Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Florida Wildfire Victims Still Awaiting Housing Aid 2 Weeks Later
Jul 10 2018 // More than 100 people have been waiting for temporary housing for almost two weeks since being displaced by a wildfire that burned through their tiny community in the Florida Panhandle. In a Panama City News Herald report ,...
Washington’s Skagit County Gets New Tsunami Planning Maps
Jul 9 2018 // Skagit County officials in northwestern Washington have a new resource to help plan for potential big waves caused by large earthquakes along the West Coast. Skagit County Department of Emergency Management Director Doug...
New, Old Wildfires Rage Amid California Heat Wave
Jul 9 2018 // Firefighters toiled in stifling heat Saturday on the lines of destructive wildfires across the U.S. West, making progress against some blazes while struggling to tame others that have forced evacuations of hundreds of...
Super Typhoon Maria Heads Toward Taiwan, Spurring Extreme Weather Warnings
Jul 9 2018 // A fierce typhoon is headed in the direction of Taiwan, spurring warnings over extreme weather that risks shuttering schools, businesses and the stock exchange. Super Typhoon Maria could bring strong winds and heavy rains...
Beryl, Season’s First Hurricane, Weakens; Caribbean Islands, Puerto Rico Face Uncertainty
Jul 8 2018 // Tropical Storm Beryl moved rapidly westward early Sunday, heading for the Lesser Antilles at the eastern entrance of the Caribbean Sea. Although what had been the Atlantic season’s first hurricane was losing power,...
California Legislative Special Committee to Consider Wildfire Liability
Jul 6 2018 // California lawmakers may change the standard for determining whether utilities are liable for wildfire damage following the worst wildfire season in state history. Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders said on July 2...
Intensifying Western Wildfires Kept Thousands Away from Home on July 4
Jul 5 2018 // Large wildfires grew across the American West on July 4, keeping thousands of people out of their homes for the July 4 holiday and forcing some strict bans on fireworks to prevent new fires from igniting in the hot, dry...
Forecasters Now See Below-Average Activity for Rest of Hurricane Season
Jul 5 2018 // Scientists at Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Project have decreased their forecast and now believe that 2018 hurricane season will have below-average activity. According to the forecasters, the...
Wildfire Destroys 100-Plus Colorado Homes, Other Blazes Burning in West
Jul 3 2018 // More than 100 homes in the Colorado mountains were destroyed by a growing wildfire, while hundreds of others across the parched U.S. West remained under evacuations Tuesday. A fire near Fort Garland, roughly 200 miles...
Tornadoes Cause Damage in Southeastern Montana
Jul 3 2018 // A storm that produced as many as five tornadoes destroyed a home and caused other damage in Montana and South Dakota, the National Weather Service confirmed. The NWS estimates one tornado Thursday night had winds over 130...
Winds Fan Fast-Moving Northern California Wildfire
Jul 3 2018 // A massive wildfire in rural Northern California has grown in size and has forced evacuations. The fast-moving fire that started over the weekend northwest of Sacramento grew dramatically to about 150 square miles by Monday...
Fear of Wildfires Leads to July Fourth Fireworks Cancellations
Jul 3 2018 // Fire danger across much of the country has prompted cancellation of July 4 fireworks displays. In northern Arizona, Prescott’s fire chief says he’s canceling the town’s Fourth of July fireworks show as...
Colorado Hailstorm Carries $169M Insurance Price Tag
Jul 2 2018 // Thousands of Fountain and Colorado Springs, Colo., area residents were busy cleaning up and meeting with insurance adjusters after an unusual early morning June 13 storm pounded vehicles and roofs golf and baseball-sized...
Kansas Wildfire Efforts Inadequate, Audit Finds
Jul 2 2018 // An audit has found that Kansas doesn’t have money to devote to wildfires and its fire-fighting efforts are inadequate. In Kansas, local government has first responsibility for fighting fires and often have to cover...
Beware ‘Tsunami’ Effect of Artificial Intelligence, Warns Allstate CEO Wilson
Jun 29 2018 // Artificial intelligence is coming for the service economy, according to Allstate Corp. Chief Executive Officer Tom Wilson. “It’s going to rip through this economy like a tsunami,” Wilson said Thursday in...
Fury of Hailstorms Battered Colorado, Insured Losses ‘Skyrocketing’
Jun 28 2018 // The hailstorms that hit Northern Colorado and the Denver-metro just over a week ago carried a $276.4 million insurance price tag. The storms followed a Southern Colorado hailstorm a week earlier that caused an estimated...
8 Injured When Tornado Hits Eastern Kansas Town
Jun 28 2018 // Residents in a small Kansas town were surveying damage Wednesday after the community took a “direct hit” from a tornado for the second time in two years. Eight people were hurt, two critically, when the latest...
California Commissioner Angry at Insurers for Altering Wildfire Bills
Jun 28 2018 // California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones is irked that the insurance industry has worked to alter legislation he supports that he says is aimed at strengthening consumer protections for wildfire survivors. Senate Bill...
Every $1 Spent in Hurricane Protection Lowers Property Loss Exposure by $105
Jun 28 2018 // Every $1 a business spends on hurricane protection reduces loss exposure by an average of $105. That’s based on an analysis by global commercial and industrial property insurer firm FM Global, which reviewed loss and...
Dozens of Homes in North Florida Damaged by Wildfire
Jun 27 2018 // A fast-moving wildfire damaged or destroyed dozens of homes in a Florida county. Gov. Rick Scott visited the small coastal community of Eastpoint on Monday to get an update on the damage. Eastpoint is in Franklin County...
