Gaddafi is killed

Muammar Gaddafi is dead, Libya’s new leaders said, killed by fighters who overran his home town and final bastion on Thursday. His bloodied body was stripped and displayed around the world from cellphone video.

Senior officials in the interim government, which ended his 42-year rule two months ago but had labored to subdue thousands of diehard loyalists, said his death would allow a declaration of “liberation” after eight months of bloodshed.

“We confirm that all the evils, plus Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country,” Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said in Tripoli as the body was delivered, a prize of war, to Misrata, the city whose siege and suffering at the hands of Gaddafi’s forces made it a symbol of the rebel cause.

“It’s time to start a new Libya, a united Libya,” Jibril added. “One people, one future.” A formal declaration of liberation, that will set the clock ticking on a timeline to elections, would be made by Friday, he said later.

Western leaders, who had held off cautiously from comment until Jibril spoke, echoed his sentiments now that Gaddafi, a self-styled “king of kings” in Africa whom they had lately courted after decades of enmity, was dead at 69.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who with French President Nicolas Sarkozy was an early sponsor of February’s revolt in Benghazi, said: “People in Libya today have an even greater chance after this news of building themselves a strong and democratic future.”

The new national flag, resurrected by rebels who forced Gaddafi from his capital Tripoli in August, filled streets and squares as jubilant crowds whooped for joy and fired in the air.

In Sirte, a one-time fishing village and Gaddafi’s home town that grandiose schemes had styled a new “capital of Africa,” fighters danced, brandishing a golden pistol they said they had taken from Gaddafi.

Accounts were hazy of his final hours, which also appeared to have cost the lives of senior aides. But top officials of the National Transitional Council, including Abdel Majid Mlegta, said he had died of wounds sustained in clashes.

FINAL HOURS

One possible description, pieced together from various sources, suggests that Gaddafi may have tried to break out of his final redoubt at dawn in a convoy of vehicles after weeks of dogged resistance. However, he was stopped by a NATO air strike and captured, possibly three or four hours later, after gun battles with NTC fighters who found him hiding in a drainage culvert.

NATO said its warplanes fired on a convoy near Sirte about 8:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. EDT), striking two military vehicles in the group, but could not confirm that Gaddafi had been a passenger.

Accounts from his enemies suggested his capture, and death soon after from wounds, may have taken place around noon.

One of Gaddafi’s sons, heir-apparent Saif al-Islam, was at large, they believed. NTC official Mlegta told Reuters that he was surrounded after also trying to flee Sirte. Another son, Mo’tassim, whose arrest was announced earlier in the day, had been killed resisting his captors, Mlegta added.

He said that the elder Gaddafi had been wounded in both legs early in the morning as he tried to flee in the convoy which NATO warplanes attacked. “He was also hit in his head,” he said. “There was a lot of firing against his group and he died.”

There was no shortage of NTC fighters in Sirte claiming to have seen him die, though many accounts were conflicting. Libyan television carried video of two drainage pipes, about a meter across, where it said fighters had cornered a man who long inspired both fear and admiration around the world.

After February’s uprising in the long discontented east of the country around Benghazi — inspired by the Arab Spring movements that overthrew the leaders of neighboring Tunisia and Egypt — the revolt against Gaddafi ground slowly across the country before a dramatic turn saw Tripoli fall in August.

LIBERATION

An announcement of final liberation was expected as the chairman of the NTC prepared to address the nation of six million. They now face the challenge of turning oil wealth once monopolized by Gaddafi and his clan into a democracy that can heal an array of tribal, ethnic and regional divisions he exploited.

The two months since the fall of Tripoli have tested the nerves of the motley alliance of anti-Gaddafi forces and their Western and Arab backers, who had begun to question the ability of the NTC forces to root out diehard Gaddafi loyalists in Sirte and a couple of other towns.

Gaddafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians, was toppled by rebel forces on August 23, a week short of the 42nd anniversary of the military coup which brought him to power in 1969.

NTC fighters hoisted the red, black and green national flag above a large utilities building in the center of a newly-captured Sirte neighborhood and celebratory gunfire broke out among their ecstatic and relieved comrades.

Hundreds of NTC troops had surrounded the Mediterranean coastal town for weeks in a chaotic struggle that killed and wounded scores of the besieging forces and an unknown number of defenders.

NTC fighters said there were a large number of corpses inside the last redoubts of the Gaddafi troops. It was not immediately possible to verify that information.

The death of Gaddafi is a setback to campaigners seeking the full truth about the 1988 bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland of Pan Am flight 103 which claimed 270 lives, mainly Americans, and for which one of Gaddafi’s agents was convicted.

“There is much still to be resolved and we may now have lost an opportunity for getting nearer the truth,” said Jim Swire, the father of one of the Lockerbie victims.

