Update at 1:35 p.m. Tuesday: Tennessee Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies is intact, and officials say "first and foremost" they want to thank the first responders for "risking their lives to save our community."

 "We would also like to thank our dedicated Aquarium team that stayed as late as possible before being forced to evacuate when fires approached the back of our building," Ryan DeSear, the operation's regional manager, said. "We are grateful to have had the police escort our emergency team back into the Aquarium early this morning to check on the well-being of our animals. We have a team of Marine Biologists and Life Support Experts inside the Aquarium and are happy to report that the animals are safe."

 Update at noon Tuesday: Tennessee Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies is intact, according to Gatlinburg officials.

 Ripley's posted to Facebook at 11:53 a.m. Tuesday that all animals at the aquarium are safe. All attractions at the aquarium will remain closed until the evacuation has lifted.

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 A team of marine biologists and life support experts are tending to the animals as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Ripley's.

 Here's a list of which structures are destroyed and which are intact.

 Update at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday: Tennessee Ripley Attractions General Manager Ryan DeSear said he wasn't sure if flames reached Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.

 DeSear said the aquarium's live web camera was still active, and the building was still standing.

 "As long as we have fuel in our generators, that aquarium can run on its own," DeSear said.

 DeSear said a "raging fire" was about 50 yards away from the aquarium when workers were evacuated on Monday night.

 Workers at the aquarium were evacuated mostly due to smoke, according to DeSear.

 Original Story at 3 a.m. Tuesday: Fire has engulfed at least 30 structures in Gatlinburg late Monday, and one building many people are very concerned about is the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.

 As of midnight Tuesday, Ryan DeSear, General Manager of the aquarium, told 10News that the building was still standing, that all workers were evacuated, but he is very concerned about the 10,518 animals left behind.

 He was one of the last people out of the building at 7:45 p.m. Monday, and said he had to force many of the workers to leave because they didn't want to leave the animals without help.

 "They were force evacuated," DeSear said. "To them, every animal has a name. You don't give that up"

 Unfortunately, he said, "Nothing is more important than human life. Fish can be replaced. It sucks."

 DeSear said as long as the building had power and didn't catch fire, the animals should be safe. When everything is functioning normally, the animals can survive for 24 hours without human intervention. The clock would start ticking as soon as the power goes out.

 Before he left, he did a final check of the animals, and said they were behaving normally. He took that as a good sign because animals have a special sense of danger, and they didn't appear to be affected.

 But DeSear and all of those who care for all of that aquatic and animal life at the aquarium are very anxious to get back to them.

 "We need to be one of the first people allowed back in when it's safe," he said. "I hope the people manning the checkpoint here our plea." ||||| Gatlinburg, Tennessee (CNN) Fanned by strong winds and the Southeast's worst drought in nearly a decade , at least 14 wildfires burned in and around Gatlinburg, Tennessee, forcing evacuations from the popular tourist destination and nearby communities.

 "If you're a person of prayer, we could use your prayers," Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said Monday evening as crews battled wind gusts of up to 70 mph.

 On Monday afternoon, a wildfire from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park spread rapidly into nearby communities. Strong gusts scattered embers across long distances, starting fires that fed off drought-stricken trees. The winds also knocked down power lines, igniting new fires, according to authorities.

 "Everything was like a perfect storm," said Cassius Cash, superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to CNN affiliate WATE.

 There were no deaths reported in connection with the fires, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. But a male evacuee reportedly suffered burn wounds and an accident involving a fire truck may have also caused minor injuries, the agency said.

 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast An aerial photo shows Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on Tuesday, November 29 -- a day after wildfires hit the city. Gatlinburg city officials declared mandatory evacuations in several areas as firefighters battled at least 14 fires in and around the city. More than 30 large wildfires have left a trail of destruction through North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, according to the US Forest Service. Hide Caption 1 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Polo Gutierrez climbs onto the foundation of a destroyed home to try to see if his apartment building is still standing in Gatlinburg on November 29. Gutierrez fled his apartment with other residents as fires approached the previous night. Hide Caption 2 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A destroyed structure and vehicle are seen near Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 3 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast An Alamo Steakhouse was one of the Gatlinburg businesses destroyed by fire. Hide Caption 4 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Trevor Cates inspects the damage to the Banner Missionary Baptist Church in Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 5 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Two dormitories at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts were damaged from the wildfires that flared near Gatlinburg on November 29. Hide Caption 6 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Photographer Bruce McCamish captured this image of the fires burning behind the Dollywood Dreammore Resort in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Hide Caption 7 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Fires burn on both sides of Highway 441 between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge on Monday, November 28. Hide Caption 8 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Thick smoke looms in Gatlinburg on November 28. Hide Caption 9 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Officials from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park reported the closing of roads and several trails near Gatlinburg on November 28. Hide Caption 10 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighter Layne Whitney checks the treetops while working to hold the northern head of the Rock Mountain Fire, north of Tate City, Georgia, on Tuesday, November 22. Hide Caption 11 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Flames from the Rock Mountain Fire silhouette a weather vane north of Clayton, Georgia, on Monday, November 21. Hide Caption 12 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Fire crews bring down a dead tree along Highway 9 near the community of Bat Cave, North Carolina, on Friday, November 18. Hide Caption 13 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A helicopter picks up water from Thrasher Lake to help battle a wildfire in Amherst County, Virginia, on November 21. Hide Caption 14 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Eric Willey looks on from the porch of his home as a helicopter fights a wildfire in Tate City, Georgia, on Wednesday, November 16. Hide Caption 15 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighters walk down a dirt road as a wildfire burns a hillside in Clayton, Georgia, on Tuesday, November 15. Hide Caption 16 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A wildfire burns as it approaches Bat Cave, North Carolina, on November 15. Hide Caption 17 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighters Valarie Lopez and Mark Tabaez work to cool hot spots in Clayton on November 15. A number of the fires are being investigated as suspected arson, but weather conditions are also responsible for the fires. Hide Caption 18 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Firefighter Kevin Zimmer works the wildfire in Clayton on November 15. Hide Caption 19 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Exhausted firefighters take a break in Waldens Creek, Tennessee, on Monday, November 14. Hide Caption 20 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A haze hovers over the Atlanta skyline from a wildfire burning in the northwest part of Georgia on November 14. Hide Caption 21 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Assistant Fire Chief Brent Masey sprays water on a wildfire in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, on Thursday, November 10. Hide Caption 22 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast A helicopter carrying 240 gallons of water takes off in Lake Lure, North Carolina, on November 10. Hide Caption 23 of 24 Photos: Wildfires scorch the Southeast Smoke from the Party Rock fire spreads near Lake Lure on Wednesday, November 9. Hide Caption 24 of 24

 Several homes and businesses in downtown Gatlinburg were "completely lost to fire," according to authorities. By Tuesday morning, the scope of the disaster was difficult to quantify, with officials unable to give estimates for the number of fires, their size, injuries and how many structures had burned. But a report hours earlier from TEMA reported at least 30 structures had been impacted, including a 16-story hotel and an apartment complex that was consumed by flames.

 Staff at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg were forced to evacuate Monday evening, but all of the facility's 1,500 animals are still inside, Ripley Entertainment Regional Manager Ryan DeSear told CNN Tuesday.

 DeSear said that according to reports he has received, the building is still standing. The facility's webcam showed lights and power still working inside, but he's concerned about the deteriorating air quality, as well as the smoke and flames. DeSear said he's hoping some staff will be allowed back into the facility Tuesday morning to assess the damage.

 If you are able, 'evacuate immediately'

 Authorities issued evacuation orders for Gatlinburg and nearby areas, including the north end of Pigeon Forge: "Nobody is allowed into the city at this time. If you are currently in Gatlinburg and are able to evacuate ... evacuate immediately."

 TEMA said on its website that State Hwy. 441 heading into Gatlinburg is closed except for emergency traffic and the same highway leaving the city is open for evacuations.

 Schools in Green, McMinn and Sevier counties will be closed Tuesday, the agency said, and more than 12,000 people in Sevier County were without power as of early Tuesday morning.

 Several evacuation shelters opened as about 1,300 people stayed overnight at the local community center and park. Shaken residents, some needing oxygen after inhaling so much smoke, huddled with each other at the shelters.

 "We watched a building go down in flames to the right of us," said one tearful evacuee, who was rescued by firefighters.

 At Dollywood, the theme park owned by Dolly Parton in Pigeon Forge, officials with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park evacuated guests from its resort and cabins as flames approached the area. The property had not suffered any damage as of late Monday night and its crew was working to protect the park areas, said Pete Owens, director of media relations at Dollywood.

 'It's just engulfed'

 Despite evacuation orders, some people -- including guests at one Gatlinburg hotel -- could not safely leave the area as the fire advanced.

 "I just see fire everywhere," said Logan Baker, who had checked into the Park Vista Hotel on Monday. The fire swept up to the hotel parking lot, he told CNN affiliate WATE. He posted videos of the hotel doors and windows glowing from the fire looming outside.

 Baker was among dozens of guests who couldn't leave because falling trees engulfed in flames had blocked the only road out.

 "We can't go outside. The firefighters said the wind is blowing at 80 miles per hour and the debris in the air is too hard to get us down right now," he said.

 The fire had not reached the hotel, but smoke had permeated the building, making it hard to breathe, he said. Guests stood in the hotel lobby with masks over their faces.

 But Baker said he felt safe so far. He said he could see downtown Gatlinburg "just engulfed" in flames with cabins on the hillside on fire. The night sky had turned orange, clogged with smoke as ash rained down.

