All articles tagged with #natural disasters
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck offshore north of Flores Island, Indonesia, in the early hours of Saturday, leaving at least 47 people dead as rescue teams assess damage, including landslides and collapsed buildings; a tsunami warning was briefly issued and later lifted, while authorities coordinate evacuations and relief efforts in a region prone to seismic activity along the Ring of Fire.
Record-breaking rainfall across Japan, including the Chiba area east of Tokyo, triggered floods that killed at least five people and disrupted travel and transport nationwide, with ongoing rescue and relief operations.
A fierce storm system swept the US Midwest, with gusts reaching up to 99 mph in Gary, Indiana, leaving more than 800,000 customers without power across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Three fatalities were reported: a four-year-old child in Jennings County, Indiana; a person in a suspected weather-related house explosion in Portage, Indiana; and an Ohio resident whose death followed flooding that impeded responders in Roseville. Officials warned of ongoing flash flooding, tornadoes, and dangerous winds as emergency crews continued restoration efforts and governors declared emergencies.
AP News’ photo gallery documents flooding and storm damage across the Philippines, showing submerged streets, damaged homes and infrastructure, and communities coping with the aftermath of severe weather in parts of the Asia Pacific region.
A 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit western Colombia, killing at least 111 people and damaging hundreds of buildings across Cali, Pereira, Quibdó and Manizales, with aftershocks, emergency declarations, ongoing rescues, and international aid pouring in.
Experts warn that Venezuela's earthquake recovery could trigger growing environmental and health risks, including impacts on water quality, housing, and public health infrastructure, underscoring the need for sustainable rebuilding.
Anjana Ahuja argues that wildfires are entering tipping-point territory driven by climate change and land-use shifts, with fires burning faster, wider, and longer than models predict, including Europe’s heatwaves and rare pyrocumulonimbus events; a Royal Society paper calls for urgent research on how fires start, spread and cause damage, greater resilience, and measuring their atmospheric impacts, plus fuel-management and health considerations from smoke as fires threaten carbon sinks and risk climate-doom loops.
A large, intense tornado tore through the south side of Appleton, Wisconsin, causing significant damage after forecasters had flagged a heightened severe-weather risk; authorities noted that if the National Weather Service confirms EF3 damage, it would be Wisconsin’s fourth EF3 tornado of the year.
Deadly wildfires in Spain’s Almería region amid a heatwave have left at least 12 people dead and 23 missing, as authorities evacuate towns and firefighters work to contain the blazes.
A severe weather system triggered tornadoes and damaging storms in central China, killing at least 11 people and prompting emergency evacuations and assessments of destruction.
Four days after twin earthquakes struck La Guaira, rescuers are scrambling to locate survivors while thousands remain missing; hospitals face crush injuries amid donations, and the UN/IOM warn displacement could rise as authorities deploy security forces and civilians rely on digital databases to report missing loved ones.
Three days after deadly twin earthquakes struck Venezuela, rescuers race to reach survivors as officials warn the death toll will likely rise, tens of thousands remain missing, and more than 3,300 are injured, with up to 6.76 million people affected as international aid and volunteers arrive to bolster relief efforts.
Federal meteorologists issued a rare 'particularly dangerous situation' red-flag warning for southern Utah through Friday as the Cottonwood Fire, now over 70,000 acres, rages and ranks among the largest blazes in the U.S. this year. Forecasters warn life-threatening fire behavior is possible Friday amid extreme fire weather, with risk extending across the Intermountain West into next week. Smoke from the fires is blowing toward the East Coast, though air quality remains unaffected in the area.
New measurements indicate that stress along the San Andreas Fault has reached a 1,000-year high, signaling an elevated probability of a major earthquake in the region.
A NASA-funded analysis of 35 years of Landsat data finds that human-driven disturbances in the continental U.S. have declined since the late 1980s, while wild disturbances such as wildfires and hurricanes have increased, shifting the dominant forces shaping U.S. landscapes and underscoring the need for disaster-informed planning.