WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Welcome to the "News Hour."

Colombia's president says more than 260 people have died in this week's devastating 7.4-magnitude earthquake.

And that death toll is expected to keep rising as hope fades for finding survivors.

Still, on the ground today, rescuers paused in silence for sounds of hope, carefully listening for any calls under the rubble.

The crucial 72-hour window for finding people alive has now passed, and the all-out search has become a last-ditch effort.

For one man who drove over 10 hours when he heard his mother was trapped under her collapsed home, he arrived to learn that she had already died.

ENRIQUE MARIN, Bogota, Colombia, Resident (through translator): At the moment of the quake, she was at the door.

She was in her pajamas and she was going to open the door.

He said they found her with the keys still in her hands.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In the wake of the disaster, Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella has declared an economic emergency.

More than 150 aftershocks have been recorded since the main quake on Monday.

The Colombian government says nearly 500 people remain missing, though that number is believed to be a vast undercount.

Elsewhere, millions of people in Europe are sweltering in their fifth heat wave of the summer.

The U.K., in particular, recorded its hottest day of the year so far.

The air in West London exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit, only several degrees short of the country's all-time record for August.

Seen under thermal imaging, this souvenir stand sizzled at over 60 degrees Celsius.

That's 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

The heat is exacerbating drought conditions across the continent, and crews are racing to contain a number of major wildfires, like these in Spain.

Here at home, nearly 20 million people across the Midwest were under flood alerts today as severe storms refused to let up.

MAN: And it's a downpouring.

My car is completely done for.

It ain't going nowhere.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Indiana neighborhoods sat in several feet of floodwater yesterday, and the National Weather Service warns that some parts of the state could see another four inches of rain or more.

Some homeowners say they've never seen anything like it, and their road to recovery is unclear.

MICHELLE WILSON, Cambridge City, Indiana, Resident: I rush home, and I open the basement door, and it's all the way filled.

And the backyard was flooded.

My garage is flooded.

I don't know when we can turn our power back on, if it would be safe to even turn it back on without our house catching on fire because it was sparking and stuff like that from the outlets downstairs.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Today, Indiana's governor signed a statewide emergency declaration.

Over 250,000 homes and businesses remain without power because of the storms and tornadoes that have slammed this region.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disputed reports that poor conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have led to low morale and even reported suicide attempts.

He called those reports -- quote -- "completely misrepresented."

Two military-focused publications were first to report that multiple sailors aboard the aircraft carrier have attempted to jump overboard amid burnout and stress.

The Abraham Lincoln has been on a nine-month deployment to the Middle East due to the ongoing war with Iran.

But the Pacific-based aircraft carrier the USS George Washington has begun heading toward the Middle East to relieve it.

The board of the Kennedy Center has voted to move forward with President Trump's plan to close the building for two years of renovations.

And it voted to add Trump's name back to the building's facade.

A board member tells the "NewsHour" that the proposed renovation will include an inscription that reads -- quote -- "Restored and renovated by President Donald J.

Trump."

Today's decision will be subject to approval from a federal judge, who has previously rejected both the addition of Mr.

Trump's name and an earlier attempt to close the venue.

A federal judge in Boston has dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit against Harvard University that had accused the Ivy League school of turning a blind eye to antisemitism.

Siding with Harvard, the judge today said the administration failed to show any institutionalized noncompliance with Title VI, which is the ban on discrimination in programs that receive federal grants.

It marks a blow to President Trump, who had tried to get the school to comply with a number of demands, including limiting admission of foreign students.

And on Wall Street today, the major stock indices were positive across the board.

The Dow Jones industrial average inched up by nearly 70 points.

The Nasdaq rose by 0.8 percent, while the S&P 500 closed at a new all-time record.

Still to come on the "News Hour": the Justice Department accelerates a controversial plan to revoke some immigrant citizenship; the Trump administration ends funding for a key climate report; and veterinarians work to protect the newest baby elephant at the National Zoo from a potentially deadly disease.