 Evacuations in national park

 Elsewhere, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park evacuated employees from the Elkmont and park headquarters housing areas on Monday.

 Due to continued erratic winds, the fires are very unpredictable and more fire growth is expected. pic.twitter.com/BYd9ANQeT4 — GreatSmokyNPS (@GreatSmokyNPS) November 29, 2016

 The flames proved unpredictable even for authorities as the fire blew into downtown Gatlinburg, forcing officials to evacuate their original command post at City Hall, said Dana Soehn, spokeswoman for the National Park Service. She was uncertain of the condition of City Hall.

 The National Guard was activated to help fight the fire and assist in evacuations.

 Fire is 'everywhere'

 Fires burned perilously close to roads and homes. Social media images and videos showed the night sky blazing bright orange from the flames.

 This was just sent to us by a friend in Gatlinburg. This is on Airport Road up by Sidney James Lodge. pic.twitter.com/xhrgtqj6el — Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) November 29, 2016

 Several roads were closed because of fire danger, stemming from dangerous weather conditions, falling trees and downed power lines. Authorities asked people who have not been instructed to evacuate to stay off the roads as evacuees crammed the streets to get to safety.

 Among them was Bill May, the executive director at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg. He posted on Facebook late Monday that several of the school's buildings had burned, but thankfully all personnel were safe.

 "It is raining and winds have died down which offers hope, but the resources are stretched too thin with this much fire everywhere," he wrote.

 Good news and bad news

 There may be some good news: Rain moved into the area late Monday night, heading east.

 Radar update: the 2nd round of rain is moving into east TN. Unfortunately, some wind gusts will accompany this rain. #mrxwx #tnwx pic.twitter.com/nF2Z40Bz08 — NWS Morristown (@NWSMorristown) November 29, 2016

 But with the rainfall came some bad news.

 "Unfortunately, some wind gusts will accompany this rain," noted the National Weather Service.

 High winds are possible across eastern Tennessee, southwest Virginia and southwest North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service. They could topple trees and power lines and fan the flames. ||||| (Photo: Jessica Tezak/Special to the News Sentinel)

 GATLINBURG, Tenn. — Hillbilly Golf, Arrowmont Arts and Crafts School, major hotels, a good portion of Regan Drive and countless other businesses and homes have been destroyed in a blaze that has firefighters continuing their efforts overnight in Gatlinburg, Tenn.

 "The center of Gatlinburg looks good for now," said Newmansville Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Bobby Balding. "It's the apocalypse on both sides (of downtown)."

 An estimated 40 to 50 fire units from volunteer agencies across East and Middle Tennessee were helping fight the fires, with a command center set up at Gatlinburg-Pittman High School.

 The Mountain Lodge Restaurant is no longer with us 😔#Gatlinburg pic.twitter.com/U5tQIBv8Ig — Everything TN (@Everything_TN) November 29, 2016

 Thirty structures are on fire in Gatlinburg, including the Park Vista Hotel, a 16-story hotel on Regan Drive and the Driftwood Apartment complex near the Park Vista that has "been completely inundated," according to Dean Flener, spokesman for Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, in Nashville.

 The elementary school, Pi Beta Phi, has not been destroyed, which is a change from initial reports from fire officials.

 The Space Needle and many of the properties on the main stretch are intact. Regan Drive, however, has been hard hit, according to fire crews.

 Orebank Assistant Fire Chief Bradley Collins said several hotels in Gatlinburg and many houses have burned.

 "It was devastating. We've seen some nice homes burning."

 Ryan Holt, Greene County Volunteer Fire Coordinator, said his agency rescued three motorists who were trapped in the area in which Gatlinburg Falls, a major cabin rental company, is located. Holt said the entire area around Gatlinburg Falls was burning.

 Hillbilly Golf, which is located off the Parkway as you enter Gatlinburg, also was destroyed in the fire, according to firefighters.

 A volunteer fire coordinator said firefighters in Gatlinburg were currently trying to knock down fires around what he termed big structures in the downtown area, but he would not identify them.

 #Gatlinburg Posting entire terrifying video in 45 sec increments, credit to Michael Luciano, who I believe is the videographer pic.twitter.com/RM7iOpfc74 — Eric Long (@EricLong1972) November 29, 2016

 TEMA reported earlier no fatalities that the organization knows of, but one report of a burn injury to an evacuee and minor injuries due to a fire truck involved in an accident.

 LeConte Medical Center has treated four patients related to the fires, according to Covenant Health spokeswoman Tonya Stoutt-Brown. She did not have any further details early Tuesday morning.

 Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville said late Monday night that they were on alert but had not received any patients from the fires.

 Local officials ordered mandatory evacuations for Mynatt Park, Park Vista, Ski Mountain and the city of Gatlinburg. Evacuations were also ordered for the north end of Pigeon Forge.

 The National Guard is looking at deploying personnel to help clear debris, but no timeline has been set for their arrival, said Flener.

 TEMA has a district coordinator on site at the command post in Gatlinburg and others on the way. The agency has activated the state emergency operations center in Nashville, with personnel on hand from the state fire marshal’s office, Tennessee Department of Transportation, Tennessee Department of Health and others, Flener said. The agency is also working with the fire mutual aid network to pull in firefighters and apparatuses from other counties, including McMinn County.

 Sara Gentry, director of sales at Westgate Smoky Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg, said several hundred people were evacuated from the hotel and she and her four children evacuated their home and headed to Dandridge to her sister's house. The number of evacuees likely would have been higher had it been the weekend, she noted.

 She said she's been talking to co-workers and friends who have lost their homes to the fire.

 "This one girl was driving down Ski Mountain (Road) and watching her home burn," Gentry said. "My kids' friends have lost their homes. It's just awful."

 Bill May, executive director of Arrowmont Arts and Crafts School, 556 Parkway, Gatlinburg, sent out a Facebook post just before 11 p.m. showing a pair of dorms and the red barn surrounded by fire.

 “All Arrowmont personnel are safe,” May said in his post. “I pleaded with the fire dept. to soak the walls of other buildings but our hope is the metal roofs may offer some protection. It is raining and winds have died down which offers hope, but the resources are stretched too thin with this much fire everywhere.”

 May said he was on his way to his own home which was being threatened and that he and his wife Anne’s pets and an elderly neighbor were evacuated.

 Many evacuees went to shelters in Pigeon Forge.

 Phil Campbell is the facilities manager at the LeConte Event Center in Pigeon Forge, which had taken in 300 to 400 people Monday night.

 “We knew we had power here and some places were losing power. We knew we had restrooms and water and a safe place to house people and give them a place to go – that’s why we opened up,” Campbell said.

 He said he expects even more to show up.

 The LeConte Event Center has been open for three years.

 Allen Sheets is from the American Red Cross out of Knoxville. He said the number of people at the shelter is expected to increase, as trolleys and buses continue to pull up with residents.

 Late Monday night Sheets said a group of approximately 200 was gathered at the Pigeon Forge Community Center.

 Early Tuesday morning Sheets said cots are on the way, but blankets, food and clothes are needed. He said Wal-Mart just made a large donation, and other businesses have been helping throughout the night.

 He said he’s asking local families to bring supplies they can give to help the people stranded here and at the Pigeon Forge Community Center.

 Katie Brittian, manager at the Dress Barn near the LeConte Center, said, "(The sky) was brown. The whole store smelled like smoke. Ash has been falling from the sky since 3."

 Judy Tucker, director of Sevier County's E-911 call center, around 9 p.m. said, "We were just told by the Gatlinburg Fire Department that they had told everybody in Gatlinburg to get out. No one's getting through to anyone. Phones are ringing and not being answered anywhere. It's chaos."

 Pigeon Forge city manager Earlene M. Teaster had said all of Pigeon Forge except for the "immediate Parkway" was ordered to evacuate.

 Residents in the area were advised to use Highway 411-North to leave the area.

 Sevier County and Gatlinburg officials established a command center at Gatlinburg City Hall.

 State Hwy. 441 heading into Gatlinburg is closed, except for emergency traffic. State Hwy. 441 leaving Gatlinburg is open to evacuating traffic.

 TEMA reports downed power lines and trees, and reports of road closures.

 9-1-1 communications centers in the area report being inundated with calls about the situation.

 Sevier and Greene County schools will be closed on Tuesday. Cocke County schools run two hours late.

 Copyright 2016 WFAA ||||| Hundreds of structures lost due to Sevier county wildfire

 Westgate Resorts, Black Bear Falls completely destroyed

 14,000 residents and visitors evacuated from Gatlinburg

 Ober Gatlinburg says its property has NOT been destroyed, contrary to TEMA report.

 As of 9:30 a.m., here was the latest update from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency:

 The Red Cross is accepting monetary donations. People can make a $10 donation by texting "REDCROSS" to 90999.

 Related: How to help fire evacuees and first responders

 More: List of shelters open for Gatlinburg wildfire evacuees

 7:30 a.m. Tuesday UPDATE: A Sevier County fire has destroyed 75-100 homes Cobbly Nob area of Gatlinburg.

 There are no reports of fatalities or major injuries as of 7:30 a.m. Monday.

 About 1,300 people are in shelters throughout Sevier County.

 The Great Smoky Mountain National Park have closed all facilities in the park on Tuesday due to extensive fire activity and downed trees. GSMNP headquarters do not have power or phone services.

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 5 a.m. Tuesday UPDATE: Authorities rescued 29 backcountry hikers from wildfires in Sevier County, according to Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash.

 Cash said there were not any major injuries or fatalities as of 5 a.m. Tuesday. There is one report of an evacuee suffering a burn injury.

