NEW YORK (AP) — Heavy rain spawned extreme flooding in New York’s Hudson Valley that killed at least one person, swamped roadways and forced road closures on Sunday night, as much of the rest of the Northeast U.S. began bracing for potentially punishing rains.

As the storm moved east, the National Weather Service extended flash flood warnings into Connecticut, including the cities of Stamford and Greenwich, before creeping into Massachusetts. Forecasters said some areas could get as much as 5 inches (12 centimeters) of rain.

In New York’s Hudson Valley, rescue teams were attempting to retrieve the body of a woman in her 30s who drowned after being swept away while trying to evacuate her home. Two other people escaped.

The force of the flash flooding dislodged boulders, which rammed the woman’s house and damaged part of its wall, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus told The Associated Press.

“Her house was completely surrounded by water,” he said.

“She was trying to get through (the flooding) with her dog,” he added, “and she was overwhelmed by tidal-wave type waves.”

The extent of the destruction from the slow moving storm, which pounded the area with up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain, won’t be known until after sunrise, when residents and officials can begin surveying the damage. But officials said the storm had already wrought tens of millions of dollars in damage.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed to WCBS radio that several people were missing and one home was washed away.

The rains have hit some parts of New York harder than others, but officials said communities to the east of the state should brace for torrential rains and possible flash flooding.

Officials urged residents in the line of the storm to stay off the roads.

“The amount of water is extraordinary and it’s still a very dangerous situation,” Hochul said.

“We’ll get through this,” she said, but added “it’s going to be a rough night.”

The governor declared a state of emergency Sunday for Orange County, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of New York City. She later extended the state of emergency to Ontario County in western New York, southeast of Rochester.

“We are in close communication with local officials and state agencies are participating in search and rescue efforts,” she said.

The state deployed five swift-water rescue teams and a high-axle vehicle to help with rescues in flooded areas.

Some video posted on social media showed the extent of flooding, with streams of brown-colored torrents rushing right next to homes, and roadways washed away by fast-moving cascading flows.

West Point, home to the U.S. Military Academy, was severely flooded. Officials worry some historic buildings might have water damage.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings across parts of southeastern New York, describing it as “life threatening,” as well as warnings in northeastern New Jersey.

By Monday, “a considerable flood threat with a high risk of excessive rainfall is expected across much of New England,” NWS said in a tweet. Intense rain may be especially strong in Vermont and northeastern New York.

Showers and thunderstorms were also expected in New York City Sunday night and may lead to flash flooding, the National Weather Service New York tweeted.

The city’s emergency notification system tweeted that the heavy rain could cause “life-threatening flooding to basements” and instructed residents to “prepare now to move to higher ground if needed.”

State Route 9W was flooded, and the Palisades Interstate Parkway became so drenched that parts of it were closed, the New York State Police said in a statement. The police asked the public to avoid the parkway.

(Reuters) – The Sudanese civil aviation authority extended the closure of Sudan’s airspace until July 31, with the exception of humanitarian aid and evacuation flights with permission from authorities, Khartoum International Airport said on Monday.

Sudanese airspace was closed to regular traffic after a military conflict erupted between the country’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in mid-April.

(Reporting by Yomna Ehab; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

West African heads of state on Sunday chose Nigeria’s new President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead their regional bloc for the next year, replacing Guinea-Bissau’s leader Umaro Sissoco Embalo, AFP journalists reported.

Speaking at a summit in Bissau after being named chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Tinubu said democracy was “the best form of government”, despite being “very tough to manage”.

“We need it, to be an example to the rest of Africa and the world,” he said. “We will not allow coup after coup in West Africa.”

Three ECOWAS members — Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso — have undergone five putsches since 2020.

Omar Alieu Touray, president of the ECOWAS commission, urged those countries’ ruling juntas to respect agreed-upon deadlines to hand power to civilian leaders.

“In the event of a failure to meet the transition deadlines, major sanctions could be imposed,” he said.

The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on Saturday agreed to lift a suspension of Mali imposed in January 2022 over the military’s timeline for returning to civilian rule.

ECOWAS had also imposed a range of measures against the Sahel state, but lifted them in July 2022 after the junta agreed to a March 2024 transition.

On Sunday, Touray said ECOWAS had set up a commission to examine security options in Mali as the UN winds down its decade-long peacekeeping mission there.

“This commission has 90 days to reflect and make proposals,” he said.

Mali has since 2012 been battling a jihadist insurgency that has since spread to Burkina Faso and Niger.

Tinubu — who was in May sworn in as president of Africa’s largest economy — said ECOWAS members would pursue “inclusive” economic integration in the year ahead.

“We should serve a warning to exploiters that our people have suffered enough,” he said on Sunday.

“I am with you — and Nigeria, we are back.”

Six people were killed and one wounded in an attack at a kindergarten in southern China’s Guangdong province on Monday, a spokeswoman for the city government said.

“The victims include one teacher, two parents and three students,” she said.

She did not offer details about the identities or ages of the victims, nor the weapon used in the attack, which took place in the city of Lianjiang.

“One suspect has been arrested,” she said, adding that a police investigation was underway.

The suspect was a 25-year-old male surnamed Wu, local police said in a statement.

The incident took place around 7:40 am (2340 GMT on Sunday), the state-backed China News Network reported.

Videos shot by passersby claiming to show the crime scene were removed from video-sharing platform Douyin and Twitter-like Weibo.

While guns are strictly controlled, China has been struggling with a spate of mass stabbings.

Violent crime has been on the rise as the economy has grown in recent decades and the gap between rich and poor has widened rapidly.

– Spate of attacks –

Fatal attacks targeting students and schools have occurred nationwide in recent years.

The attacks have forced authorities to step up security and prompted calls for more research into the root causes of such violent acts.

Last August, three people were killed and six others wounded in a knife attack at a kindergarten in southeast China’s Jiangxi province.

In April 2021, two children were killed and 16 others wounded when a knife-wielding man entered a kindergarten in southern China.

In June of the previous year, 37 students and two adults were wounded by a knife-wielding attacker at a primary school in southern China.

And in November 2019, a man climbed a kindergarten wall in southwest Yunnan province and sprayed people with a corrosive liquid, wounding 51 of them, mostly students.

The same year, eight schoolchildren died and two others were wounded in a “school-related criminal case” in the central Hubei province, with a 40-year-old man arrested.

And in April 2018, a 28-year-old man killed nine college students and injured 12 others outside their school in the northern province of Shaanxi.

The attacker later said he acted out of revenge after being harassed by a student at the same school.