Disasters

"Tropical Storm Beryl cut a soggy path across the U.S. southeast on Monday after swirling ashore in Florida at near hurricane strength."

"TOKYO — What passes for normal at the Fukushima Daiichi plant today would have caused shudders among even the most sanguine of experts before an earthquake and tsunami set off the world's second most serious nuclear crisis after Chernobyl."

"SANTA FE, New Mexico -- Calmer winds and cooler temperatures promised relief on Sunday to fire crews battling blazes in New Mexico and Colorado, where wildfires sweeping across miles of forest, brush and grass have forced evacuations and disrupted holiday weekend travel plans."

The Atlantic Hurricane season starts officially June 1. Hurricane Bud, a Pacific storm, weakened to Category 2 as it approached Mexico, and NOAA is watching another potential storm off the East coast of Florida. Tropical storm Alberto, which formed Saturday off South Carolina, dissipated Tuesday over the Atlantic without ever reaching shore. Meanwhile, NOAA issued its official forecast, which echoed earlier private forecasts for a fairly normal 2012 season, despite the early start.

"ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A decades-old jet fuel spill threatening Albuquerque's water supply could be as large as 24 million gallons, or twice the size of the oil spill from the Exxon Valdez, New Mexico environment officials acknowledged Tuesday."

"CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The departing head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission o n W ednesday continued to press for heightened safety regulations, at a meeting of industry officials who have often chafed at his push for new rules."

"One of Canada's top experts on Arctic issues is warning of the 'near-inevitability' of an Exxon Valdez-scale oil spill at a fragile choke point in Alaskan waters if Canada ends up shipping oilsands fuel to China via pipeline terminals on the British Columbia coast."

"The number of extreme rainstorms -- deluges that dump 3 inches or more in a day -- doubled in the U.S. Midwest over the last half-century, causing billions of dollars in flood damage in a trend climate advocates link to a rise in greenhouse gas emissions."

"Without fanfare, the nation's nuclear power regulators have overhauled community emergency planning for the first time in more than three decades, requiring fewer exercises for major accidents and recommending that fewer people be evacuated right away."

"EDMONTON -- On the one year anniversary of the Slave Lake fire, here is a troubling thought. There is a good chance — an ever-increasing chance, as a matter of fact — that it will happen again. Perhaps not to Slave Lake, Alta., but to another community, or communities, nestled in the national tinderbox that is the great boreal forest stretching from British Columbia to Labrador."