 "I've been in federal service for 25 years, and I've fought fires on the West Coast and the East Coast and been with the Forest Service as well," Cash said. "Nothing that we've experienced in the 24 hours has prepared for what we've experienced here in the last 24 hours. (It's) been just unbelievable what we've experienced here."

 Cash called the wildfires "unprecedented."

 Cash said Gatlinburg fire officials said winds reached up to 80 mph. Winds sustained at 30-40 mph about 10-12 hours. The winds coupled with the 500-acre wildfire in Gatlinburg, according to Cash.

 Watch: Cassius Cash provides update on Gatlinburg fires on Tuesday morning

 3 a.m. Tuesday UPDATE: Approximately 500 people were evacuated from Pigeon Forge Monday night as wildfires continue to burn around the city.

 The city of Pigeon Forge said early Tuesday morning that approximately 100 firefighters from 15 additional stations throughout East Tennessee are battling the blazes. More are expected to arrive Tuesday.

 Sevier County officials currently estimate about 100 homes are impacted in the county with 10 homes impacted in Gatlinburg from the fire.

 Crews are working to contain multiple active fires around the city and in nearby Gatlinburg. Power outages are being reported in various areas of the city.

 Pigeon Forge Fire Chief Tony Watson said emergency crews will begin damage assessment of the area at daybreak.

 A few schools systems will be closed Tuesday, including Greene, McMinn and Sevier county schools. Cocke County schools run two hours late.

 TEMA officials are on site in Sevier County providing support to local agencies. Fire crews are working closely with a number of state agencies and the military in battling the fire.

 Right now, the Tennessee National Guard is mobilizing 100 personnel with helping first responders, removing debris and assisting in welfare checks.

 Fire departments from as far north as Greenville to as far south as McMinn County are sending 50 to 60 fire apparatuses to help. The Department of Health is coordinating to send medical units to assist with transports.

 More than 1,200 people have been sheltered at the Gatlinburg Community Center and the Rocky Top Sports Park.

 Donations are being accepted at the Pigeon Forge Fire Hall Station 1 at 3229 Rena Street.

 Sevier County reports that 12,509 people have lost power.

 Click here for the latest updates from TEMA

 Midnight UPDATE: There are currently 30 structures on fire in Gatlinburg as residents and guests evacuate the city.

 The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency issued a level three state of emergency. TEMA said 30 structures are on fire, including a 16-story hotel on Regan Drive and the Driftwood Apartments in Gatlinburg. The wildfire is also at the edge of the Dollywood property.

 Mandatory evacuations are in place in Gatlinburg in:

 · Downtown Gatlinburg

 · Ski Mountain

 · Mynatt Park

 · Cartertown Road

 · East Foothills

 · Westgate Community

 Evacuations have also been ordered for the north end of Pigeon Forge, specifically between traffic light 8 and the Spur.

 There are no reports of fatalities from the fires, according to TEMA. There is one report of an evacuee suffering a burn injury.

 There are reports of downed power lines and trees, TEMA said.

 The Tennessee National Guard is deploying personnel to Sevier County to help with clearing debris. The Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Tennessee Department of Transportation are assisting with evacuations and traffic control in the area.

 Tennessee's Fire Mutual Aid system is coordinating the arrival of 50 to 60 fire apparatuses from fire departments throughout the area, from as far north as Greeneville and as far south as McMinn County, TEMA said.

 GALLERY: Fires in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge

 11 p.m. Monday UPDATE: Motorists fleeing wildfires in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge packed roads in and out of the towns Monday night as flames and choking smoke driven by wind swept across the area.

 Multiple parts of Gatlinburg including downtown Gatlinburg were being evacuated, fire officials said Monday night.

 The town set up an evacuation shelter at the Gatlinburg Community Center at 156 Proffitt Road. An evacuation center also was set up at Rocky Top Sports World near Gatlinburg Pittman High School on Highway 321.

 Some areas of Pigeon Forge also were being evacuated including residents and guests located in the areas between traffic light 8 and the Spur, according to spokeswoman Trish McGee.

 "Three county school buses are available for emergency transport and are being dispatched as needed to transport those who need to evacuate," according to a statement from McGee.

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 Farther west, fires also were reported above Wears Valley Road near the Dollar General Store. A viewer sent 10News video of the hillside aflame.

 In Gatlinburg, National Park Service and Gatlinburg officials stressed the fire posed a serious threat that would not abate until rains came. Evacuees were being shifted to the Gatlinburg.

 "We urge the public to pray. We urge the public to stay off the highways. The traffic that is on the roads is emergency equipment. If (the public) could just stay home and stay tuned to their local media outlet," Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said at a 8:30 p.m. press conference.

 In Gatlinburg, other areas under a mandatory evacuation include Mynatt Park Neighborhood, East Foothills Road, Turkey Nest Road and Davenport Road areas. The Savage Gardens areas also are under mandatory evacuation.

 Police are going to the area to get people out. City officials urged everyone to get out.

 %INLINE%

 Gatlinburg city officials said high winds were downing power lines, sparking multiple ground fires.

 Multiple agencies were responding to the fires in Gatlinburg including the Knoxville Fire Department. Gatlinburg City Manager Cindy Ogle said she understood the Karns Volunteer Fire Department also was responding.

 Fire officials decided about 6 p.m. to impose the evacuation, according to Ogle.

 Great Smoky Mountains National Park Superintendent Cassius Cash said he couldn't over-emphasize the seriousness of the fire's threat.

 To help with Pigeon Force evacuations, three county school buses were available for emergency transport and were being dispatched as needed to transport those who need to evacuate, according to a release from

 The following locations are open and ready to receive those who need shelter: LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge, Pigeon Forge Community Center, Liberty Baptist Church in Wears Valley and Iglesia Cristiana LaDuz De Jesus.

 Also open for evacuations: The First Red Bank Baptist Church in Sevierville and First Baptist Church of Sevierville.

 Sevier County Schools are closed Tuesday due to the fires, the school district said on its website.

 Great Smoky Mountains Park Superintendent Cassius Cash said the fires posed a "very serious situation."

 Authorities could not provide an estimate on the total acreage that was burning.

 "I know that it's hard to potentially think about losing a home or a place that you've worked your entire life to build, but we are dealing with a situation that is very dynamic," Miller said. "The wind is not helping us. The rain is not here yet."

 Authorities are hoping that rain expected Monday night will ultimately douse the spreading wildfires.

 PREVIOUS UPDATE: City of Gatlinburg officials have declared a mandatory evacuation of several areas in the city due to the threat of a nearby fire in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

 The Mynatt Park Neighborhood, Savage Gardens, East Foothills Road, Turkey Nest Road and Davenport Road areas are included in the immediate mandatory evacuation.

 RELATED: Chimney Tops fire sends heavy smoke into Gatlinburg

 A Red Cross Evacuation Shelter has been set up at the Gatlinburg Community Center at 156 Proffitt Road. Residents needing transportation to the shelter may request assistance by calling the Gatlinburg Police Department at 865-436-5181.

 Service animals are allowed at the evacuation shelter.

 Gatlinburg Fire Department officials say the threat is from a spot fire in the Twin Creeks area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park combined with low humidity and windy conditions.

 Fire officials said fallen trees have sparked multiple fires in Gatlinburg from downed power lines. Fire departments from multiple agencies are assisting.

 The National Park Service notified the city around 11:45 a.m. that the Chimney Tops Trail fire created a new fire near Mynatt Park. The fire is still inside the national park, but the park service notified the city since it is near a residential area.

 Smoke and ash from the fire have created poor visibility in Gatlinburg since Monday morning.

 Gatlinburg police officers are going door to door asking residents in the Mynatt neighborhood to voluntarily evacuate to the Red Cross Shelter, city officials said.

 Dana Soehn, a spokesperson for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, said over 100 people from various agencies are working the fire and monitoring its movements. They are expecting another 80 firefighters and engines from seven different counties to arrive Tuesday to provide additional support fighting the fire.

 The origins of the fire are unknown, but the park has set up a tipline at 865-436-1580 for anyone who has information about the cause of the fires.

 Soehn urged visitors to honor the burn ban that is in place in the park. There is a complete ban on burning of any campfires or charcoal grills. ||||| Thick smoke from area forest fires looms in Gatlinburg, Tenn., Monday, Nov. 28, 2016. Gatlinburg officials say several areas are being evacuated as a result of fires in and around Great Smoky Mountains... (Associated Press)

 Thick smoke from area forest fires looms in Gatlinburg, Tenn., Monday, Nov. 28, 2016. Gatlinburg officials say several areas are being evacuated as a result of fires in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (Brianna Paciorka/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP) (Associated Press)

 ATLANTA (AP) — As a strong storm system approached some of the largest wildfires burning in the South, the rain signaled new hope for firefighters working to extinguish the blazes.

 But the storms also brought high winds, which toppled dead trees and could pose a threat to firefighters, authorities said. Experts predicted that rains Tuesday from one storm system would not be enough to end the relentless drought that's spread across several states and provided fuel for the fires.

 The storms early Tuesday appeared to be taking aim at the nearly 28,000-acre Rough Ridge Fire in north Georgia and the nearly 25,000-acre Rock Mountain Fire that began in Georgia and then spread deep into North Carolina.

 In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, emergency officials said a wildfire had set 30 structures ablaze, including a 16-story hotel, and was at the edge of the Dollywood theme park.

 Mandatory evacuations were underway for areas in and around Gatlinburg, including the south part of Pigeon Forge, where Dolly Parton's theme park is, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Dean Flener said in a news release Monday night. TV news broadcasts showed residents streaming out of town just as rain started to wet roads.

