Disasters

"Being underwater will soon mean exactly what it says. Especially in Florida."

"Abruptly and without explanation, federal prosecutors slashed potential criminal penalties for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. from $562 million to $6 million Tuesday while a jury was considering whether the company violated safety laws both before and after the lethal 2010 gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno."

"Wildfires are burning in seven Western U.S. states, from California's famed Big Sur region to tribal towns and hamlets near Reno, Nevada. More than a dozen homes were destroyed in Montana, and evacuations were ordered in Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming. Firefighters were trying to stop a Washington blaze from reaching a thickly forested security zone at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation." The Associated Press had an overview of some of the fires August 2, 2016.

"A wildfire burning along California's Big Sur coastline keeps growing a week after it broke out, and looks to be a problem for the scenic region for weeks to come."

"Firefighters scrambled on Thursday to contain a deadly wildfire that has forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents and gutted dozens of homes near the coast of central California."

"Multi-ethnic nations are vulnerable to armed conflicts after weather disasters such as heatwaves and droughts in a trend that could worsen with global warming, scientists said on Monday."

"Firefighters in drought-hit California who are battling a 50-square-mile wildfire could be hampered by triple-digit heat, wind gusts up to 30 mph and low humidity on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service."

"More than 1,600 firefighters battled on Monday to contain a fast-spreading wildfire that has forced hundreds of evacuations in the drought-parched canyons north of Los Angeles, destroying 18 homes, killing at least one person and closing a highway."

"Extreme heat waves like the current string of scorching days in the Midwest have become more frequent worldwide in the last 60 years, and climate scientists expect that human-caused global warming will exacerbate the dangerous trend in coming decades. It comes with potentially life-threatening consequences for millions of people."

"As Ukraine's civil war raged, a few mouse clicks at three local power companies set in motion the covert intrusion. It was the first successful attempt at planting a bug, then disabling an electric grid serving hundreds of thousands of people."