Swire has never believed in the guilt of Abdel Basset al-Megrahi who was convicted of the bombing in 2001 and sent to serve a life sentence in a Scottish prison. Al-Megrahi was released and sent back to Libya in 2009 because he was thought to only have a few months to live.

“Although we have not a scrap of evidence that Gaddafi himself was involved in causing the Lockerbie atrocity, my take on that was that at least he would have known who was,” Swire told Sky TV.

“I would have loved to see Gaddafi appear in front of the International Criminal Court both to answer charges against the gross treatment of his own people … and to hear what he knew about the Lockerbie atrocity.”

“Gaddafi’s body is with our unit in a car and we are taking the body to a secret place for security reasons,” Mohamed Abdel Kafi, an NTC official in the city of Misrata told Reuters.

Following a series of moderate earthquakes that struck the country Tuesday, residents around the Guacalito River in Costa Rica discovered that the river had disappeared. Earthquake-report.com reported that sometime after the earthquakes, villagers living near the river, which is located near Armenia de Upala, discovered that the river was dry.

It was not immediately known if the waters of the river had disappeared due to sinkhole activity that can occur after earthquakes or if the earth shaking caused damming that dried up the river near the Miravalles volcano. The quakes were centered near the Nicaragua and Costa Rica border in the same vicinity as the Miravalles volcano.

An entire body of water disappears? Strange but true, and this isn’t the first time this odd event has happened.

In 2010, the Iska River in Slovenia disappeared after local residents heard loud crashing and banging overnight. The next morning, the river was dry and the riverbed was full of fish and other creatures. It was believed that the waters of the river had drained through a large crack into an underground riverbed. This disappearance was not believed to have been related to an earthquake.

Most recently — aside from the disappearing river in Costa Rica — an entire reservoir in Huntsbury, New Zealand, that was filled with 36 million liters of water disappeared following a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. The reservoir water disappeared after the earthquake struck Christchurch Feb. 22.

A body of water disappearing is not unusual, nor is it unheard of for an earthquake to change the shape and form of bodies of water. There have also been numerous examples of seismic activity creating new bodies of water.

In 1959, the largest earthquake to strike Montana — a 7.3 magnitude temblor — caused a landslide to dam the Madison River just below Hebgen Dam, thus creating a new body of water that became Hebgen Dam, or “Quake Lake.”

The historic New Madrid earthquakes in the central United States created a lake in northwestern Tennessee in 1812. Reelfoot Lake was formed during the Feb. 7, 1812, earthquake that was one of several to strike the region during the winter of 1811 and 1812. That earthquake, which is estimated to have been at least 7.0 in magnitude or higher, caused subsidence along the Reelfoot River, dropping a 13,000 acre area of land between 4 and 19 feet. This area filled with water to become Reelfoot Lake.

Thousands of homes could be damaged in Minot, N.D., by the rising Souris River.

Erik Anderson plays a selection from Bach near the Souris River, which is expected to reach a peak flood level Sunday. (Charles Rex Arbogast / AP)

Preston Weber, left, and his brother Dylan talk about the help they have given to victims of the Souris River flood. (Associated Press)

A railroad line is covered by water from the Souris River.
(Getty)

A man and boy look at the Souris River flood waters in the Minot, N.D., neighborhood of Oak Park. The Souris River neared its crest Saturday in Minot, where city officials hoped to ride out the high water without losing more than the thousands of homes already damaged by flooding. The river had been expected to peak Saturday evening at some 8 feet above major flood stage, but it appeared to be leveling off hours earlier as it approached 6 feet over that mark. (Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)

Emergency workers take cover during a tornado warning that was announced during the flooding. (2011 Getty Images)

Water from the rising Souris River floods a neighborhood in Minot on Saturday.
(Getty)

MINOT, N.D. – The Souris (SUHR’-is) River appears to be starting a slow decline at Minot (MY’-naht), where efforts to hold off further flood damage are successful so far.

The river’s level dropped in four straight hourly readings through midday Sunday, though by just a few hundredths of an inch. National Weather Service meteorologist Ken Simosko says the Souris either has peaked or is peaking.

But Simosko warns Minot won’t be clear of danger until the water falls significantly later this week. More than 4,000 homes were damaged as the Souris streamed over levees the past two days.

Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Shannon Bauer says levees are being reinforced with plastic sheeting. She says crews built a ring dike Saturday to reinforce one leaky levee on the city’s east side.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

Clergymen Mike Johnson and Mike Pancoast have been too busy helping people chased from their homes by rising waters to give much thought to their own predicament.

The Evangelical Lutheran pastors are bunking with friends in Minot after being evacuated from the Souris River flood zone last week. But on Saturday they hopped into a car and headed for Velva, about 20 miles downstream, to assist others who were being forced to move.

“It’s disheartening,” Johnson said. “But I’m grateful that I have a place to go and I feel for people who are worse off than I am.”