 Workers at an aquarium evacuated because of wildfires around Gatlinburg were concerned about the thousands of animals housed there. Ryan DeSears, general manager of Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, told WBIR-TV the building was still standing and all workers had been evacuated late Monday. However, he said workers were anxious to return to check on the well-being of the 10,518 animals.

 The rain forecast "puts the bull's-eye of the greatest amounts right at the bull's-eye of where we've been having our greatest activity," said Dave Martin, deputy director of operations for fire and aviation management with the southern region of the U.S. Forest Service.

 The projected rainfall amounts "really lines up with where we need it," Martin said Monday. "We're all knocking on wood."

 After weeks of punishing drought, any rain that falls should be soaked up quickly, forecasters said. It will provide some relief but won't end the drought — or the fire threat, they said.

 Drought conditions will likely persist, authorities said. The problem is that rainfall amounts have been 10 to 15 inches below normal during the past three months in many parts of the South, authorities said.

 "I think we racked up deficits that are going to be too much to overcome with just one storm system," said Mark Svoboda, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

 "I would say it's way too early to say 'Yes, this drought is over,'" Svoboda said. "Does it put a dent in it? Yes, but we have a long ways to go."

 The rain also brings danger because strong winds at the leading edge of the storms can topple trees and limbs that can kill and injure firefighters, he said.

 In Mississippi, trees were reported downed in nearly 20 counties across the state. Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts of more than 50 mph were reported and more than 2 inches of rain fell in some areas.

 Power outages peaked at more than 23,000 statewide in Mississippi. Powerlines downed by winds sparked grass fires in four counties, said Greg Flynn, a spokesman for the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

 The storms moved across Alabama on Monday night and fell on Georgia during the overnight hours. High wind warnings were issued for mountainous areas in northern parts of Georgia.

 In South Carolina, the stormy forecast was giving hope to firefighters battling a blaze in the northwest corner of the state. The South Carolina Forestry Commission hopes to contain the Pinnacle Mountain fire by the middle of next week.

 More rain was expected Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

 ___

 Fuller reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Jackson, Mississippi; Beth Campbell in Louisville, Kentucky; and Jack Jones in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

Summary: – One of at least 14 wildfires raging in Gatlinburg, Tenn., is threatening thousands of animals at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. Flames engulfed at least 30 buildings in the area late Monday—including a 16-story hotel outside the Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge—leading aquarium employees to be "force evacuated," the general manager tells WBIR. They left behind 10,518 animals that will survive without humans for 24 hours, unless flames reach the aquarium. "We need to be one of the first people allowed back in when it's safe," the manager says. Many areas of Gatlinburg and neighboring Pigeon Forge are under mandatory evacuations with 100 homes affected, reports WBIR. "It's the apocalypse" in downtown Gatlinburg, one fire official tells WFAA. So far there have been no reports of fatalities or major injuries, per CNN, with just two people suffering minor burns, including one of 29 hikers rescued in Sevier County. Fire officials believe some of the fires were sparked by high winds, which sent trees crashing onto power lines. They spread easily as the area is suffering a drought; many parts of the South have seen 10 to 15 inches less rainfall than usual over the last three months. It's "been just unbelievable what we've experienced here," says a superintendent at Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where one wildfire is raging. The good news: A US Forest Service rep says Tuesday’s forecast predicts rain will fall where it's needed most, per the AP. However, the fire threat and drought conditions are expected to continue.


The deliveryman had just pulled 18-year-old Savannah Underwood from the burning wreckage of a Nissan early Saturday in Burbank when she starting yelling for her friends.

 There was so much smoke as flames overtook the car that Juan Ganaja thought Underwood was the sole occupant as he rushed to pull her away.

 "She told me, you know, 'My friends are inside,’ and so I turned around and the car, it was really bad already. There was fire all over the car,” Ganaja told NBC4-TV.

 Five teens and young adults were killed when the Nissan they were in slammed into a concrete pillar near the Scott Road off-ramp of the 5 Freeway and burst into flames shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday. As of Wednesday, L.A. County coroner's officials had yet to confirm their identities.

 Underwood's mother, Valerie Lucas, told reporters Tuesday that her daughter was saved after Ganaja "heard her screaming and he was able to literally drag her away from the vehicle.”

 Underwood sustained broken bones in her right leg and a crushed pelvis, but her attorney, John Gantus, told the Burbank Leader that she was doing "incredibly well given the circumstances."

 In a statement, she said she was "deeply grateful" to the Hook Burger deliveryman who was there moments after the crash, as well as the first responders and doctors.

 The deadly crash shocked many in the community, including longtime police officers, who said it was among the worst they'd seen in years.

 The Burbank City Council on Tuesday held a moment of silence for the victims, with some of their friends and family members in the audience.

 An investigation into the cause of the crash remained ongoing, although authorities have said they believe speed may have been a factor.

 Katherine Laprell, a former Burroughs student who recently saw one of the victims, told the Burbank Leader she was still in shock over the news days after the crash.

 “People need to be more careful – I really hope this is a wake-up call for everybody,” Laprell said. “I’ve never had a tragic loss like this happen.”

 A vigil at the crash site grew quickly over the last few days as friends stopped to remember the victims and share their grief.

 Ganaja, connected to the tragedy by its immediate aftermath, also offered his condolences to the victims' families and friends.

 “I feel so bad for them," he told NBC4.

 ALSO:

 UCLA environmental studies receives $15-million donation

 Boys held in sexual assault case at Riverside County high school

 San Diego man held after police find pot, puppies, baby in home

 Times Community News staff writer Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this report. ||||| A delivery man rescued an 18-year-old woman from the burning wreckage of a car crash that killed five of her friends. John Cadiz Klemack reports from Burbank for NBC4 News at 11 p.m. Oct. 1, 2013. (Published Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013)

 Juan Ganaja, a delivery man on his third stop of Saturday didn't hear the car crash. He only heard a woman's screams for help.

 It was 4:20 a.m. in Burbank, Calif., and it was still dark, so he didn't even see the wrecked car - behind two fences and across some train tracks - until the flames burned brightly enough.

 Delivery Man Pulls Sole Survivor of Burbank Crash to Safety

 Savannah Underwood, the only survivor of a deadly crash that happened in Burbank over the weekend, was traveling with five friends when the driver lost control. Underwood was pulled out from the vehicle by a delivery man who heard her screams. John Cadiz Klemack reports from Burbank for NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Oct. 1, 2013. (Published Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2013)

 "Help! Help!" the woman screamed.

 He ran toward the flames.

 On Tuesday, Ganaja laughed and said what he did wasn't special.

 "I'm not a hero," he said. "It's just me."

 Ganaja, whatever he might be, scaled two fences to get to Savannah Underwood, 18, who had just climbed out of the wreck with a broken leg. He carried her to safety before the car exploded into flames.

 She was crying and told Ganaja her friends were still inside, but when he turned around, the fire was too fierce.

 He said he still visits the site of the crash every day and feels sorry for the victims he couldn't save and their families.

 The Nissan Altima that Underwood was in was carrying six people. The driver lost control on a curving freeway underpass and struck a concrete pillar.

 Everyone inside except for Underwood died.

 The victims were identified by family and friends as Stephen Stoll, Sebastian Forero, Sameer Nevarez, Malak Hariri and Sugey Cuevas. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office has yet to officially identify them.

 Underwood was recovering in a hospital, and had undergone surgeries for her injuries.

 "I survived for a reason last night, & am determined to figure out why, stay strong everyone <3," she tweeted. "I just want to wake up from this nightmare."

 Her mother, Valerie Lucas, said Underwood was strong.

 "When she was told what happened, which was the following day, she was crying," Lucas said. "And that was the first thing out of her mouth, was that she now had five new angels to watch over her."

 "To the other families," said her father, David Underwood, "all we can say is we're so sorry."

Summary: – A car crash that claimed the lives of five young adults in California over the weekend might have claimed a sixth had a deliveryman not heard her screams, reports NBC Los Angeles. Juan Ganaja, who works for the Hook Burger chain, heard calls for help about 4:20am Saturday in Burbank. He climbed two fences, clambered over railroad tracks, and arrived at the scene of a horrific car accident. Savannah Underwood, 18, had just climbed out of the wreck but had a broken leg and crushed pelvis, and Ganaja carried her to safety just before the car exploded in flames. When Underwood then told him about her five friends still in the car, which had slammed into a concrete pillar under a freeway overpass, Ganaja tried to return but was forced back by the intensity of the flames, reports the LA Times. Underwood was not the driver in the crash, which remains under investigation. "I survived for a reason last night, & am determined to figure out why, stay strong everyone," she tweeted.


On Saturday when introducing his new running mate, Mitt Romney initially referred to Paul D. Ryan as the “next president of the United States.”

 Mr. Romney quickly apologized for the slip-up, saying that he hoped that Mr. Ryan would become the next vice president instead. (Apparently, the stress of a vice presidential rollout can take its toll even on relatively unflappable candidates like Mr. Romney; Barack Obama made a similar slip when introducing Joe Biden four years ago.)

 Of course, it’s not literally impossible that Mr. Ryan could turn out to be the 45th American president precisely (Mr. Obama is the 44th). It just couldn’t be through a sequence of events that Mr. Romney would be rooting for. Either the Republican ticket would have to win this year’s election — but with Mr. Ryan, not Mr. Romney, at the top of the ticket. Or, the more likely case: Mr. Obama would need to win the election and serve out his remaining four years, and Mr. Ryan would have to run for and win the presidency in 2016.

