All the headlines from our Natural Disasters Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Aug 21 2024 // Most Americans will remember 2020 as the year when the pandemic changed everything. But for Lake Charles, Louisiana, and its neighbors along the Gulf Coast, it was also the year of record-setting disasters, when...
Aug 21 2024 // Losses in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Ernesto are expected to be absorbed by the island’s domiciled insurers, according to industry rating AM Best.Initial feedback from AM Best-rated insurers—though it is early in...
Aug 20 2024 // Grenada has become the first country in the world to use a so-called hurricane clause in a government bond – a special feature that allows authorities to postpone debt payments in the wake of a major natural...
Aug 20 2024 // Small-scale cannabis farmers in California are calling it quits, crushed by crop damage from devastating wildfires and sliding prices, and industry experts expect the exodus to continue near-term in the largest pot market...
Aug 19 2024 // California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has invited public input as he begins the final phase of approving a “first of its kind” catastrophe modeling and ratemaking regulation that “will help...
Aug 19 2024 // Europe is spending tens of billions of euros a year to fight wildfires, yet it hasn’t stopped blazes from flaring up across Greece and other parts of the continent this summer.This week fires on the outskirts of...
Aug 16 2024 // As wildfires scorched swaths of land in the wine country of Sonoma County in 2020, sending ash flying and choking the air with smoke, Maria Salinas harvested grapes.Her saliva turned black from inhaling the toxins, until...
Aug 16 2024 // A European Union satellite mapping agency says 104 square kilometers (40 square miles) of land was burned northeast of Athens this week during a deadly wildfire that gutted scores of homes and prompted multiple countries...
Aug 16 2024 // Ernesto strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane as it plowed northward toward Bermuda, threatening to drench the British territory with heavy rain and unleash flash floods.The storm was 410 miles (660 kilometers)...
Aug 15 2024 // Hundreds of people were allowed to return home this week after being forced to flee a wildfire west of Reno that also shut down Interstate 80 along the California-Nevada line.About 170 firefighters continued to work to...
Aug 15 2024 // A Maui judge’s ruling resolves a critical roadblock to finalizing a $4 billion wildfire settlement: Insurance companies who have paid out more than $2 billion in claims can seek reimbursement only from the settlement...
Aug 15 2024 // Typhoon Ampil grazed Japan’s main island of Honshu on Friday, prompting cancellations of flights and trains in the middle of the country’s peak summer holiday season.Japan Airlines Co. and All Nippon Airways...
Aug 15 2024 // Hurricane Ernesto took aim at Bermuda as almost half of Puerto Rico remained without power in the storm’s wake, the island’s fragile electric grid battered by high winds.Officials declared a hurricane watch for...
Aug 15 2024 // More than 2.6 million homes across 14 states with a total reconstruction cost of $1.3 trillion are at moderate to very high risk of wildfire damage during the 2024 wildfire season, a new report shows.The 2024 CoreLogic...
Aug 14 2024 // Thousands of FirstEnergy Corp.’s customers in Ohio will potentially be without power through this after two tornadoes hit the northeastern part of the state last Tuesday.About 252,000 customers of The Illuminating...
Aug 14 2024 // Tropical Storm Ernesto pounded Puerto Rico with torrential rain and winds as it brushed by the island on a track that’s likely to see it become a hurricane later Wednesday.Ernesto was about 85 miles (135 kilometers)...
Aug 14 2024 // Wildfires in Oregon have burned more acres of land in 2024 than in any year since reliable records began, authorities said, with the mid-August peak of fire season still on the horizon.Blazes have scorched more than 1.4...
Aug 13 2024 // The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed that a magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck an area southeast of of Highland Park, California on Monday.The quake was 7.4 miles deep and struck at 12:20 p.m. PST, according to the USGS....
Aug 13 2024 // Greek firefighters are working to bring the remnants of a huge wildfire near Athens under control, after wind speeds picked up again on Tuesday afternoon.The biggest blaze of the summer started northeast of the capital...
Aug 13 2024 // Ten of the top 15 metropolitan areas for wildfire risk concentration are in California, while more than 2.6 million homes across 14 states with a total reconstruction cost of $1.3 trillion are at moderate to very high risk...