Our Food Sources,” attributed problems on the food horizon to “our food growth is in the hands of those whom we call the Merchants of Death.”

“They’re not caring about how food is raised or how to protect the earth and its nurturing qualities,” he said. “Pesticides and chemicals are being used; hormones are used to grow livestock at faster rates and chemicals are used for the growth of vegetation.”

Minister Farrakhan continued: “It may look good, but in the end, the product is toxic. This is why so many diseases are afflicting us. So, we’re learning how to eat to live, what foods to choose, but now we must be willing to go to the earth and produce that food so that we can extend our days.”

Brother Dr. Ridgely Mu’min Muhammad, manager of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Farms in Georgia, emphasized that the more fundamental problem is how far modern food travels before it reaches a plate.

“It’s no telling where that food comes from, and how many times it’s been handled by either humans or equipment,” he said, describing a food system built on long chains of growers, processors, distributors, and retailers rather than direct, local sourcing.

In addition to attributing recall risks to globalized food production, extensive handling, weak inspection, and unsafe agricultural practices, including manure runoff entering irrigation systems, Bro. Dr. Ridgely Muhammad contrasted modern food systems with local gardening, washing, cooking, and same-day consumption.

“People are so used to being able to go and get any type of produce or any type of anything to eat any time they want it. They don’t realize what the possibilities of error are,” he said.

He recalled a time when people grew, washed, and cooked their own food. Agriculture itself began as an alternative to hunting, fishing, and gathering, he said. Instead of foraging for what nature provided, people started saving seeds from the crops they wanted, planting them near their homes or villages, and then simply going out to gather what they needed each day.

“As a matter of fact, when we went to Cuba in 2006, every vacant lot in Havana, there was a garden, raised bed garden,” said Bro. Dr. Ridgely Muhammad, who was among a delegation from the Nation of Islam with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan on a trip to Cuba. Without refrigeration, he said, residents simply “go out to the garden in the area, and they would go to the stand and buy what they wanted for that day”—fresh food obtained daily rather than stored and shipped.

Unfortunately, most people have stepped back from growing or preparing their own food entirely, he stated. “We don’t want to cook anymore, so we allow somebody else not only to grow the food, but to mix the food up and to prepare the food and to cook the food. We don’t have any idea where the food comes from nor how it was handled,” Bro. Dr. Ridgely Muhammad said.

Further, he pointed to thinning government oversight as compounding food recall risks. “When government cuts down on the inspectors for inspecting the food system, and you have people who cheat, trying to compete, you left yourself open for such incidents as Salmonella and these other incidents.”

Food-safety advocacy groups have expressed similar concerns, pointing to reduced federal inspection and surveillance staffing as a factor in how outbreaks have unfolded.

“Consumers deserve recall notices that are clear, specific, and actionable,” said former USDA official Sandra Eskin, now CEO of Stop Foodborne Illness.

When done correctly, she told The Final Call, recall messages clearly state what the issue is, what products are affected, and exactly what to do next. “When that information is shared quickly and clearly, it not only reduces public health risks, but it also helps consumers feel more confident that the food industry is taking their safety seriously,” she continued.

The case count crept upward for weeks even after Taylor Farms voluntarily pulled their product on July 17, a delay FDA attributes to the up-to-six-week lag required to confirm whether a sick person belongs to a given outbreak. The FDA has since conducted onsite inspections at Mexican growing and processing facilities and says it is confident the implicated lettuce is off the market, though the investigation remains open.

Taylor Farms has said it voluntarily suspended all iceberg lettuce sourcing and production from central Mexico and commissioned an independent review of food safety protocols at the implicated facility. “We are confident in our food and food safety systems and will continue to be transparent as more information becomes available,” read a company statement online.

According to CDC data cited by U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group) Education Fund, a consumer advocacy organization, regulators tracked at least seven cyclospora outbreaks this summer—the Taylor Farms lettuce outbreak plus six unidentified sources—totaling more than 18,445 illnesses and 990 hospitalizations across 47 states as of August 31, with more suspected cases pending. The lettuce outbreak alone ranks as the third-largest foodborne outbreak in U.S. history.