 What, exactly, are the odds of one of these scenarios transpiring?

 For that matter, what are Mr. Ryan’s odds of someday becoming president — whether he’s the 45th, 46th, 47th, or some later number in the sequence of people to hold the office?

 Even more broadly, what does the future hold for running mates on winning tickets? And what about those on losing ones?

 There are too many variables to compute these chances exactly, but we can make some reasonable guesses based on the historical record.

 First, let’s consider the case that Mr. Romney would be most pleased with: that he and Mr. Ryan are the winning ticket in November, and Republicans re-capture the White House.

 Twenty-eight men have been elected vice president since 1900, double-counting those (like George Herbert Walker Bush in 1980 and 1984) who were elected twice. Let’s give Mr. Biden a mulligan, since he hasn’t yet had a chance to seek an open nomination. That leaves us with 27 cases.

 In the chart that follows, I’ve sorted the 27 winning vice presidents by the margin by which their ticket won the popular vote. Then I documented whether they sought the presidency in some subsequent election, whether they won a party nomination, and whether they were actually elected to the Oval Office.

 The clear majority of winning vice presidential nominees — 21 of 27, again counting cases like Mr. Bush twice — ran for president themselves at some point. One qualification: the definition of what counts as “running” for president is a little fuzzy, especially in the era before presidential primaries were common. But I’ve applied a relatively liberal standard. For instance, the winning vice president under Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, Henry A. Wallace, gets credit for both running for and winning a party nomination in 1948 — although it was with the Progressive Party, and not the Democrats.

 The elected vice presidents who failed to eventually seek the presidency had pretty good reasons for it. James S. Sherman, elected vice president to William Howard Taft in 1908, died during the course of the 1912 election when he and Mr. Taft were seeking another term. Spiro T. Agnew, the winning vice president in 1968 and 1972, resigned from office before his second term was completed. Charles Curtis, who was Herbert Hoover’s vice president in 1928, saw his ticket lose disastrously in the landslide of 1932. And Dick Cheney was exceptionally unpopular by the time that Republicans were planning for the 2008 election cycle.

 Of the winning vice presidents who did run for the presidency, 13 eventually won their party’s nomination. This includes cases, like Lyndon Baines Johnson, of men who had ascended to the presidency before doing so, and ran for re-election as incumbents.

 Even if you exclude those instances, however, you wind up with a batting average of close to 50 percent when former vice presidents sought their party nomination. That’s pretty impressive, considering that there might typically be a half-dozen viable candidates seeking an open nomination. Sitting vice presidents are, literally and figuratively, the “next in line” in their parties, and they can sometimes clear their fields of competition.

 Finally, there were eight cases (counting Richard Nixon and the elder Mr. Bush twice each) in which the winning vice-presidential nominee was later a winning presidential candidate — or about 30 percent of the total.

 Incidentally, there have been no cases since 1900 in which someone was elected vice president, and then ascended to the presidency after a death or resignation, without later being elected to another presidential term themselves. What about Gerald Ford? He succeeded Mr. Nixon in 1974, but then lost his bid for re-election in 1976. But Mr. Ford had also never been elected vice president; instead, he succeeded Mr. Agnew. So he’s excused on a technicality.

 Put these bits of trivia aside. A very obvious (and intuitive) fact emerges from this data. Mr. Ryan is much more likely to eventually become president if he and Mr. Romney win this year’s election.

 In fact, the track record of losing vice-presidential candidates is quite underwhelming. There are 28 of these cases since 1900. (We will count Sarah Palin even though we didn’t count Mr. Biden, since she had an open nomination this year but declined to seek it.)

 Of these 28 men and women who lost their vice-presidential bids, only nine later ran for president. Only three of them later won their party’s nomination, and just one — Franklin D. Roosevelt — later won the presidency.

 The losing candidates who later ran for president generally had one of two things in common. First, if their loss was very close, it did not seem to harm their reputations nearly as much. Of the eight vice presidential candidates whose tickets lost the election by 5 or fewer percentage points, seven actually did run for president at some later point. (The exception was Charles W. Fairbanks, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1916, but did not seek the office again after his vice presidential bid also failed that November.)

 The other circumstance is when a vice president on a losing ticket had previously been on a winning one. Walter Mondale and Dan Quayle, who later sought the presidency (although Mr. Quayle’s bid in 2000 was a flop), had won the vice presidency in 1976 and 1988, respectively, before losing it four years later.

 The exceptional case is Mr. Roosevelt. He and the Democratic nominee for president, James M. Cox of Ohio, were decimated in the 1920 election, losing to Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge by more than 26 percentage points.

 But Mr. Roosevelt later came back to be elected president four times. So nothing can be ruled out.

 Still, if Mr. Ryan fails to win the vice presidency this year, his political future should be aided substantially if he and Mr. Romney at least keep the margin respectable. If the Republicans lose the election by about 3 points — around what their deficit to Mr. Obama appears to be now — then Mr. Ryan will be able to claim that he at least did not do the ticket any harm.

 A narrow defeat for Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan, also, would still leave Republicans with decent-to-good chances to retain the House of Representatives. And it’s not impossible that they could take over the Senate, since there are quite a lot of seats in play, and since a good half-dozen of them are idiosyncratic cases that may come down more to local factors than the overall partisan tide.

 If Republicans do reasonably well in these Congressional races but fail to win the presidency, some in the party may even claim — and it’s a logical enough case — that the problem was with the top of the ticket and not with Mr. Ryan.

 A decisive loss, however — if Mr. Obama wins re-election by 5 percentage points more, potentially coming close to his margin of victory in 2008 — could substantially tarnish Mr. Ryan’s reputation. At that point, Mr. Romney will have gotten a worse result than his standing in the polls before he selected Mr. Ryan.

 Furthermore, such a loss would be suggestive that there was something fundamentally wrong with the Republican candidates. Somewhat contrary to the conventional wisdom, most of the forecasting models put together by economists and political scientists predict either an essentially tied election, or a narrow win for Mr. Obama. (Why? Incumbents have historically gotten a lot of credit from voters. And voters have historically had short economic memories. If a case can be made that the economy is improving, the incumbent’s odds are decent, even if it is clearly not firing on all cylinders.)

 But few of these models call for a decisive win for Mr. Obama. If he wins by 7 points or so with this economy, and with only break-even approval ratings, that will be more than getting the benefit of the doubt from voters. Instead, it would suggest that many voters felt they had no other choice, given an uncharacteristically poor Republican alternative.

 With a margin in the mid-to-high single digits, also, Democrats would be clear favorites to retain the Senate, and the House of Representatives would be in play. Mr. Ryan would undoubtedly retain pockets of support within his party, but unless there were some other excuse for the loss (an unexpectedly good series of jobs reports, or an unexpected scandal involving Mr. Romney), he would be remembered as being part of a hugely disappointing election.

 We can systematize this knowledge by performing a regression analysis on the historical data. For our technically-inclined readers: what I’ll be using here is a type of regression called ordered logit, which is appropriate when there is a hierarchy of categorical outcomes (running for president; winning the nomination; becoming president). The independent variables are the ticket’s margin of victory or defeat in the popular vote, a variable indicating whether they won the Electoral College and ascended to the White House, an interaction term between the two, and a time trend.

 The interaction term serves to capture the asymmetry in the data. If you are elected vice president, it doesn’t seem to matter much what your ticket’s margin of victory was. Once you’re in office, you’re in, and it’s hard to predict what will transpire from there other than that your chances of someday becoming president have gone way up.

 But if you lost the election as the vice-presidential candidate, keeping it close seems to make quite a bit of difference to your fortunes. That way, you can make a more credible claim that the problems with the campaign were isolated to a few issues or bouts of misfortune — none of them implicating your role in it, of course — rather than the whole thing having been a debacle and everyone associated with it being inherently suspect.

 The inclusion of the time trend is more debatable. Over the past century or so, there has been a very modest tendency toward vice presidents remaining more active in presidential politics after they ran for the office. The variable isn’t statistically significant, but it coincides with a general increase in stature for the vice-presidential slot, so I think there is a theoretical basis for including it. But it only has an impact around the margin, raising Mr. Ryan’s odds just slightly.

 The figure below reflects the actuarial odds of Mr. Ryan running for president, winning his nomination, and winning the election in some future November, conditional upon different margins of victory or defeat for him and Mr. Romney this year. You will notice that there is a kink in the graph. This is when Mr. Ryan and Mr. Romney go from losing this year’s election to winning it, and Mr. Ryan’s odds of becoming president some day increase sharply.

 If Mr. Ryan and Mr. Romney lose the election by a single point, the equation estimates that Mr. Ryan still has better-than-even odds — 63 percent — of someday running for president. His chances of winning the nomination are 28 percent under this analysis, and he has a 14 percent chance of winning a general election as the presidential candidate.

 But what if they lose in a 7-point blowout, and Mr. Obama matches his winning margin from 2008? Then Mr. Ryan’s chances of running for president are down to 44 percent. And his probability of actually becoming president are cut in half, to 7 percent.

 The best case, of course, is if Mr. Ryan and Mr. Romney win. Suppose, for instance, that they do win, but by a single point (and also win the Electoral College).

 Then, Mr. Ryan’s chances of running for president are calculated at 84 percent. His probability of winning a future party nomination is 53 percent, and of becoming president, 33 percent — about one in three.

 When I average these results across the entire range of scenarios that our forecast model articulates — substantial losses for Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan, narrow losses, and wins by various plausible margins — I come up with about a 15 percent chance of Mr. Ryan someday becoming president.

