Disasters

"Despite the agency’s attempts to account for bigger storms, its outdated rules leave communities unprepared for disaster".

"The Federal Railroad Administration plans to impose big penalties on railroads that fail to meet a year-end deadline to install a new collision avoidance system, including more than 70 percent of the nation’s commuter railroads."

"A typhoon battered China's east coast on Sunday, killing 14 people and forcing the authorities to evacuate hundreds of thousands more."

"A decade after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans seems to have found its rhythm again: the French Quarter is choked with tourists, construction cranes tower over the skyline, and hipsters bike to cafes in gentrifying neighborhoods."

"The battle to tame California's fiercest wildfire this year, the big Rocky blaze north of Napa Valley wine country, neared a turning point on Thursday as ground crews fighting the flames for an eighth day steadily extended their control lines."

"Fire officials say they have made progress against a massive wildfire raging in Northern California, and the blaze is now 30 percent contained."

"Oklahoma regulators are imposing new restrictions on energy companies injecting wastewater underground, in the latest effort to stem a sharp increase in earthquakes."

"LOWER LAKE, Calif. — Firefighters were working aggressively to regain control after a raging Northern California fire jumped a highway that had served as a containment line for the massive blaze — one of 20 wildfires burning in California."