Latest Natural Disasters Headlines
All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Hundreds of Oregon Households Told to Flee Wildfire
Aug 8 2014 // A new wildfire pushed by gusting winds threatens the small Columbia River Gorge community of Rowena, Ore., where residents of 275 homes had been told to evacuate. The fire made a run along the river in the evening on Aug....
U.S. Fire Prevention Budget Tapped to Fight Summer’s Wildfires
Aug 8 2014 // The U.S. Forest Service will soon have to scale back some projects designed to help prevent wildfires so that it can meet the expenses of fighting this summer’s round of fires. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said...
Hawaii Spared Hurricane As Iselle Weakens to Tropical Storm
Aug 8 2014 // Hawaii escaped its first hurricane strike in 22 years as Iselle was downgraded to a tropical storm just before making landfall at the Big Island. Iselle, bearing winds of 60 miles (96 kilometers) per hour, was 80 miles...
Chance of Below-Normal Hurricane Season Now Up to 70%
Aug 8 2014 // Forecasters with the National Weather Service raised the likelihood for a below-normal season in their most recent Atlantic hurricane season outlook. The update predicts a 70 percent chance of a below-normal season, a 25...
Typhoon Halong Nears Japan; Saturday Landfall Expected: AIR Analysis
Aug 8 2014 // According the catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide, strong winds and heavy rainfall from Typhoon Halong have already arrived on Japan’s Daito Islands (about 320 km [200 miles] east of Okinawa), with reports of...
FSU Professor Links Tornado Strength, Frequency to Climate Change
Aug 7 2014 // New research by a Florida State University geography professor shows that climate change may be playing a key role in the strength and frequency of tornadoes hitting the United States. Published this week in the journal...
Typhoons a Major Cause of Losses in July: Aon Benfield – Impact Forecasting
Aug 7 2014 // The latest edition of Aon Benfield’s Impact Forecasting’s Global Catastrophe Recap report concludes that Super Typhoon Rammasun, which made separate landfalls in the Philippines and China, caused widespread...
Hurricane Iselle Makes Beeline for Hawaii
Aug 6 2014 // Hurricane Iselle, which has been tracking toward Hawaii since last week, is projected to make landfall on the Big Island of Hawaii Thursday night local time, according the catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide. Iselle...
Home Depot Sued Over Joplin, Missouri, Tornado Deaths
Aug 6 2014 // A woman whose husband and two children were among eight people killed while taking cover in a Home Depot during the 2011 Joplin, Mo., tornado contends in a wrongful death lawsuit that the building was negligently...
U.S., Rockefeller $100M Fund Promotes Natural Disaster Mitigation, Insurance for Poor
Aug 6 2014 // The U.S. Agency for International Development and the Rockefeller Foundation are starting a $100 million project to prepare vulnerable communities for climate- caused humanitarian disasters before they happen. The...
North Dakota State Fire and Tornado Fund Waives Premiums
Aug 5 2014 // The North Dakota State Fire and Tornado Fund (F&T) for the first time in its history will waive insurance premiums for its policyholders, the state insurance department announced “The State Fire and Tornado Fund...
Wildfires Burn Structures, Threaten Homes In California, Oregon, Washington
Aug 5 2014 // Two wildfires that burned or threatened hundreds of homes in Northern California were bearing down on a small town as they plowed through more than 100 square miles of drought-stricken brush, and Tuesday brought a chance...
Shallow M6.1 Earthquake Causes Severe Damage in China: AIR Analysis
Aug 5 2014 // According to catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide the Mw6.1 earthquake that struck south-central China’s Yunnan Province “was the strongest to strike the area in 14 years. The epicenter was near the township...
NYC Mayor: Be Prepared for Peak Hurricane Season
Aug 4 2014 // New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging New Yorkers to prepare for peak hurricane season. Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean begins June 1 but New York City is most vulnerable from August to October. De Blasio...
Hurricane Bertha to Pass by East Coast But Not Make Landfall: AIR
Aug 4 2014 // Bertha, which became the second hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic season today, made its way through the Caribbean as a weak and disorganized tropical storm this past weekend. Bertha is heading north and is expected to pass...
Insurance Industry Hurricane Tour of Texas Coast to Begin Aug. 18
Aug 4 2014 // The insurance industry wants Texas coastal residents to know about hurricane preparedness and insurance coverage for future hurricanes. The information is offered by a contingent of catastrophic weather experts recruited...
Wildfires Prompt California Governor to Declare State of Emergency
Aug 4 2014 // A pair of wildfires burning without restraint about 8 miles apart in northeast California became the focus of state and federal firefighters Sunday as authorities reported that one of the blazes had destroyed eight homes...
Tennessee Tornado Victim Had Stolen Goods in Home: Police
Aug 4 2014 // When neighbors in Kingsport, Tennessee went to help a man whose home bore the brunt of a tornado, they made a discovery police say couldn’t have been caused by the wind. Police spokesman Thomas Patton told WBIR-TV in...
Strong Earthquake Kills at least 34 in Southern China
Aug 4 2014 // A strong earthquake in southern China’s Yunnan province toppled houses on Sunday, killing dozens of people and injuring more than 100, officials and state media reported. Yunnan’s seismological bureau said 24...
Forecasters Reaffirm Below-Average Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook
Aug 4 2014 // Colorado State University (CSU) researchers continue to predict a below-average hurricane season for the Atlantic basin in 2014, citing exceptionally unfavorable hurricane formation conditions in the tropical Atlantic...