 His odds of becoming the 45th president are slimmer, however. For that to happen, he first needs Mr. Obama to win re-election. Unfortunately for Mr. Ryan, that’s the “easy” part. Our forecast now gives Mr. Obama about a 72 percent chance of winning another term.

 Next, he needs Mr. Obama to finish out his entire second term. If Mr. Obama resigns sometime in mid-2014 after a major scandal, Republican odds of re-claiming the White House will look very good in 2016 — but someone (probably Mr. Biden) will have become the 45th president first, before Mr. Ryan or another Republican could become the 46th. Without considering any factors specific to Mr. Obama, historically 83 percent of presidents have completed their four-year term.

 Then Mr. Ryan needs to win the general election in 2016. Conditional upon he and Mr. Romney having lost this year’s election, the model does not evaluate his chances of this as being all that good. Specifically, the model gives Mr. Ryan a 9 percent chance of eventually becoming president conditional upon losing this year’s election. Moreover, some of those cases involve instances where Mr. Ryan would become president in 2020 (or 2024 or 2028, and so on) after someone else — Hillary Rodham Clinton or Marco Rubio, for instance — succeeds Mr. Obama as the 45th president. If you correct for that, it lowers Mr. Ryan’s odds to about 7 percent of becoming president after the 2016 election specifically, after having lost this one.

 Finally, we consider the entire parlay of events: that Mr. Obama wins in 2012, that he serves out all four years, and that Mr. Ryan runs and wins in 2016. The chances of this are only about 4 percent.

 We can also account for the alternate means by which Mr. Ryan could become the 45th president: if, for some reason, Mr. Romney is unable to complete his bid this year — and then Mr. Ryan replaces him, and wins the election. Historically, of the roughly 100 major-party tickets in the history of the nation, only one presidential nominee (Horace Greeley in 1872) died, or resigned the nomination, between the party conventions and Inauguration Day. Accounting for this oddball case, Mr. Ryan’s probability of becoming the 45th president increases only to about 4.5 percent.

 So Mr. Romney’s misstatement will probably not turn out to be ironically prescient: the odds that Paul Ryan literally becomes the next president of the United States are about 20-to-1 against. But his odds of someday becoming president are much higher than that, and they’ll increase to about 1-in-3 if he and Mr. Romney win this November.

 Of course, this is a one-size-fits all calculation, which doesn’t consider anything about Mr. Ryan specifically. The fact that he is quite young, that the Republican Party lacks an obvious successor other than him, and that he commands the respect of both the party base and the party establishment, all work in his favor in terms of running for and winning future nominations. Whatever happens this year, he is likely to be a major part of the American political landscape for a long time to come. ||||| Immediate reaction on par with reaction to Biden

 PRINCETON, NJ -- The initial reaction of the American public to John McCain's surprise selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate is muted, similar to the reaction of Joe Biden being named Barack Obama's running mate.

 Perhaps the most significant finding about Palin in the Aug. 29 USA Today/Gallup poll is that she is largely unknown to most Americans. A substantial majority of Americans don't know enough about her yet to have an opinion, and her name identification is lower than that of any other recent vice presidential candidate when measured immediately after selection. Among those who do know her, her image is significantly more positive than negative, and her 3-to-1 positive-to-negative ratio is better than the 2-to-1 ratio measured for Biden a week ago.

 A large majority say that at this point her selection will not have an impact on their presidential vote either way. However, almost as many Americans say that she is not qualified to serve as president as say she is qualified, giving her a more negative reading on this measure than most other recent vice presidential selectees, with the exception of Dan Quayle.

 The sections that follow outline the data measured in USA Today/Gallup interviewing conducted Friday, August 29.

 1. Overall Reaction to Palin's Selection Similar to Biden Selection

 Americans' overall reaction to the McCain selection of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate is very similar to last week's reaction to Obama's selection of Biden.

 A little less than half of Americans rate the selection of Palin as excellent or pretty good, while 37% rate it as only fair or poor (the rest have no opinion). Gallup's measure of reaction to Biden's selection on August 23 was only slightly different, even though many more Americans were familiar with the Delaware senator when he was named.

 In turn, the Palin and Biden assessments are well below the positive reaction the public had to John Kerry's selection of John Edwards in 2004, and slightly less positive than Al Gore's selection of Joe Lieberman and George W. Bush's selection of Dick Cheney in 2000. All recent V.P. selections are more positive compared to George H. W. Bush's selection of Quayle in 1988, the only selection to be reviewed more negatively than positively by the public.

 As was the case for Biden a week ago and all vice presidential selections of the last two decades, the substantial majority of Americans say that the selection of Palin will not have much impact on their vote for president this year.

 Of those who do have a reaction, the impact is more positive than negative for both Palin and Biden, though the reaction to Palin's selection is the more positive of the two, by a modest margin.

 These reactions to the 2008 vice presidential running mates are similar to those that greeted both 2000 vice presidential selections, but slightly less positive than other recent selections such as Edwards in 2004, Jack Kemp in 1996, Gore in 1992, and Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.

 Even among Republicans, the reaction is muted. Thirty percent of Republicans say that Palin's selection makes them more likely to vote for McCain, while just 5% say they are less likely to vote for McCain, leaving the rest saying that her selection, at least so far, has no impact on their vote. Still, this is a slightly stronger partisan reaction than Democrats had to Biden, as just 21% of Democrats said they were more likely to vote for Obama because Biden was his running mate.

 Among the crucial bloc of independents, the impact of Palin's selection is mixed, with the majority saying "no impact," and about as many of the rest saying that it made them less likely to want to vote for her as more likely to vote for her.

 Importantly, there is no sign yet of a vehemently negative reaction from Democrats. Just 14% say they are less likely to vote for McCain as a result of the Palin selection, while 6% say they are more likely to vote for McCain.

 2. Palin a Mystery to Majority of Americans

 One reason for the lack of a self-reported impact of Palin's selection may be the fact that she is a mystery to many Americans at this early point. More than 7 out of 10 Americans interviewed on Friday night said they had never heard of Palin, or didn't know enough about her to have an opinion. This is a much higher "don't know" than measured by Gallup immediately after the initial vice presidential announcement of Biden a week ago, or Edwards, Lieberman, Cheney, Kemp, or Gore in previous years' elections.

 This finding is not surprising. The other vice presidential picks in recent years have actively sought their party's presidential nomination in the year they were selected or in previous years, or had well-established careers in Congress or the federal government. Palin has been governor of a small state for less than two years and has no national political experience.

 Of interest is the fact that almost 6 out of 10 Republicans say they have never heard of Palin or don't know enough to have an opinion about her. These data underscore that the degree to which Palin is featured at the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., next week will be critical in the establishment of her overall image in the minds of many members of her own party, as well as independents and other potential swing voters.

 Even at this point, however, Palin has a positive image among those who know enough to have an opinion of her, with more than a 3-to-1 ratio of favorable to unfavorable ratings, more positive than Biden's ratio measured last weekend.

 By comparison, Edwards, Lieberman, Cheney, Kemp, and Gore all had much more positive favorable-to-unfavorable ratios than either of this year's vice presidential selections. All in all, Gallup's initial reads of the recognition and image of both Biden and Palin after their selections this year are more muted than has been the case for other recent vice presidential selections.

 3. Potential Problem for Palin: Perceived Qualifications to Serve as President

 Palin rates substantially below other recent vice presidential selectees in terms of perceptions that she is qualified to serve as president. Asked if from what they know about Sarah Palin, they believe she is "qualified to serve as president it if becomes necessary," only 39% of Americans say yes, while almost as many, 33%, say no.

 These results are highly partisan in nature -- 63% of Republicans say she is qualified, but 53% of Democrats say she is not. Independents are more likely to say she is qualified (41%) than not (31%).

 Taken as a whole, the reaction of Americans to Palin's qualifications is much more negative than was given to Biden a week ago after his selection by Obama, when 57% said Biden was qualified to serve, and only 18% said he was not.

 In terms of the ratio of "yes" to "no" responses, the perception of Palin's qualifications is more negative than the "qualification" affirmations given to any other recent selection with the exception of Quayle in 1992. The rating of Quayle's qualifications, however, was at a time in which he had already served for four years as vice president, and thus not directly comparable to these initial reactions to the other selectees.

 Bottom Line

 The initial reaction of the American public to McCain's surprise selection of Palin as his vice presidential running mate is muted. A substantial majority of Americans don't know enough about her yet to have an opinion, and a large majority says that at this point her selection will not have an impact on their presidential vote either way.

 The good news for McCain and Palin is that among those who do know her, her image is significantly more positive than negative, and in fact more positive on a ratio basis than the image of Biden when his was measured a week ago.

 On the negative side of the ledger for the Republicans is that almost as many Americans say she is not qualified to serve as president as say she is qualified, giving her a more negative reading on this measure than any other recent vice presidential selection with the exception of Quayle in 1992.

 Given the fact that so many Americans profess at this point to know nothing about Palin, the next several weeks may be critical to her success as a vice presidential nominee as her image is shaped and formed in the harsh spotlight of national media attention. The data suggest that one major task of the Republican convention in particular will be to convince a skeptical public that she would be able to serve as president if needed.

 Survey Methods

 Results are based on telephone interviews with 898 registered voters, aged 18 and older, conducted August 29, 2008. For results based on the total sample of registered voters, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

 Polls conducted entirely in one day, such as this one, are subject to additional error or bias not found in polls conducted over several days.

 Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

 In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

 To provide feedback or suggestions about how to improve Gallup.com, please e-mail feedback@gallup.com. ||||| Rep. Paul Ryan starts his vice presidential campaign in not-so-great territory, with Americans rating his selection more unfavorably than any pick since at least 2000, according to a new poll.

