A record amount of California is burning, spurred by a nearly 20-year mega-drought. To the north, parts of Oregon that don’t usually catch fire are in flames. Meanwhile, the Atlantic’s 16th and 17th named tropical storms are swirling, a record number for this time of year. Powerful Typhoon Haishen lashed Japan and the Korean...
Technology to Keep Lights on Could Help Prevent Wildfires
LOS ANGELES — B. Don Russell wasn’t thinking about preventing a wildfire when he developed a tool to detect power line problems before blackouts and bigger disasters. The electrical engineering professor at Texas A&M University figured he might save a life if his creation could prevent someone from being electrocuted...
Scientists Discover Big Storms Can Create 'Stormquakes'
WASHINGTON — Scientists have discovered a mash-up of two feared disasters — hurricanes and earthquakes — and they're calling them "stormquakes." The shaking of the sea floor during hurricanes and nor'easters can rumble like a magnitude 3.5 earthquake and can last for days, according to a study in this week's journal Geophysical...
AP-NORC Poll: Most Americans See Weather Disasters Worsening
WASHINGTON — Nearly three-quarters of Americans see weather disasters, like Hurricane Dorian, worsening and most of them blame global warming to some extent, a new poll finds. And scientists say they're right. The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey shows 72% of Americans think catastrophic weather is more...
New Evacuations Ordered Because of Florence Flooding
WILMINGTON, N.C. — A new round of evacuations was ordered in South Carolina as the trillions of gallons of water dumped by Hurricane Florence meanders to the sea, raising river levels and threatening more destruction. With the crisis slowly moving to South Carolina, emergency managers on Friday ordered about 500...