Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
PG&E Pushes Back on Judge’s Proposals to Prevent Wildfires
Mar 25 2019 // Pacific Gas & Electric Co. is pushing back on a U.S. judge’s revised proposals to prevent the utility’s equipment from causing more wildfires, saying it could not “monitor every tree at every moment...
FEMA Gave Private Contractor Personal Data on 2.3 Million Hurricane, Wildfire Survivors
Mar 25 2019 // The Federal Emergency Management Agency wrongly released to a contractor the personal information of 2.3 million survivors of devastating 2017 hurricanes and wildfires, potentially exposing the victims to identity fraud...
Hailstorm That Slammed Southern California Unusual, Though Not Unheard of
Mar 21 2019 // A rare hailstorm hit normally sunny Southern California on Wednesday, as residents flocked to social media to post pictures of driveways, lawns and roofs blanketed in white nickel-size ice chunks. The National Weather...
Hurricane Michael, Other Challenges Impacting Georgia’s Timber Industry
Mar 21 2019 // Georgia’s timber industry is facing many headwinds as it seeks to recover from the severe damage wrought by Hurricane Michael late last year. The storm erased three-quarters of a billion dollars in timber, The...
16 Tornadoes Confirmed in Alabama During Recent Storms
Mar 21 2019 // The National Weather Service has confirmed a 16th tornado from an outbreak that left damage across Alabama last week. Forecasters say a small twister with winds of up to 65 mph (105 kph) was on the ground for a little more...
Those Who Name Hurricanes Retire Michael, Florence Names
Mar 21 2019 // Hurricanes Florence and Michael will never ravage the Americas again. The two names have been stricken from the official list of Atlantic storms after killing nearly 100 people in the U.S. South last year, the National...
Burning Down a House to Show How to Build for Wildfire Defense
Mar 20 2019 // Powered by InsuranceJournal.tv After only a year into his job as CEO and president of the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, Roy Wright is setting the place on fire. The IBHS conducted a demonstration in...
PERILS Lowers Loss Estimate for December 2018 Sydney Hailstorms to A$633M
Mar 20 2019 // PERILS AG disclosed its second loss estimate of A$633 million (US$449.2 million) for the hailstorms which affected the greater Sydney region on Dec. 20, 2018. The estimate also includes the losses from the storm activity...
New Mexico Tornado Destroyed 10 Homes, Inured 5
Mar 19 2019 // A tornado that ripped roofs from buildings and injured five people in a tiny New Mexico town left a trail of debris, authorities reported. The tornado touched down outside of Dexter last week on Tuesday evening before...
Floods, Earthquake Pummel Indonesia, Killing More Than 80
Mar 19 2019 // The number of people killed after torrential downpours triggered flash floods and mudslides that tore through mountainside villages in Indonesia’s easternmost province has climbed to 79, with dozens of others...
Confirmed Tornado Damaged Homes, Businesses in Mid-Michigan
Mar 18 2019 // Authorities say a tornado swept through mid-Michigan, damaging homes and knocking out power to thousands. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down at 7:03 p.m. Thursday around the Shiawassee...
New Mexico Tornado Traveled 15-Mile-Long Path, Report Shows
Mar 18 2019 // The National Weather Service reported that a tornado that destroyed or damaged numerous homes and other structures in the southern New Mexico community of Dexter traveled a path about 15 miles long and 150-350 yards...
Alabama Tornadoes Caused Nearly $6M in Timber Losses
Mar 18 2019 // The Alabama Forestry Commission estimates timber losses caused by deadly tornadoes on March 3 at nearly $5.9 million. That’s almost $1,000 per acre of timberland damaged by two or three tornadoes in Macon, Lee and...
More Tornadoes Hit Southeast, Cause Damage in Kentucky, Alabama
Mar 18 2019 // The National Weather Service has confirmed at least six tornados hit Alabama on Thursday. The National Weather Service in Birmingham on Saturday posted ongoing damage survey reports. The number of confirmed tornados could...
Deadly Southeast Tornado Outbreak Spawned 36 Tornadoes, 23 Deaths
Mar 18 2019 // The number of tornadoes confirmed to have touched down in a deadly outbreak across the Southeast in early March was at least 36. Survey teams for the National Weather Service found evidence of the twisters in Alabama,...
Deadly 2017 California Wildfire Found Sparked by Edison Power Lines
Mar 14 2019 // The devastating Thomas Fire that killed two people and destroyed more than 1,000 structures northwest of Los Angeles in December 2017 was sparked by power lines owned by Southern California Edison Co , fire officials said...
Earthquake Survey Finds Thousands of Washington Buildings a Concern
Mar 13 2019 // Washington state’s first statewide inventory of buildings prone to crumble or collapse in an earthquake has found there are thousands of unreinforced masonry buildings that could be dangerous. The Northwest News...
2 Tornadoes Struck Mississippi in Weekend Storms
Mar 13 2019 // The National Weather Service has confirmed two tornadoes touched down in northern Mississippi over the weekend. There were no deaths or serious injuries in either storm. The weather service in Memphis, Tennessee, said the...
Deadly Alabama Tornado Highlights Human Safety Risk Despite Improved Forecasting
Mar 11 2019 // Sometimes in forecasting tornadoes, you can get everything technically right, and yet it all goes horribly wrong. Three days before the killer Alabama tornado struck, government severe-storm meteorologists cautioned that...
Trump Visits Alabama to Survey Damage from Powerful Tornado
Mar 11 2019 // Standing near the slab that’s all that is left of one family’s garage, President Donald Trump on Friday surveyed the devastation wrought by a powerful tornado that ripped through a rural Alabama town, uprooting...