 The USA Today/Gallup poll shows 42 percent rate Mitt Romney’s selection of Ryan (R-Wis.) as “fair” or “poor,” while 39 percent rate it as “excellent” or “pretty good.”

 Those numbers are worse than the initial reactions to both Dick Cheney in 2000 and Sarah Palin in 2008. And they appear to be the worst since Dan Quayle in 1988 (according to a different pollster). All three Republicans wound up being very unpopular in the following years.

 Romney’s campaign quickly moved to point out that initial reactions are hardly the be-all, end-all in campaigns. And they say Ryan probably suffers from the fact that most people don’t know who he is.

 “All these numbers indicate is the simple fact that Rep. Paul Ryan was not a nationally known figure prior to being named as Gov. Romney’s vice-presidential pick,” Romney pollster Neil Newhouse said in a statement.

 In addition, multiple other national polls have shown views of Ryan are generally more positive than negative. A CNN/Opinion Research poll released last week showed 27 percent of Americans rated him favorably, while 19 percent rated him unfavorably, and a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Ryan’s favorability rising significantly after his selection, from 23 percent beforehand to 38 percent now. (Notably, his unfavorable rating ticked up just one point, from 32 percent to 33 percent.)

 These polls and the Gallup poll would seem to contradict each other, but they are actually asking different things. The Gallup poll asks whether Ryan is a good pick, which is a little different than asking whether you like someone. President Obama, for instance, had a long stretch in recent years where his personal favorability numbers were significantly higher than his job approval ratings.

 People liked Obama personally, even if they didn’t necessarily think he was doing a good job. In this case, people may like Ryan personally, even if they are uncertain about his Medicare plan, for example. And much of the media coverage over the weekend focused on whether that Medicare plan would be a problem for Romney, which may be why people don’t necessarily see Ryan as a good pick, politically speaking. (Other vice presidential picks, meanwhile, probably had more of a honeymoon period, since their name wasn’t so synonymous with an already-simmering political issue.)

 The difference in polls could also simply be a reflection of the fact that most people simply don’t know Ryan. It’s clear that there is plenty of work to do — for both sides — in defining him, particularly over the next three-plus weeks, when opinions of him will begin to solidify. Ryan’s controversial proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher program will be Topic No. 1 in that debate.

 Quayle was the only somewhat-recent vice presidential candidate to have more poll respondents rate worse than Ryan; 52 percent of likely votes in a Harris Poll rated him as a “fair” or “poor” choice. (The polls aren’t completely analogous, though, because the Ryan poll tested all adults, not just likely voters.)

 At the same time, the Gallup poll shows Ryan is seen as presidential, with 48 percent saying he is qualified to be president if the situation arose and just 29 percent saying he is not. Palin’s marks on that measure were lower.

 Updated at 12:37 p.m. to reflect new Washington Post-ABC News poll results. ||||| Updated 6:40 p.m. ET

 This story has been updated to specify the views of registered voters in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll about Paul Ryan. It will also appear in Tuesday's editions.

 Our original post begins here:

 Americans don't believe GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney hit a home run with his choice of Paul Ryan as a running mate, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, with more of the public giving him lower marks than high ones.

 Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman, is seen as only a "fair" or "poor" choice by 42% of Americans vs. 39% who think he is an "excellent" or "pretty good" vice presidential choice.

 STORY: GOP ticket opens door to young voters

 PHOTOS: Romney running mate Paul Ryan

 Romney pollster Neil Newhouse said in a statement that the findings reflect the fact that Ryan, a House member since 1999, isn't widely known.

 USA TODAY/Gallup polls of registered voters after the announcements of running mates since Dick Cheney in 2000 all showed more positive reactions. Only Dan Quayle in a 1988 Harris Poll of likely voters was viewed less positively than Ryan, with 52% rating Quayle as a "fair" or "poor" vice presidential choice. The Ryan poll includes all adults, not just registered voters.

 Since Romney introduced Ryan as his running mate on Saturday, Democrats have set out to portray the House Budget Committee chairman as an extremist for his plans to revamp Medicare. President Obama called Ryan an "articulate spokesman" for "a vision I fundamentally disagree with."

 "All these numbers indicate is the simple fact that congressman Paul Ryan was not a nationally known figure prior to being named as Gov. Romney's vice presidential pick," Newhouse said. "Congressman Ryan's selection reinforces the seriousness of the issues that will be debated in this election and President Obama's failure to get Americans back to work and his inability to strengthen the middle class."

 The poll also finds 17% of adults say they are more likely to vote for Romney in November because Ryan is his running mate -- about the same impact Sarah Palin had for John McCain four years ago among registered voters.

 Republicans, however, see the appeal in Ryan, who was hailed this weekend as a bold, innovative thinker by party stalwarts. The poll finds 36% of Republicans are now more likely to vote for Romney. In 2008, only three in 10 Republicans said the choice of Palin made them more likely to vote for McCain.

 The USA TODAY/Gallup survey also finds 48% of Americans view Ryan as qualified to be president if something should happen to Romney, while 29% do not and 23% were undecided. Only Palin, then the governor of Alaska, and Quayle, a two-term senator from Indiana, were rated lower than Ryan.

 The poll of 1,006 adults was taken Sunday. It has a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points.

Summary: – Mitt Romney didn't exactly wow the public by picking Paul Ryan as his VP—at least according to one poll. Just 39% think Ryan is an "excellent" or "pretty good" pick, compared to 42% who think he's a "fair" or "poor" one, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. To put that in perspective, that's worse than both Sarah Palin (who got a thumbs-up from 46% of respondents) and Dick Cheney (55%). Indeed, Ryan is the least-popular pick from either party since Dan Quayle, the Washington Post points out. Of course, the Romney campaign has been quick to downplay the result. "All these numbers indicate is … that Rep. Paul Ryan was not a nationally known figure," says a campaign pollster. And there is some good news: Polls from last week show that, prior to being named VP, more people had a favorable view of Ryan than an unfavorable one. For more poll fun, check out Nate Silver's piece calculating how likely it is Ryan will be, as Mitt Romney accidentally dubbed him, the next president.


 For 45 minutes, 40-year old Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro had no pulse. Now she is alive and healthy with no brain damage. (Photodisc)

 They are calling it "a miracle."

 Doctors at Boca Raton Regional Hospital in Florida have no way to explain how 40-year-old Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro survived after spending 45 minutes without a pulse and enduring three hours of attempts to bring her back from near-death on Sept. 23.

 Graupera-Cassimiro, now a mother of two, had just come out of a cesarean section procedure to deliver her new daughter. Then suddenly, she went from chattering with her family to struggling for her life, according to the Sun Sentinel.

 She was suffering from a rare complication called an amniotic fluid embolism, in which the fluid that surrounds the baby in the womb enters the mother's blood stream. The condition can cause life-threatening blood clots.

 As Graupera-Cassimiro slipped into unconsciousness, doctors and nurses rushed back to her room in a desperate effort to save her life.

 After more than two hours later, her heart stopped.

 Doctors and nurses began chest compression that would continue for 45 minutes. They took turns to avoid exhaustion and used electric shock paddles. But nothing worked.

 Finally, they decided to call her family into the room to say their goodbyes.

 "Once we say that's it, that's it," said anesthesiologist Dr. Anthony Salvadore, according to the Sun Sentinel.

 Her family left the room to pray. And doctors were on the verge of declaring her dead when suddenly there was a blip her heart monitor. That was followed by another and another.

 Nurse Claire Hansen came out of the operating room with a shocking message, the Sun Sentinel reported.

 "Keep praying," she told Graupera-Cassimiro's assembled family, "because her heart just started."

 "She essentially spontaneously resuscitated when we were about to call the time of death," said Thomas Chakurda, the hospital spokesman told the Associated Press.

 A day later, Graupera-Cassimiro was taken off of life support. And today she is "the picture of health," Chakurda said.

 On Tuesday, she and her newborn baby returned to the hospital to thank nurses and doctors for their life-saving efforts.

 "Had you guys maybe stopped before the 45 minutes of compressions -- I mean, I don't know. All I know is that I'm grateful to be here," Graupera-Cassimiro she told them, according to the Sun Sentinel. "I don't know why I was given this opportunity, but I'm very grateful for it."

 Childbirth complications like Graupera-Cassimiro's are rare -- it is estimated that between 1 and 12 cases of amniotic embolism occur with every 100,000 births, according to the Mayo Clinic. Scientists don't fully understand why complications occur for some mothers but not for others, but pregnancy at an older age, c-sections, and medically induced labor may increase the risk to some women.

 But not only did Graupera-Cassimiro survive, but she suffered no brain damage or physical injuries from efforts to revive her.

 "There's very few things in medicine that I've seen, working in the trauma center myself and doing all the things that I do, that really were either unexplainable or miraculous," said the president of the hospital's medical staff, Dr. Anthony Dardano, according to the Sun Sentinel. "And when I heard this story, that was the first thing that came to my mind."

 Related:

 What death looks like to people who have been there and returned to life

 Our unrealistic views of death, through a doctor’s eyes ||||| Our general interest e-newsletter keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics.

 Definition By Mayo Clinic Staff

 Amniotic fluid embolism is a rare but serious condition that occurs when amniotic fluid — the fluid that surrounds a baby in the uterus during pregnancy — or fetal material, such as fetal cells, enters the mother's bloodstream. Amniotic fluid embolism is most likely to occur during delivery or immediately afterward.

