Midday Roundup: Aid effort begins in quake-ravaged Ecuador

Plea for help. The Spanish Red Cross estimates as many as 100,000 people may need help after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake devastated coastal Ecuador over the weekend. At least 350 people died, and thousands more are injured. The death toll is expected to rise. The Red Cross estimates between 3,000 and 5,000 people need temporary housing. Mexico, Spain, and Chile have all sent workers to help rescue survivors trapped in the rubble. The Ecuadorian government said international aid groups are pitching in, too, sending doctors, psychologists, and experts to help set up clean drinking water stations. President Rafael Correa said billions of dollars will be needed for reconstruction efforts in the country.

Rain, rain go away. Forecasters are calling for more heavy rain across the waterlogged central and southern Plains today. Flash flood warnings have been issued from Texas to Iowa. The Houston area is especially struggling after a rainstorm dumped nearly 13 inches of rain in only about six hours. School officials called off classes in Houston today amid the flood warning. The weather system is slowly moving east and could bring more rain and thunderstorms today.

Boots on the ground. The U.S. has agreed to deploy more than 200 additional troops to Iraq and send Apache helicopters for the first time into the fight against ISIS. The move will increase the number of American soldiers in Iraq from 3,870 to 4,087. The troops will participate mainly in advise and assist teams that will embed with Iraqi brigades and battalions, putting them closer to the fight—and at greater risk from mortars and rocket fire. Putting the U.S. teams with Iraqi forces closer to the battlefront will allow them to provide more tactical combat advice as the Iraqi units move toward Mosul. Until now, U.S. advisers have worked with the Iraqis at the headquarters level, well back from the front lines. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is in Iraq today meeting with military leaders.

Migration devastation. Another tragic accident in the Mediterranean Sea has killed hundreds of migrants, Italian President Sergio Mattarella said today. Exact details of the incident are uncertain, but a Somali ambassador said it’s possible up to 400 refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia died when their boats sank en route to Europe, The Washington Post reported. In April 2015, about 700 refugees died when the fishing boat they were on sank on its way to Italy. The Italian government plans to raise the boat’s wreckage in an effort to keep a pledge to recover the bodies of those who drowned a year ago.

Notorious. An Islamic religious leader living in Michigan is among the Muslim Americans now included on an Islamic State (ISIS) hit list. The list, published in the terror group’s online magazine, targets Muslim Americans whom ISIS says should be killed for deviating from Islam. It includes Shayk Hisham Kabbani, founder of the Michigan-based Islamic Supreme Council of America. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., and Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin also are on the list.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry and The Associated Press contributed to this report.