The report also noted that separately, a Salmonella Javiana outbreak traced to Sinaloa-grown jalapeños (distributed by Coast Citrus) sickened 431 people in more than 30 states, hospitalizing 57. A limited late-July recall snowballed into recalls by Whole Foods, Taylor Fresh Foods (the legal and corporate name of Taylor Fresh Farms), NatureBest, Salata, and 18 USDA-flagged meat/poultry products. PIRG notes Chipotle switched suppliers July 20, but USDA didn’t warn the public until August 8, a gap it says allowed preventable illnesses.

The report also notes that a smaller outbreak involves organic frozen blueberries from Chile’s Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur, linked to GreenWise (Publix) and, since September 2, Great Value (Walmart) berries in 16 states—17 illnesses, six hospitalizations, no deaths, as of September 3.

The FDA’s remote review of Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur’s Chilean facility raised enough concerns that it added the company to Import Alert 99-35, allowing future blueberry shipments to be detained at the border unless the issues are resolved.

The FDA also reported on its website that a Listeria outbreak tied to Clover Hill Dairy’s cheese has ended. CDC closed the case in August after tracing 15 illnesses back to March 2023; 14 were hospitalized and one died. The cheese was resold under multiple names—La Colonia, Selectos Latinos, Kesso—making it hard for consumers to track.

The FDA’s response has leaned on import alerts and root-cause facility inspections, like the Chilean assessment and on-site visits to Mexican lettuce growers. Critics say it’s still too slow: the 2022 Food Traceability Rule, meant to speed recordkeeping for high-risk foods, was delayed from January 2026 to July 2028. PIRG says 2025 data show faster tracing could have curbed dozens of downstream recalls.

PIRG also cites a 2025 GAO report on fragmented federal food safety oversight, plus 2025 data showing many outbreaks lack identified sources, recalls, or allergen compliance.

Separately, food safety veterans including Ms. Eskin, weighed in on whether recalls are increasing or is detection just improving?

“Food companies initiate recalls for a number of reasons—contamination with bacteria and other pathogens (or the likelihood of such contamination), unlabeled allergens, and foreign objects (e.g. plastic or metal fragments). Stop Foodborne Illness focuses on reducing pathogenic contamination so we do not focus on the number of recalls, but instead the number of people who have gotten sick from them,” she told The Final Call.

In terms of what regulatory gaps still need closing, she said the prior administration proposed stricter standards for Salmonella contamination in poultry, but the current administration withdrew that proposal.

“It would protect public health,” she said.

According to Ms. Eskin, the major gap in the FDA’s regulatory oversight is the delay in making the traceability rule enforceable. The Food Traceability Rule requires persons who manufacture, process, pack, or hold foods on the Food Traceability List (FTL) to maintain certain records and make records available to FDA, she explained.

Currently, the lag time between when illness starts and when a recall is issued is generally three to four weeks, but it can stretch to six weeks or longer depending on the pathogen, she emphasized.

Beyond the four major outbreaks above, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued a string of smaller, unrelated recalls in recent weeks, including Shanghai Ravioli’s uninspected Buffalo chicken items, Indus Foods’ uninspected pickled goat/chicken, Corte Argentino’s beef lacking import reinspection, and Ukrop’s baked dishes contaminated with metal slivers, per FSIS’s active alerts page.

None of these five are connected to the jalapeño, blueberry, lettuce, or cheese outbreaks detailed above; they reflect the routine, ongoing pace of recall activity FSIS handles independent of any single outbreak investigation.

The reason, Minister Farrakhan said during his interview, is “that we are interested in food and the raising of food and how—and the correct foods to eat—is because that is the only way we can prolong human life and that is the gift of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad from Allah to teach us what foods to eat and what foods to store in our houses.”

He continued: “If we go to the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, all economies are based on land and what the land produces.”

“If we now have no earth that we can call our own, then our food consumption is based on what others raise and how others raise that food. So we’re at the mercy of others because we don’t have earth that would give us sustainable agricultural growth and progress,” Minister Farrakhan said.

“The Honorable Elijah Muhammad gave us an example. When he was here in the 1960s, we went to Georgia and purchased 5,000 acres of land. We went to Alabama and purchased another 8,000 or 10,000 acres of land. We went to Honduras and bought another 20,000 acres of land and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad had an ad in our paper at that time, Muhammad Speaks, that said we wanted to lease one million acres of land. Why? Because we wanted to produce a sustainable agricultural program that would give us health, maintain our health and sustain us in a proper way.”

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