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Jul 23, 2023

Hilary makes landfall; Spain wins the Women's World Cup: Weekend Rundown

Tropical Storm Hilary makes landfall. Spain wins the Women's World Cup. And former Rudy Giuliani associates wonder what happened to him. Here’s the biggest news you missed this weekend. Hilary made

Tropical Storm Hilary makes landfall. Spain wins the Women's World Cup. And former Rudy Giuliani associates wonder what happened to him.

Here’s the biggest news you missed this weekend.

Hilary made landfall in Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Sunday, with "catastrophic and life-threatening flooding" expected in the Southwest.

The storm, downgraded from a hurricane earlier in the day, has reached California, where officials have been preparing for the first tropical storm to hit the area in 84 years.

In addition to the impending storm, Southern California was hit with a 5.1-magnitude earthquake in the afternoon.

The White House said Sunday that a FEMA team has been deployed to California to assist, and the agency has encouraged residents to prepare and monitor local news for updates.

Residents have also been urged not to drive or walk through floodwaters, to stay off the roads, avoid downed power lines and follow evacuation orders.

During a Sunday morning news conference, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said, "Our message today is clear: Stay safe, stay home and stay informed."

Across the region schools and beaches have been closed through Monday, areas at serious risk are under evacuation orders, and hundreds of flights have been canceled.

Follow NBC News’ live coverage here.

As Hawaiians work through catastrophe from the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history, authorities fear the death toll will only rise in the days and weeks to come.

The wildfires in Maui led to entire families going missing and feared dead, while officials have sped up efforts to identify victims' remains.

Many people are still unaccounted for, including some of Lahaina's most vulnerable residents. Finding missing or dead homeless residents is especially tricky because many do not have cellphones or a dedicated group of people checking in on them.

Rex Cole, an unhoused man known to many in Lahaina's historic district, has not been seen or heard from since the wildfires. "He was loved by many," said Jelena Dackovic, former director of the Maui Rescue Alliance.

Meanwhile, an Environmental Protection Agency official said that workers will use a biodegradable, nontoxic material, known as a "soil tackifier," to stop toxic substances in the burn area from running off into the ocean.

Follow NBC News’ full coverage here.

With a wildfire bearing down, officials gave orders for evacuation of the entire town of Medical Lake, Washington.

Medical Lake is home to nearly 5,000 people and is about 12 miles southwest of Spokane.

Pushed by 35 mph winds, the Gray Fire grew from an estimated 500 acres to nearly 9,500 by Saturday morning, according to tweets from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

"We know that some homes have burned. We don’t know how many," said Joe Smillie, a spokesman for the department. "This blew up really big, really fast. It's been really hot the last week."

Much of inland Washington state was under a red flag warning over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

Spain won the Women's World Cup, in a hard-fought 1-0 victory over England.

Captain Olga Carmona's goal in the 29th minute sealed the Spanish team's first-ever World Cup win, joining the United States, Norway, Germany and Japan in this elite club of champs.

Spain's Aitana Bonmatí was awarded the Golden Ball, while teammate Salma Paralluelo, 19, was named Best Young Player. England's Mary Earps took home the Golden Glove as the top outfielder and goalkeeper.

The victory by Spain's women has been celebrated by their male counterparts, who took home the men's trophy from South Africa in 2010. "An entire country has vibrated with you girls. You have changed FOREVER the history of Spanish women’s football," they wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who's running for the Republican presidential nomination, dodged repeatedly when asked for his position on former President Donald Trump's four indictments during an interview on "Meet the Press."

Chuck Todd pressed Burgum on the charges against his 2024 rival and asked, "Wouldn’t somebody being charged with 91 criminal counts be somebody that you’d want to see drop out of the race? I mean, should they even be running for office?"

"Voters get to decide who runs for office in America," Burgum responded. "If we’re gonna live in a democracy at some point, we’ve got to trust the voters."

Pressed further on his reluctance to talk about Trump's indictments, Burgum appeared to signal that he would be more willing to if he had more name recognition.

"Well, Chuck, again, everybody's at a different place," he said. "If I had 100%, national name recognition, if I'd run for president before, if I was living in a major media market, and everybody in the country knew me, that'd be a different spot."

You can watch the full interview here.

Giuliani's escapades: From "America’s Mayor" to election charges in Georgia, many of Rudy Giuliani’s former colleagues are shocked and saddened at his fall from grace.

Biden’s playbook: The president’s re-election campaign plans to highlight what it’s calling an “extreme MAGA blueprint” by GOP candidates during the first Republican presidential debate, according to a memo first shared with NBC News.

Classified documents: Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday he had no knowledge of any "broad-based effort" by Trump to declassify documents before he left the White House.

Worker shortage: Government and industry officials are racing to find and train enough workers to meet President Joe Biden’s ambitious infrastructure goals, which have become central to his re-election bid.

Many Swifties profess to know every Taylor Swift song performed during the 3½-hour shows on the Eras Tour — but Chelsea Biehl, 21, actually does.

With the help of her family and friends, Biehl turned her living room in Irwin, Pennsylvania, into a stage and performed the entire set list — 46 songs spanning nine albums — for hundreds of thousands of Swifties on TikTok.

Biehl, who described herself as one of the “very lucky” fans who got to see the Eras Tour, told NBC News that fellow Swifites online inspired her to produce the “Living Room Eras Tour.”

“I know it’s not the same, but if me doing my version in my living room can give people just a little bit of that experience ... maybe that will brighten their day.”

Lara Horwitz is a platforms editor for NBC News.

Josh Feldman is a weekend platforms and social editor for NBC News.