Heavy showers and thunderstorms bring risk of flash flooding to UK
Heavy showers and thunderstorms bring risk of flash flooding to UK. The KRAK 11 News hour: The World Desk, Criminal Intent, Happy Animals, Sports. Real stories from named sources, read by Chip Marlowe and Deb Sarkissian.
Aired 2026-08-18 01:59 UTC · 5 segments · 13 min · complete transcript below
Rundown
KRAK 11 NEWS
Good evening. I'm Chip Marlowe.
And I'm Deb Sarkissian. This is KRAK 11 News, Fairmont's number one rated newscast, and we have a full hour ahead.
Coming up this hour: The World Desk, where flash flooding threatens the United Kingdom after days of heavy rain. Criminal Intent, where prescription drugs are replacing alcohol at parties and experts are divided on the risk. Happy Animals brings you an athlete who just made history with four gold medals. And Sports.
The athlete is in Happy Animals.
She ran on a track, Deb.
She did. Still ahead on The World Desk: young adults are swapping drinks for anxiety medication at social gatherings, and the science on whether that's safer is far from settled. That's next.
KRAK 11 News continues.
Do you believe in prayer.
What.
Prayer. Manifestation. The power of positive thinking.
What did you do.
I sent an email.
To who.
The station owner.
What did it say.
It was meant for you.
Oh god.
Ya, it was late, I was drunk, what can I say.
THE WORLD DESK
Good evening. I'm Chip Marlowe.
And I'm Deb Sarkissian.
Deb, before we go to the wire — the pronunciation guide. I sent it to Gordo formatted by region. It needs to render in the correct font weight on the prompter or the diacriticals don't track.
The prompter doesn't have diacriticals.
It has font weight.
We begin this hour with developing conditions across the United Kingdom, where meteorologists are warning of flash flooding risk over the next seventy-two hours.
Heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected to move through the region beginning overnight tonight, local time. This follows what has been one of the wettest summers on record across the British Isles.
Forecasters say early indications suggest heatwave conditions could return by September, though that remains speculative at this stage.
The Thames Valley region has been particularly hard hit, with some areas seeing twice their normal August rainfall in the span of just ten days.
The Thames flows through London. The Thames Valley is southeast of there.
Which is what I said.
Also in the United Kingdom tonight, former employees of a new four-hundred-million-pound prison facility are describing what they call a chaotic atmosphere marked by chronic understaffing and insufficient training.
The facility opened in March of this year and was designed to house up to twelve hundred inmates. Within six months, more than forty staff members have resigned, citing safety concerns and what one described as operational collapse.
The Ministry of Justice has not responded to requests for comment. The facility cost approximately four hundred and eighty million dollars American and was completed eighteen months behind schedule.
That is a staggering figure for a facility that size, even accounting for security infrastructure and perimeter reinforcement.
It's the second most expensive prison ever built in England.
What was the first.
A different one.
In other news from the United Kingdom, disabled residents in England will receive twenty-four-hour free bus travel beginning in April of next year.
The change removes current restrictions that limit free travel to off-peak hours. Campaign groups are calling it a significant step toward accessibility, though some transport authorities have raised concerns about funding.
The program will be administered through regional transport networks, which handle scheduling and route planning across the metropolitan corridors.
The program is national. Regional networks operate the buses.
That's collaborative.
It's how buses work.
And from the Middle East tonight, President Trump has threatened military action against the nation of Oman in connection with ongoing negotiations over access to the Strait of Hormuz.
The president said, quote, if Oman gets in the way, we will bomb them. The comment came as a sixty-day window for peace talks expired earlier today. Oman has been conducting its own separate negotiations with Iran to reopen the strait.
Oman is a strategic partner in the region and has historically maintained diplomatic relations with both Washington and Tehran, which positions them as an effective intermediary in Gulf security matters.
Oman is a treaty ally.
Which is what a strategic partner is.
Still ahead on KRAK 11 News, a Wexler County man faces multiple charges after what prosecutors are calling one of the largest cocaine operations ever run from a college campus. Details on that investigation, next.
