Tag Archives: natural disasters

ABC News reports: A wind-whipped fire erupted in San Bernardino, forcing mandatory evacuations and ravaging several homes in the area, as the blaze quickly grew to 200 acres early Thursday morning. The blaze, called the Hillside Fire, was burning at a rapid rate of spread and quickly expanded to 200 acres by about 2:30 a.m., officials said. Six homes were …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Even after several years of devastating wind-driven fires in Southern California, forecasters fear that the next two days could bring new levels of danger. “Extreme” fire weather began in the Los Angeles area at 11 p.m. Tuesday and was expected to persist for 30 hours, bringing isolated gusts of up to 80 mph. It’s an …

The Los Angeles Times reports: A growing brush fire was threatening thousands of homes in Brentwood and other Westside hillside communities, burning several homes and prompting widespread evacuations early Monday. The Getty fire broke out shortly before 2 a.m. along the 405 Freeway near the Getty Center and spread to the south and west, rapidly burning more than 500 acres …

CBS News reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a statewide emergency as wildfires and extreme weather conditions forced almost 200,000 people from their homes. He said in a statement Sunday that officials are deploying “every resource available” to respond to the wildfires, including a large blaze in Northern California’s wine country driven by powerful winds. Smoke from a second …

NBC News reports: Two massive wildfires are flanking Northern and Southern California, as power outages expand, almost two hundred thousand people are under evacuation orders, and tens of thousands of acres burn. North of San Francisco, new evacuation warnings were issued early Sunday as the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County scorched 30,000 acres and remains only ten percent contained. The …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Massive blackouts affecting more than 2 million people are expected this weekend throughout the Bay Area, Northern California and Central California, the third time this month that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will have turned off power to avert catastrophic wildfires. PG&E said about 850,000 homes and businesses in its service territory might start losing …

The Associated Press reports: California’s biggest utility admitted its electrical equipment may have ignited a ruinous wildfire spreading across the state’s wine country Friday, despite blackouts imposed across the region to prevent blazes. The disclosure came as firefighters simultaneously battled flames in both Northern and Southern California: the fire amid Sonoma County’s vineyards, and a wind-whipped blaze that destroyed homes …

NBC News reports: Hundreds of thousands of residents of Northern California whose power will be shut off in the next two days got even worse news Wednesday: Another, even larger, blackout is likely over the weekend. The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Corp., or PG&E, began shutting off electricity to nearly a half-million people Wednesday afternoon, the second …

NPR reports: Scientists cannot yet predict when the next deadly earthquake will strike, but emergency response authorities in California plan to unveil the first statewide quake warning system Thursday, which marks the 30th anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The warnings will be issued in two ways: a cellphone app called MyShake and the more traditional wireless notification system …

NBC News reports: A wind-whipped wildfire in the San Fernando Valley grew to over 4,000 acres overnight, hours after a blaze in neighboring Riverside County tore through a mobile home park. Mandatory evacuations were ordered in the San Fernando Valley, parts of major highways were shut down and at least 10 schools were closed Friday. In the earlier blaze Thursday, …

The Weather Channel reports: Hurricane Dorian delivered yet another night of slashing winds and driving rain to the already devastated northwestern Bahamas, and there appeared little hope of relief Tuesday as the deadly storm began slowly moving away from the islands. Aerial video from Great Abaco Island, where Dorian made a second landfall, begins to provide an idea of how …

The Seattle Times reports: A magnitude 4.6 earthquake shook Seattle and the Puget Sound region just before 3 a.m. Friday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey. The shaking emanated from Three Lakes, Wash., about 9 miles east of downtown Everett. The earthquake was relatively shallow, and originated about 14 miles beneath the surface, according to a USGS map. …

The Los Angeles Times reports: An 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California Thursday, the largest temblor to hit the region in decades. The quake was centered in the Searles Valley, a remote area of San Bernardino about 100 miles from Los Angeles. It was unclear of the temblor caused major damage or injuries. The quake was the largest in Southern …

The Associated Press reports: Two California communities north of San Francisco were accessible only by boat Wednesday after a rain-swollen river overflowed its banks and inundated low-lying areas around them overnight, authorities said. One of them, the small city of Guerneville, “is officially an island,” the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. A short time later, an official …

USA Today reports: Residents in Tennessee and Georgia got a big surprise Wednesday morning: the rumblings of an earthquake. A magnitude 4.4 earthquake was recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey at around 4:14 a.m. ET, with its epicenter near Decatur, Tenn., which is roughly more than 150 miles from Nashville. An aftershock was felt about 13 minutes later with a …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump expressed his support for Alaskans affected by an earthquake on Friday, telling them to listen to emergency response personnel and calling the earthquake a “big one.” Trump has a history of comments after natural disasters that many have characterized as tone deaf or just plain weird. After Hurricane Maria, Trump and San Juan Mayor Carmen …

The San Francisco Chronicle reports: Sarah Palin and her family are safe following two intense earthquakes in Alaska, however, as she tweeted Friday, her residence is not. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded a 7.0 magnitude quake near Anchorage, Alaska, at 9:30 a.m. Friday. Five minutes later, another, measuring at 5.8, struck again nearby. According to seismologists, both earthquakes had “epicenters …

The Associated Press reports: A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has rocked buildings in Anchorage, the U.S. Geological Survey says. A tsunami warning has been issued 30 miles south-west of Palmer, Alaska. There are numerous reports of damage coming in. A magnitude of between 7 and 7.9 is considered a major earthquake that will cause serious damage. Terrified residents took to social …

USA Today reports: Storm-weary residents of North Carolina struggled Monday to loosen the grip of Florence, the lingering killer that has closed more than 100 roads, cut off power to almost 500,000 homes and businesses and essentially cut off the city of Wilmington from the world. At least 17 people have died in the wreckage of the hurricane-turned-tropical depression that …

Fortune reports: Get ready to receive a text message from President Donald Trump on Sept. 20. But it won’t be a political message or attack on one of his perceived enemies—or at least, it’s not supposed to be. He plans to message every cell phone in America to test a new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) system that will allow …