Latest / EM Morning Brief / Tropical Storm Bertha nears Louisiana landfall; wildfires hold at Preparedness Level 5 with 74 large fires; Northeast cleans up after flooding as extreme heat grips Texas

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Tropical Storm Bertha nears Louisiana landfall; wildfires hold at Preparedness Level 5 with 74 large fires; Northeast cleans up after flooding as extreme heat grips Texas · EM Morning Brief

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  Good morning.
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  I'm Cedric and This is your EM Morning Brief for Wednesday, July 22, 2026 and today's episode is sponsored by the NIMS store.
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  Tropical Storm Bertha leads the day as of early Wednesday.
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  Bertha is centered about 75 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi river, moving west at 6 mph with maximum sustained winds near 50 mph.
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  A tropical storm warning covers the northern Gulf coast from the Bay and Gulf county line in Florida to the Terrebonne and laforche Parish line in Louisiana, and a tropical storm watch extends west to the Vermilion and Cameron Parish
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  line and covers metropolitan New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Maurepas.
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  Forecasters expect landfall Wednesday night in lightly populated coastal Louisiana southeast of New Orleans.
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  Storm surge of 2 to 4ft is possible from the mouth of the Mississippi river to to the Mississippi and Alabama border with 2 to 4 inches of rain, isolated totals near 6 inches and isolated flash flooding along the
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  central Gulf coast through Thursday.
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  Louisiana's State Emergency Operations center is running 24 hour operations.
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  The nation holds at preparedness level 5, the highest level, with 74 large fires burning and nearly 19,400 personnel assigned.
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  Nationally, about 4 million acres have burned so far in 2026, well above the 10 year average of roughly 3 million acres for this point in the season.
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  The heaviest activity is in the Northwest, where lightning continues to spark new starts in Oregon and Montana.
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  In Cyber, CISA adds four vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, including two WordPress core flaws, a langflow vulnerability and a DD WRT buffer overflow network.
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  Defenders should prioritize remediation.
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  The Northeast cleans up after Tuesday's severe weather, which put more than 29 million people across Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Connecticut under a tornado watch, flooded roadways along the Interstate 95 corridor and canceled more than 2,000
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  flights with New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
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  airport's hardest hit.
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  Dangerous heat continues over the Southern Plains and Southeast, with extreme heat warnings across much of north and Central Texas and heat index values up to 115 degrees.
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  The State Department has issued a worldwide caution for US travelers, citing rising conflict in the Middle east and the potential for unforeseen escalation.
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  Official update published 40 hours ago.
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  Americans overseas are urged to enroll in the STEP program for security alerts.
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  Let's run through the states.
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  Alabama the tropical storm warning includes the Alabama coast and Mobile and the Eastern Shore are bracing for wind, rain and 1 to 3ft of surge between the Mississippi and Florida borders.
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  Communities are distributing sandbags and double red flags are flying along Gulf beaches, closing the water to swimmers.
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  Alaska A slow eruption of lava continues within the summit crater at Great Sitkin volcano in the Aleutians.
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  The volcano alert level holds at watch and the aviation color code at orange with minor earthquakes detected over the past day.
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  Arizona Monsoon thunderstorms continue across the southeast part of the state.
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  A flash flood watch covered Cochise, Graham, Greenlee and Santa Cruz counties into Tuesday night with storms capable of dropping 1 to 3 inches of rain.
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  Locally.
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  Monsoon moisture remains in place through midweek.
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  Florida the Panhandle sits at the eastern end of the tropical storm warning from the Bay and Gulf county line westward with 1 to 3ft of surge possible from Indian Pass to the Ocilla river and beaches closed to swimming.
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  Separately, the city of Laudee in Bradford county is under a precautionary boil water notice after a chlorine system malfunction.
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  The system has been repaired and the notice stays in place until testing confirms the water is safe.
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  Hawaii the Halemaumau eruption at Kilauea remains paused.
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  The volcano holds at advisory an aviation color code yellow and USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists expect the next lava fountaining episode between July 25 and July 29.
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  Louisiana has activated the State Emergency Operations center on 24 hour operations and is holding coordination calls with parish emergency directors ahead of Bertha's expected landfall Wednesday night southeast of New Orleans.
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  Governor Landry is scheduled to give an update Wednesday afternoon.
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  The tropical storm warning runs east of the Terrebonne and La Forche parish line.
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  The watch extends west to the Vermillion and Cameron Parish line and includes metropolitan New Orleans and a coastal flood warning covers the southeastern coastline where 2 to 4ft of surge is possible near the mouth of the Mississippi River.
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  Separately, FEMA opened a disaster recovery center in Avoyell Parish to help residents continue recovery from Tropical Storm Arthur, which struck June 17th and 18th.
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  Mississippi A coastal flood warning is in effect for the Mississippi coastline, with 1 to 3ft of surge possible from the state line to the Alabama border and higher water to the west.
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  Local authorities have opened sandbag distribution sites and beaches are flying double red flags.
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  Montana Fire season has arrived in force in the northwest part of the state after hundreds of lightning strikes spawned dozens of new fires.
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  Lincoln county took the bulk of the strikes, with additional lightning caused starts in Sanders, Minerals and Flathead counties.
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  Crews are working aggressive initial attack.
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  NEW Jersey Tuesday's storms flooded roadways in Bergen county and other suburbs with rain rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour in parts of the state.
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  The tornado watch has expired and cleanup continues Wednesday.
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  NEW YORK Flash flooding hit the New York City suburbs Tuesday, including Westchester county and New York City area airports led the nation in flight cancellations.
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  The tornado watch covering the region has expired and residual travel disruption is possible into Wednesday.
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  OKLAHOMA A large dome of high pressure keeps Temperatures near 100 degrees with heat indices approaching 110.
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  Heat advisories and extreme heat warnings are expected across the state on most days this week.
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  Check on neighbors, hydrate and limit outdoor work during peak afternoon hours.
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  OREGON Central Oregon remains the nation's busiest fire theater.
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  The Coyote Fire stands at 16,688 acres and 15% containment and the Henry Fire at 14,335 acres and 10% containment.
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  With evacuation orders in effect for multiple zones.
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  Level 1, 2 and 3 evacuations are also in effect for the Brewer and Box Springs fires.
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  Tuesday's severe weather brought a tornado watch and flash flooding risk to the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh regions, and Philadelphia International was among the hardest hit.
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  Airports for cancellations, storm cleanup and residual travel.
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  Delays continue Wednesday an extreme heat warning covers most of north and central Texas with heat index values up to 115 degrees.
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  Houston and Southeast Texas are under a heat advisory and extreme heat grips South Texas on Wednesday.
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  Emergency managers are also watching Bertha, which could bring a second landfall to the upper Texas coast later this week.
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  All other states and territories have no significant updates in the last 24 hours.
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  That wraps today's EM Morning Brief.
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  EM Morning Brief is an EOC Voices podcast.
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  Stay safe.