That's Criminal Intent, in a few minutes.
Who microwaved socks in the break room.
I did. Heat resets the elastic.
What setting.
Popcorn.
The booth smells like a foot fucked a radiator.
Popcorn is too hot. Use baked potato.
Why the hell do you know that.
He did my gloves last winter.
The method is sound.
CRIMINAL INTENT
Good evening. I'm Chip Marlowe.
And I'm Deb Sarkissian. Welcome back to KRAK 11 News.
Deb, before we get into tonight's blotter, I want to note that we are now leading this segment with the most substantive case available, not necessarily the one that came in first on the wire.
We've always done that.
Authorities in three states are investigating what they're calling a prescription fraud ring targeting anxiety medication. Young adults are allegedly using prescriptions obtained under false pretenses to replace alcohol at social gatherings.
Medical experts warn the practice carries significant overdose risk. The drugs being used were not designed for recreational consumption and have unpredictable interactions with other substances.
Prosecutors say the investigation involves coordinated false medical claims filed across multiple jurisdictions, which suggests organized intent rather than isolated incidents.
Prosecutors allege.
That is what I said.
You said prosecutors say they suggest intent. Prosecutors allege intent. The suggestion is yours.
Noted. In Kent, more than eight thousand residents have been without running water since Sunday morning after what water officials are calling catastrophic infrastructure failure.
South East Water says repair crews have been working in rotating shifts around the clock. The company issued a statement Monday evening saying its teams are, quote, exhausted.
That is not typically the word a utility uses in a public statement, which gives you some sense of the scope of what they are dealing with on the ground.
Bottled water distribution continues at four locations across the affected area. The company has not provided a timeline for full restoration.
And here at home, a Wexler County man was cited last Thursday for fishing without a valid license even though the license in question was inside his vehicle approximately forty yards from where he was standing.
The citation was issued under a statute requiring anglers to have the license quote on their person at all times while engaged in the activity.
The man told deputies he believed a vehicle counted as an extension of one's person if the vehicle was visible from the fishing location and the license was accessible within a reasonable timeframe.
That is not the law.
It is not. He has until Friday to contest the citation or pay the fine. Still ahead on KRAK 11 News, a golden retriever who just became the youngest certified therapy dog in the state, and you will want to see what happens when she meets her first patient.
That's Happy Animals, in a few minutes.
Stay with us.
Take that off.
It's called distinguished.
It's called a sweater vest.
George Will wears a sweater vest.
George Will is eighty-three years old.
Exactly. Timeless.
You look like you teach at a community college.
I could teach at a community college.
Chip, you look like you're about to explain why I got a C-minus.
Well maybe if you'd turned in your assignments on time, Deb.
HAPPY ANIMALS
Welcome back.
I would like to note that the panda graphic last week rendered in the wrong color temperature and I have sent Gordo screenshots with the correct hex values highlighted.
We're doing animals, Chip.
The animals deserve accurate color.
Punch the capuchin monkey, who we introduced last week, has accepted his second piece of fruit from a human handler.
The sanctuary reports Punch held a piece of mango for eleven seconds Thursday morning, ate most of it, and returned to the handler's palm for a second piece.
That's the first time Punch has initiated contact twice in the same session.
Good for him.
In international animal news, a wild orangutan in Sumatra has been observed preparing and applying a medicinal plant paste to treat an open facial wound.
Researchers recorded the animal chewing leaves from a plant known locally for its anti-inflammatory properties, then applying the paste directly to the injury over several minutes.
The wound healed without infection. Scientists are calling it the first documented case of targeted plant-based medicine administered by a great ape in a natural habitat.
Closer to home, Maple the golden retriever begins her first official visits to Fairmont Regional's pediatric wing tomorrow.
Maple is eighteen months old, passed all three certification exams on first attempt, and is the youngest certified therapy animal currently working in the state.
Her handler says Maple will visit twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays, starting at nine.
Good dog.
Still ahead, we'll have Sports in a few minutes, including a college football preview and why one Fairmont high school player's single-game rushing total has scouts from three states calling the school.
