Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Mitsui O.S.K. Chief: Terrorism a Possibility in Damaged Tanker
Aug 6 2010 // The head of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd said he does not rule out the possibility that terrorism was behind an explosion that damaged a Japanese supertanker, the Nikkei business daily said on Friday. “We do not have the...
Moscow Choked by Wildfire Smoke, Heatwave; Villages Burn; Planes Diverted
Aug 6 2010 // Dense clouds of acrid smoke from peat and forest fires choked Russia’s capital on Friday, seeping into homes and offices, diverting planes and prompting exhausted Muscovites to wear surgical masks to filter the foul...
NASA Begins Hurricane Study with High Hopes
Aug 6 2010 // Starting August 15, NASA will begin a six-week study to better understand how hurricanes form and intensify, information that should allow for better hurricane prediction. Weather experts are pretty good at tracking a...
Active Hurricane Season Predicted
Aug 6 2010 // Government forecasters say record high temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean will keep this hurricane season on track to be the busiest since 2005. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday said 14 to 20...
75% Chance of Major Hurricane Hitting Atlantic Coast, Says Forecaster
Aug 5 2010 // The Colorado State University forecasting team Wednesday maintained its 2010 Atlantic hurricane season forecast of 18 named tropical storms, 10 expected to become hurricanes. It predicted five of the hurricanes would be...
S.C. Officials Announce Hurricane Meeting
Aug 5 2010 // Emergency officials on South Carolina’s north coast are holding a town hall meeting to help people prepare for hurricanes. Wednesday’s meeting is being held at St. Michael Catholic Church in Garden...
Miami Has Greatest Hurricane Risk of Florida Cities
Aug 4 2010 // Perhaps not surprisingly, Miami is Florida’s most vulnerable major city to strong hurricane winds, according to Florida State University researchers who developed a new tool to estimate the frequency of extreme...
Russia Declares Emergency as Wildfires Kill 40, Displace Thousands
Aug 3 2010 // Russia’s leaders declared a state of emergency on Monday in seven provinces and ordered authorities to guard weapons storage facilities from wildfires that have killed at least 40 people. Thousands more have lost...
Tornado Touches Down in NE Corner of Montana, Kills 2
Jul 28 2010 // A rare tornado tore through a farmhouse and killed two people inside, leaving nothing but the house’s foundation and a few twisted vehicles as it swept through Montana’s remote and sparsely populated...
Tornado Damages 18 Condos in Western New York
Jul 26 2010 // A tornado tore through western New York on Saturday, ripping the roof off a condominium and damaging 17 others and causing widespread power outages. The National Weather Service said the twister touched down in Mayville in...
Tropical Storm Threatens Gulf Oil Disaster Containment
Jul 23 2010 // BP Plc oil spill workers in the Gulf of Mexico prepared for a possible evacuation Thursday as a tropical storm threatened more delays in attempts to end the environmental disaster. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said...
Florida Braces for Tropical Storm Bonnie
Jul 23 2010 // Tropical Storm Bonnie barreled toward south Florida Friday on a track that was expected to take it over the site of BP Plc’s massive oil spill in the energy-rich Gulf of Mexico by Saturday afternoon. The fast-moving...
Typhoon Chanthu Hits South China – AIR Report
Jul 23 2010 // According to catastrophe risk modeling firm AIR Worldwide, Typhoon Chanthu slammed into southern China near Wuchuan City in Guangdong Province on Thursday, “further drenching a region already inundated by a month of...
Is Global Warming Causing More Frequent, More Powerful Hurricanes?
Jul 21 2010 // A workshop held in Lloyd’s Old Library sought to answer that question, by examining the impact global warming could have on the hurricane season. Lloyd’s cited the fact that “analysis of weather patterns...
Private Firm WSI Cuts U.S. Hurricane Forecast to 19 Named Storms
Jul 21 2010 // Private weather forecaster WSI Corp cut its forecast for named storms in the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season on Tuesday, but still sees an active season with water temperatures and wind conditions conducive to violent...
NHC Tracking Potential Tropical Storm
Jul 20 2010 // The National Hurricane Center in Miami is currently tracking a “vigorous tropical wave located over Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.” So far the disturbance has produced only “widespread cloudiness and...
Minor Earthquake Shakes Up U.S. Capital
Jul 19 2010 // Earthquakes are so rare in the Washington area that even a geology student wasn’t quite sure what was going on when a minor one hit early Friday. Was it a truck passing by? A low-flying plane? Gerasimos...
Aon Benfield Launches First Pan-Asian Typhoon Model
Jul 19 2010 // Impact Forecasting, Aon Benfield’s catastrophe model development center, has launched the first fully functional Asian typhoon model to span the continent. “The new model will help insurers analyze the...
China Braces for Typhoon Conson; Vietnam Evacuates Thousands
Jul 16 2010 // Southern China on Friday battened down to await the arrival of Typhoon Conson, gathering strength over the South China Sea, and Vietnam deployed nearly 3,000 troops to areas in the path of the storm. Swollen rivers and...
Ohio Tornadoes Cost Home, Business Owners $22M
Jul 16 2010 // The insurance industry says a storm and tornadoes that ripped through northwest Ohio in early June caused at least $22.1 million in damage for homeowners and business owners. The totals by the Ohio Insurance Institute...