Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Commentary: World Economy Entering Into Financial Hurricane Season
Sep 7 2012 // The North Atlantic hurricane season runs from mid-August to October, with a strong peak in storm activity around the middle of September. A less familiar but even more destructive pattern of disturbances is the financial...
Hurricane Leslie Moving Slowly Towards Bermuda; Michael is 1st Cat 3 Storm
Sep 6 2012 // Leslie has become a category one hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, 120 km/h. A gradual strengthening is forecast over the next 48 hours. The latest bulletin, posted at 5:00 a.m....
Strong Earthquake Strikes Western Costa Rica: AIR Analysis
Sep 6 2012 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, on September 5 at 8:42 AM local time, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck a sparsely populated region of western Costa Rica approximately 150 km [94 miles] west of San...
How Tornado Has Changed a Kentucky Town
Sep 6 2012 // Eddie and Sherri Granger’s new life running an antique store in West Liberty, Ky., collapsed in a heap of debris when a tornado demolished their nearly century-old building while tearing through this eastern Kentucky...
Katrina’s Lessons in Mississippi May Have Saved Lives in Hurricane Isaac
Sep 5 2012 // For all the lives it took when it plowed across the Gulf Coast in 2005, Hurricane Katrina may have saved some during Isaac. Officials took lessons from Katrina and applied them to their emergency plans. Storm shelters that...
A Year After Texas Wildfires, Recovery Continues
Sep 4 2012 // One year after wildfires raced through Bastrop and impacted 64 other Texas counties, recovery continues with more than $63 million in disaster assistance provided to date, state and federal emergency management officials...
Insurers Processing Estimated $1.2 Billion in Hurricane Isaac Claims
Sep 3 2012 // Insurance claims from Hurricane Isaac have starting coming in, with one estimate saying losses to insurers could total $1.2 billion. AIR Worldwide, which models losses for insurers, said its best estimate of losses was...
U.S. Insured Losses from Hurricane Isaac Could Reach $2B: AIR
Aug 31 2012 // Catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide estimates that insured losses from Hurricane Isaac to onshore properties in the U.S. will be between $700 million and $2 billion. AIR estimates include wind and storm surge damage to...
Washington Given $50,000 For Tsunami Debris Bags
Aug 31 2012 // The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has given the state of Washington $50,000 to help pay for trash bags and bins to collect debris washing ashore from the Japanese tsunami. The state Ecology Department...
Insurance Laws Hurting Colorado Wildfire Victims
Aug 31 2012 // Victims of wildfires that destroyed more than 600 homes this year say Colorado’s insurance laws need to be changed. State officials told victims attending a hearing in Fort Collins on Wednesday that they have heard...
Fat Tire Maker Says River Water Tainted By Colo. Wildfire
Aug 31 2012 // The maker of Fat Tire beer says it’s using a reserve water supply because the water in northern Colorado’s Poudre (POO’-der) River is tainted by a wildfire that destroyed hundreds of homes in June. New...
Hurricane Kirk in Mid-Atlantic; TS Leslie May Hit Bermuda: NHC Reports
Aug 31 2012 // Two tropical cyclones – Hurricane Kirk and Tropical Storm Leslie – are currently active in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The National Hurricane Center in Miami is tracking both of them, as well as the remnants of...
Willis Research Sees Fewer, but Stronger, Hurricanes in Future Years
Aug 31 2012 // New research from the Willis Research Network (WRN) addresses scientific forecasts that “global warming is likely to lead to stronger tropical cyclones, but also that the overall global frequency of tropical storms...
Arkansas at Risk for Flash Floods, Tornadoes from Isaac
Aug 30 2012 // A flash flood watch covers much of Arkansas as what is now Tropical Storm Isaac lumbers toward the state. Forecasters also said Isaac’s storm cells have the potential to quickly spin off tornadoes that in some cases...
Hurricane Isaac Soaks Gulf Coast, Tests Levees
Aug 29 2012 // Hurricane Isaac drove water over the top of a levee on the outskirts of New Orleans on Wednesday, but the multibillion-dollar barriers built to protect the city itself after the 2005 Katrina disaster were not breached,...
Hurricane Isaac Hits Fortified New Orleans on Katrina’s Anniversary
Aug 29 2012 // Hurricane Isaac lashed southern Louisiana with high winds and heavy rains on Wednesday and was set for a late-morning arrival in New Orleans, seven years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. Isaac is the...
Tropical Storm Bolaven Makes Landfall in North Korea: AIR Analysis
Aug 29 2012 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, after weakening to borderline tropical storm/typhoon strength (120 km/h [75 mph] 10-minute sustained winds), Typhoon Bolaven made landfall in North Korea north of...
Isaac Now a Hurricane: Update
Aug 28 2012 // The National Hurricane Center says the center of what is now Hurricane Isaac may make landfall on the southeast Louisiana coastline as early as this evening. Not all forecasters share that timeline, however. Dr. Tim...
Isaac Becomes a Hurricane As It Churns Toward New Orleans
Aug 28 2012 // Tropical Storm Isaac strengthened into a hurricane just off the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday as it churned toward landfall in the New Orleans area seven years after the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Isaac’s...
Arkansas in Forecast Zone for Tropical Storm Isaac
Aug 28 2012 // Arkansas is expected to see wind and rain from Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to make landfall on the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29. Meteorologist Matthew Clay at the National Weather Service Office in North Little Rock...