That's next.
I've got it.
Got what.
The sign-off. Listen. 'That's the news, and that's the truth, and that's Chip Marlowe.'
No.
Why not.
Because you sound like a man selling tires.
ok, How about Thanks, thats news assholes!!
you are so dramatic.
If you could just help, that would be nice.
Sixty seconds.
Well.. thats news assholes!! We will go with that.
SPORTS
Time now for the KRAK 11 Scoreboard.
Gordo, is the scoreboard graphic still drifting left or did we fix that.
We did not fix that.
I sent screenshots. With measurements. The panel shifts point-four inches to the left every time we reload the template.
Nobody can see point-four inches.
I can see point-four inches, Deb. That's one.
ESPN has released its annual Future Power Rankings, projecting franchise strength over the next three seasons. The Los Angeles Rams are ranked fifth.
Fifth.
Which is top five. The methodology accounts for roster stability, coaching continuity, front office strategy, and projected draft capital through twenty twenty-nine.
The Rams went seven and ten last season.
This is a forward-looking metric, Deb. Future power. The word future is in the title of the ranking system.
The Rams have traded away four first-round picks since twenty twenty.
ESPN ranked them fifth. Not me. ESPN. The network maintains a research division devoted exclusively to quantitative sports analysis, and that division ranked the Rams fifth.
And they have no first-round picks.
Correct. Fifth.
In mixed martial arts, featherweight Max Holloway has questioned why lightweight champion Islam Makhachev has been photographed carrying both the lightweight and welterweight championship belts.
Makhachev holds the lightweight title but has not defended at welterweight. Holloway posted on social media asking why a champion carries hardware from a division he does not currently defend.
Makhachev responded.
He did. Quote, I carry what I earned. If Max wants to talk about belts he can win one first. End quote.
Holloway is a former featherweight champion.
Former being the operative word in that sentence.
The Lakers ownership structure is changing. Sources tell ESPN the Buss family intends to sell a controlling interest in the franchise, which would remove Jeanie Buss from her role as governor.
The Buss family has owned the Lakers since nineteen seventy-nine.
Forty-seven years. Jerry Buss purchased the team, the Forum, and the Kings for sixty-seven and a half million dollars. The franchise is now valued at seven point one billion.
The sale would end the longest continuous family ownership in the NBA.
It would. No timetable has been announced. The family declined to comment through a spokesperson.
British sprinter Amy Hunt won four gold medals at the European Athletics Championships in Rome. Hunt took first in the hundred meters, two hundred meters, four-by-one-hundred relay, and four-by-two-hundred relay.
Four golds in one championship. That has not been done at the European level in — Deb, do we have a count on that?
It has not been done.
Ever.
Ever.
Hunt is twenty-three years old. She ran the hundred in ten point eight-seven seconds, a personal best, and anchored both relay teams to championship records. After the four-by-two, she quoted the film Gladiator. Quote, Are you not entertained. End quote.
The British press is calling this the performance of the decade.
They are not wrong.
That is the KRAK 11 Scoreboard. Still ahead on the next KRAK 11 News at the top of the hour, a federal firearms statute has lapsed following a court ruling in Texas.
What that means for certain weapons, and what happens now.
The next KRAK 11 News, at the top of the hour.
So.
So what.
Nothing. Just a day. Like any other day.
Okay.
Although some days are more significant than others.
Is today significant.
I didn't say that.
Happy birthday, Chip.
How did you know.
You do this every year. I hope you have a wonderful day..
Reporting behind this episode
- Heavy showers and thunderstorms bring risk of flash flooding to UK
- Ex-workers tell of 'chaotic atmosphere' at new £400m prison
- Disabled people in England to get 24-hour free bus travel
- Trump threatens to bomb US ally Oman if it 'gets in the way' over Iran deal
- Young adults are taking prescription drugs instead of alcohol - and it's dividing experts
- Over 8,000 affected by water supply disruption
- Key moments from the Lindsay Clancy trial as the defense starts to make its case
- 'Are you not entertained?' - Hunt enters stardom with iconic quadruple