The river appeared to be leveling off early Sunday after swamping an estimated 4,000 homes. It was less than 7 feet above major flood stage and hadn’t changed by more than fractions of an inch during the night. National Weather Service meteorologist Patrick Ayd said a crest could be declared later Sunday.

Johnson, associate pastor of Christ Lutheran Church, was uncertain about the fate of his own apartment building, although his belongings were safely in the hands of parishioners and friends in town. Fellow Lutherans from Stanley, an hour’s drive west, took charge of his office equipment and files.

“They just showed up on Tuesday and carted stuff off for us,” he said.

Similar stories of people helping each other, often without being asked and demanding nothing in return, were a heartwarming counterpoint to the destruction from unprecedented flooding along the Souris valley in north-central North Dakota. Brought together by word of mouth, church and civic networks, social media and random encounters, those with housing and supplies to spare gave willingly to those without.

So many opened their doors that while some 11,000 people were evacuated from neighborhoods nearest the river, only a few hundred used shelters at Minot State University and the City Auditorium.

“For the rest of the country, that is kind of mind-boggling. But … that’s how we are in North Dakota,” Sen. John Hoeven said.

A Facebook page called “Minot ND Flood Help” drew volunteer offers to haul furniture, care for pets, clean laundry and even give therapeutic massages — many from outside town.

Patrica Eide of Tioga, about 85 miles west, posted an offer to loan her 30-foot camper to a displaced family. It quickly drew a taker: a man with a wife and three children who were living in their van since being evacuated.

“We could probably rent that thing for $500 a month, but I told my husband there’s no way I’m going to be greedy,” Eide, 62, said by phone. “God just had better plans for our camper than renting it.”

She was preparing to haul it to Minot with a load of canned tomatoes and green beans, a grill, propane and other supplies. “I think we’ve got ‘em covered,” she said.

Mike Pancoast and his wife Kari, both associate pastors at First Lutheran Church, were staying with Minot State campus pastor Kari Williamson after the rising river threatened their church and adjacent brick parsonage. Like Johnson, they didn’t know how high the waters would rise, but were confident enough to move most of their clothes and other belongings to higher floors instead of removing them. Their four children were staying with her parents in Minnesota.

“We’ve kept it together pretty well, although it’s not to say we’re a solid rock through this,” Mike Pancoast said, sipping coffee at the kitchen table of Williamson’s ranch-style house. “It’s one thing to go and visit somebody and stay in their house and enjoy their hospitality for a couple of days. It’s another thing to move in indefinitely and wonder have we overstayed our welcome?”

Johnson was staying with parishioners David and Laurie Weber. Their teenage sons, Preston and Dylan, accompanied him to Velva after spending Thursday on their bikes, going door-to-door to help evacuees move furniture.

A common sight was garages packed with televisions, books, clothing and other items as residents turned their homes into temporary storage units for flood victims. Williamson was keeping things for students at Minot State.

Across the street, a trailer stuffed with household belongings stood in Derek Cumbie’s driveway. His garage was a veritable warehouse after several friends dropped off their things.

Two were staying with Cumbie, 26, a captain at Minot Air Force Base.

“I’ve been really impressed with how people in this community are helping each other, so I wanted to do my part,” he said.

On Friday, the river had been expected to peak at about 9 feet above major flood stage, but it leveled off and rose by only tiny amounts Saturday. The National Weather Service dropped the projection by just more than 2 feet as upstream flows weakened. Ayd said a storm that hit the city Saturday night had little effect.

City officials applauded when Minot Mayor Curt Zimbelman announced the peak forecast at a news conference. He warned the sustained high water flows were likely to last for three to four days, enough to put significant strain on the city’s newly built earthen levees.

“You’ve got that deterioration on the dikes. If you see how fast that water is moving, it’s scary,” Zimbelman said. “We’re concerned that we can hold it, and it’s critical that we keep a vigilant eye on this.”

Minot’s Broadway Street bridge over the Souris, which is its most important connection between the north and south sections of the city, is likely to remain closed until the crest recedes, the mayor said.

On Sunday, North Dakota National Guard soldiers were monitoring a submerged pedestrian bridge to make sure it didn’t break off in the river channel. The bridge has been trapping debris and could harm nearby levees. Guard commander David Sprynczynatyk said soldiers were ready to pull it out if it came loose.

Problems at Minot’s water treatment plant prompted the state Department of Health to issue a “boil order” on Saturday for users of city water. It also applies to the Minot Air Force Base, about 13 miles north of town, which gets its drinking water from Minot’s municipal system.

Zimbelman said city officials were “not completely sure at this point” that Minot’s water supply had been contaminated.

“It has not been fully tested … to show that it is contaminated,” Zimbelman said. “There is just a concern at this point, so we’re taking precautions.”