Disasters

"President Barack Obama is making his first visit to flood-ravaged southern Louisiana as he attempts to assure the many thousands who have suffered damage to their homes, schools and businesses that his administration has made their recovery a priority."

"Up and down drought-ravaged California, half a dozen wildfires continued to burn Sunday as firefighting crews gained an upper hand on some blazes and struggled to contain others."

"VANCOUVER – Senior BC Hydro executives have worried for years that earthquakes triggered by fracking operations in search of natural gas could damage its two big dams on the Peace River, putting thousands of people at risk if the dams fail."

"Quenton Robins watched on Sunday morning as a giant metal claw clamped down on his mother's ruined belongings, snapping wooden cabinets with an audible crack as the operator of a giant mechanized arm slowly cleared a mound of debris from her yard in Baton Rouge."

"Even as thousands of residents of southern Louisiana are returning to their flood-damaged homes, more danger could lie ahead as rain continues to fall and the full extent of the damage can't be known, according to state emergency response officials."

"Climate change is never going to announce itself by name. But this is what we should expect it to look like. That’s what many scientists, analysts and activists are saying after heavy rains in southern Louisiana have killed at least 11 people and forced tens of thousands of residents from their homes, in the latest in a series of extreme floods that have occurred in the United States over the last two years."

"Hundreds of firefighters were battling a rapidly-spreading wildfire raging unchecked in drought-stricken Southern California on Wednesday after flames forced more than 80,000 residents to flee."

"The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is joining the investigation into the Friday night fire at Sunoco Logistics in which seven contract workers were injured, including four who were critically burned." The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is already investigating.

"California is burning. The state has nine active wildfires as large as 25 acres or more, including the massive Clayton fire north of San Francisco that forced nearly 1,500 residents to flee their homes after it erupted Saturday in dry conditions created by the state’s extreme drought. On Sunday the blaze doubled in size."

"A wildfire destroyed at least 10 homes and forced some 4,000 people to flee their homes as flames jumped a road and moved into a Northern California town located miles away from a devastating wildfire nearly a year ago."