 Amniotic fluid embolism is difficult to diagnose. If your doctor suspects you might have amniotic fluid embolism, you'll need immediate treatment to prevent potentially life-threatening complications.

 ||||| Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro had gone 45 minutes without a pulse when doctors called her family into the operating room and told them there was nothing more they could do.

 A team of more than a dozen doctors and nurses had been working desperately to revive her. But now they'd lost hope that the 40-year-old Deerfield Beach woman, whose heart had given out without warning after a routine C-section at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, was going to make it.

 Devastated, Graupera-Cassimiro's husband, mother and sister said goodbye to her just hours after they'd welcomed a healthy baby girl. The medical team stopped all lifesaving procedures. They watched a heart monitor, preparing to record a time of death.

 And then the impossible happened: A blip of a heartbeat showed up. Then another, and another.

 Within a few hours, Graupera-Cassimiro, a human resources manager and now a mother of two, was tugging at the breathing tube on her face and scribbling notes to family.

 "There's very few things in medicine that I've seen, working in the trauma center myself and doing all the things that I do, that really were either unexplainable or miraculous," said Dr. Anthony Dardano, president of the hospital's medical staff. "And when I heard this story, that was the first thing that came to my mind."

 "The Second Miracle on Meadows Road," a mother who in September went 45 minutes without a pulse after giving birth at a hospital -- and who by all accounts likely would have died -- has made a full recovery.

 In what hospital staff are calling the "Second Miracle on Meadows Road," Graupera-Cassimiro has made a complete recovery. She was taken off the life-support machine a day after the Sept. 23 near-death experience.

 It was caused, doctors say, by an amniotic fluid embolism. The rare, serious condition occurs when fluid that surrounds a baby in the uterus enters a mother's bloodstream and heart, clogging it. Sudden and unpredictable, it creates a vacuum and stops circulation.

 Doctors say it's hard to put a number on the odds of Graupera-Cassimiro's survival. In many cases, amniotic fluid embolism is not diagnosed until after death. But living through 45 minutes without a pulse is extremely unusual.

 And the decision to call in Graupera-Cassimiro's family wasn't made lightly.

 "Once we say that's it, that's it," anesthesiologist Dr. Anthony Salvadore said.

 Amazingly, doctors say, Graupera-Cassimiro suffered no complications. No reduced brain function from the loss of circulation. No burns from the repeated shocks doctors delivered in hopes of restarting her heart.

 No bruises, even, from the chest compressions they took turns giving her to keep her blood flowing.

 Within days she was back at home.

 "I don't know why I was given this opportunity," Graupera-Cassimiro said, "but I'm very grateful for it."

 She was back at the hospital Tuesday for a tearful reunion with the medical team that fought to save her. She hugged the doctors and nurses — who cooed over her daughter, dressed head to toe in pink — and thanked them.

 "God had the right people in the right place," Graupera-Cassimiro said as she cradled the sleeping baby, named Taily.

 The baby had just been delivered by obstetrician Dr. Michael Fleischer during a scheduled, "unremarkable" C-section when disaster struck the afternoon of Sept. 23.

 Fresh from the operating room, Graupera-Cassimiro "went from talking to being unconscious," while in a recovery room at the hospital's Toppel Family Place, anesthesiologist Dr. Jordan Knurr said.

 Doctors and nurses sprung to action, starting CPR, intubating Graupera-Cassimiro and calling in help from other parts of the hospital. Fleischer, on his way to other duties after the successful operation, hurried back. Anesthesiologists, intensivists and more nurses flowed into the room and spent over two hours trying to revive her.

 "Suddenly," Fleischer said, "the heart just stopped."

 They kept pumping Graupera-Cassimiro's chest for 45 minutes, taking turns to avoid exhaustion. They repeatedly tried shocking her. Nothing worked.

 A distraught Fleischer told Graupera-Cassimiro's family she faced slim chances of pulling through, and brought them into the operating room. There, her mother cried out for God to "please take me instead." Her sister grabbed and hugged her.

 The family left the room with nurse Julie Ewing after saying their goodbyes. They held hands and prayed, Ewing on her knees.

 Then another nurse, Claire Hansen, came out of the operating room.

 "Keep praying," she said, "because her heart just started."

 Screams filled the hallway as Graupera-Cassimiro's family took in the news. They jumped up and down and cried. Her sister ran into the operating room.

 "It was a complete miracle of God. It was answered prayer," Ewing said Tuesday. "We all were there. We all witnessed it."

 Graupera-Cassimiro woke up in the intensive care unit with no idea what had happened. She thought she was just coming to after the C-section and was bewildered by the voices she heard telling her to open her eyes. She wondered why they wouldn't they let her sleep.

 When she did open her eyes, she saw her family was crying and relatives had come in from Miami. She realized something must have gone wrong.

 In the next few hours, Graupera-Cassimiro said, she remembered something she thought had been a dream: what she described as an encounter with the spirit of her late father, who told her it wasn't her time. It dawned on her that it may not have been a dream.

 When Dr. Shawn Iverson, a resident from Florida Atlantic University, checked in on her the next morning, she gestured upward and nodded. And when Fleischer came to take off the breathing tube, Graupera-Cassimiro told him: "You don't have to be afraid of dying."

 bshammas@tribpub.com, 561-243-6531 or Twitter @britsham

 First 'Miracle on Meadows Road'

 Ruby Graupero-Cassimira's story is called by doctors the "Second Miracle on Meadows Road," because hospital employees already refer to a prior event as the first: The building of the hospital itself.

 The hospital is situated at 800 Meadows Road in Boca Raton.

 A grass roots effort born out of the tragic deaths of two children raised a million dollars to bring a hospital to the city, then home to just 10,000 people. ||||| BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — A Florida mother is home and tending to her new infant less than a month after surviving without a pulse for 45 minutes following complications from a routine cesarean section.

 A spokesman for Boca Raton Regional Hospital told The Associated Press on Sunday that a team of medical workers spent three hours attempting to revive the woman after a rare amniotic fluid embolism.

 Spokesman Thomas Chakurda says the doctors were preparing to pronounce her death when a blip on a monitor indicated a heartbeat. Despite going 45 minutes without a pulse, she suffered no brain damage during the Sept. 23 ordeal.

 "She essentially spontaneously resuscitated when we were about to call the time of death," said Thomas Chakurda, the hospital spokesman.

 Doctors had called the family into the operating room and told them there was nothing more they could do for 40-year-old Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro.

 Graupera-Cassimiro gave birth to a healthy daughter before amniotic fluid entered her bloodstream and heart and created a vacuum, stopping circulation. Doctors say condition is often fatal.

 Chakurda said the woman's survival is a story of two miracles — her resuscitation and the fact that she survived without serious brain damage.

 Medical workers used shock paddles and chest compressions throughout the emergency to try and restore heart beat and circulation, Chakurda said.

 "Today she is the picture of health," he said.

 Doctors had no immediate explanation for her survival, Chakurda said, calling her case one of "divine providence."

 Graupera-Cassimiro did not return a phone message left by The Associated Press on Sunday.

Summary: – An amniotic fluid embolism is a rare and easily fatal complication following childbirth that occurs when amniotic fluid enters the mother's bloodstream. When a 40-year-old Florida woman suffered from one after a routine cesarean section in late September, medical staff caught it in time to perform CPR. After 45 minutes taking turns doing chest compressions to manually keep her heart beating and shocking her intermittently to try to jump-start her pulse, they were ready to pronounce the time of death and called in the woman's distraught family. Then, just as they stopped all life-saving procedures and turned to the heart monitor, Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro's heart started beating on its own, reports the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "She essentially spontaneously resuscitated when we were about to call the time of death," the hospital spokesman tells the AP. What's more, he adds, "Today she is the picture of health," without any detectable brain damage. In fact, both she and her healthy daughter were sent home from the hospital a few days later. "I don't know why I was given this opportunity," Graupera-Cassimiro says, according to the Washington Post, "but I'm very grateful for it." According to CBS 12, Staff are calling it the hospital's "second miracle." The first was the building of the hospital itself, which was a grass-roots effort—sparked by the tragic deaths of two children—to raise money to build the city's first hospital back when Boca Raton was home to just 10,000 people. (See how a "miracle" baby recently helped save her mom's life.)


"It is a melting pot of 3rd world miscreants and ghetto thugs," he wrote of the city's downtown area. "It is void of culture. If you live down there you do it at your own risk and at your own peril. If you go down there after dark there is seriously something wrong with you." ||||| Sign in using your wftv profile

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Summary: – While the rest of the country organized blood drives and memorials for the 49 people killed at Pulse nightclub in Orlando last weekend, Florida Assistant State Attorney Kenneth Lewis penned a Facebook post blasting the entire city, which he called a "national embarrassment" and a "melting pot of third-world miscreants and ghetto thugs," WFTV reports. "Downtown Orlando has no bottom," Lewis wrote in the post. "The entire city should be leveled. It is void of any redeeming quality...It is void of culture." And it went on like that. The New York Daily News notes the "vile" and "sick" post was made less than eight hours after the Pulse massacre. On Friday, the State Attorney's Office suspended Lewis for violating its social media policy, according to ABC News. The post wasn't out of character for Lewis, who in 2014 posted the following message to Facebook: "Happy Mother's Day to all you crack hoes out there...It's never too late to tie your tubes, clean up your life." That post got him temporarily reassigned and ordered to sensitivity training. He's also used Facebook to argue that Justice Sotomayor would be working in fast food without affirmative action, that a 19-year-old burglar should have been "executed on the spot," and that Donald Sterling should be supported after he was banned by the NBA over racist remarks.