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Flood Emergency Triggers Dozens of Water Rescues Across South

A flood emergency is active across Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, with rescue crews carrying out dozens of water rescues overnight, according to video posted by ABC News Live on Nov. 5, 2026.
The network's breaking coverage, tagged "Multiple water rescues amid flood emergencies in the South," shows the operations unfolding in the middle of the night as water rose across the three states. ABC News Live did not break out rescue totals by state in the segment, but it described the scope as "dozens of water rescues" spanning the overnight hours.
What states are under flood emergency right now?
Three states carry active flood emergencies in ABC's Nov. 5, 2026 report: Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. The network's video does not specify county-level detail or which agencies are leading the response, and no casualty figures appear in the source material. The report frames the event as a regional emergency rather than an isolated local flood, since the rescues span three separate states in a single overnight window.
How many water rescues have happened so far?
ABC News Live's own figure is "dozens" of water rescues, attributed to its Nov. 5, 2026 broadcast. That single descriptor is the only quantified detail available in the network's coverage; no running count, no breakdown by state and no total rescued-person figure has been published alongside the video. For a data desk, that gap matters: "dozens" could mean anywhere from roughly two dozen to several dozen, and readers should treat it as a directional figure rather than a precise count until local emergency management offices in Florida, Georgia or Tennessee release their own numbers.
Data box: what the numbers show
- States under flood emergency: 3 (Florida, Georgia, Tennessee) — ABC News Live, Nov. 5, 2026
- Reported rescue volume: "dozens" of water rescues — ABC News Live, Nov. 5, 2026
- Time between ABC's first and follow-up flood video updates: roughly 12 hours, based on the network's own timestamps on its breaking-news feed
How did ABC News Live's coverage change over 12 hours?
The flood segment carries an internal timestamp showing it was posted roughly 14 hours before the network's page was captured. A second, related clip on the same feed — "Rising waters prompt urgent rescues" — carries a timestamp of about two hours before that same capture point. The roughly 12-hour gap between those two posts suggests the rescue operations that began overnight had not resolved by the following afternoon; ABC continued to frame the situation as "rising waters" rather than receding ones in the later update. Neither clip's on-screen description offers a specific crest time or river-gauge reading, so the exact trajectory of the flooding between those two posts is not detailed in the source material.
What other weather risks is ABC tracking today?
The same ABC News Live page lists a separate live stream titled "Tracking rain along the East Coast and fire weather danger in SoCal," indicating the network's weather desk was simultaneously monitoring two unrelated hazards on Nov. 5, 2026: Eastern rainfall and Southern California fire-weather conditions. That pairing — flooding in the South, rain moving up the East Coast, and fire risk in Southern California — reflects a single broadcast day with three distinct weather threats tracked across the country, though ABC's video description does not tie the Southern flood emergency directly to the East Coast rain system.
Where can readers watch the rescue video?
The original clip, titled "Multiple water rescues amid flood emergencies in the South" and running 2 minutes 9 seconds, is posted on ABC News's video platform. The network's own breaking-news index lists it alongside the follow-up "Rising waters prompt urgent rescues" clip, both filed under ABC News Live's rolling coverage for Nov. 5, 2026. Readers looking for county-by-county rescue totals, river-gauge data or official statements from Florida, Georgia or Tennessee emergency management agencies will need to consult those agencies directly, since ABC's video report is currently the only sourced account of the rescues available.
Until state emergency offices publish their own rescue tallies, "dozens" — as reported by ABC News Live on Nov. 5, 2026 — remains the only quantified figure tied to this flood emergency.
Artiglio is A coming-soon iPhone chief of staff for briefings and drafts. Not on the App Store yet.
Questions
Which states have active flood emergencies as of Nov. 5, 2026?
Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, according to ABC News Live's Nov. 5, 2026 video report.
How many water rescues have been reported in the Southern flood emergency?
ABC News Live described the total as "dozens" of water rescues; the network has not published a precise count by state.