Cuba evacuated 70,000 people in its southern region on Sunday, amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands and killing at least three people.
Related: Miami condo collapse: death toll at 24 as search pauses for demolition
Continue reading...Storm kills one person in St Lucia and a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman in the Dominican Republic
Cuba prepared to evacuate people along the island’s southern region on Sunday amid fears that Tropical Storm Elsa could unleash heavy flooding after battering several Caribbean islands, killing at least three people.
The government on Sunday opened shelters and moved to protect sugarcane and cocoa crops ahead of the storm, whose next target was Florida, where governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 15 counties, including in Miami-Dade County where the high-rise condominium building collapsed last week.
Continue reading...Left-leaning states had focused on how global heating would affect others. Then the ‘heat dome’ arrived
The record heatwave in the Pacific north-west is forcing a reckoning on the climate crisis, as many living in the typically mild region consider what rising temperatures mean for the future.
A “heat dome” without parallel trapped hot air over much of the states of Oregon and Washington in the United States, and southern British Columbia in Canada, in past days, shattering weather records in the usually temperate region.
Continue reading...Ten people died in 15-vehicle crash, including eight children from youth home, and two more people died when a tree fell on their house
Eight children travelling in a van from a home for abused or neglected children have been killed in a multi-vehicle crash that also killed a man and his baby in another vehicle as tropical depression Claudette claimed 13 lives in Alabama.
The crash happened on Saturday about 35 miles (55km) south of Montgomery and was likely caused by vehicles hydroplaning in very wet conditions, authorities said.
Continue reading...No deaths or serious injuries reported as tropical storm disrupts plans for Juneteenth and Father’s Day weekend
Authorities in Alabama say a suspected tornado spurred by Tropical Storm Claudette demolished or badly damaged at least 50 homes in a small town just north of the Florida border.
Sheriff Heath Jackson in Escambia County said a suspected tornado “pretty much leveled” a mobile home park, toppled trees on to houses and ripped the roof off of a high school gym.
Continue reading...Researchers had long forewarned of this crisis and now they’re seeing their studies and models become real life
The heatwave gripping the US west is simultaneously breaking hundreds of temperature records, exacerbating a historic drought and priming the landscape for a summer and fall of extreme wildfire.
Salt Lake City hit a record-breaking 107F (42C), while in Texas and California, power grid operators are asking residents to conserve energy to avoid rolling blackouts and outages. And all this before we’ve even reached the hottest part of the summer.
Continue reading...Blizzard warnings issued for Wyoming and Nebraska and 2ft of snow expected in Colorado over the weekend
A powerful spring snow storm was expected over the next three days to blanket parts of the US Rockies and central high plains where forecasters warned of whiteout conditions, power outages and avalanches.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued blizzard warnings for parts of Wyoming and western Nebraska, where quickly accumulating snowfall of up to 2ft (61cm) and fierce winds reaching 65mph (105km per hour) could cause dangerous conditions from Saturday through Monday.
Continue reading...February was the peak of my pandemic depression – and then came the ‘Arctic blast’
As for so many, February was the peak of my pandemic depression. It nearly marked the first anniversary of the Covid lockdown, and the demise of my social life. But quarantining in San Antonio, Texas, brought an entirely new set of challenges.
My breaking point was around midnight last Tuesday, during the “Arctic blast” which, prior to last week, sounded like a refreshing juice-box flavor for children. Our house was 40F (4C). My father was outside boiling water on the grill so we could have a hot drink to get us through the night. My only link to the outside world was a horrendous internet connection, so I couldn’t even doom-scroll my way out of this frozen hellscape.
Continue reading...Joe Biden has approved a major disaster declaration for Texas, which has suffered widespread power blackouts and water shortages during a deep freeze, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) said on Saturday.
Related: Why the cold weather caused huge Texas blackouts – a visual explainer
Continue reading...Record low temperatures damaged infrastructure and froze pipes, disrupting services and contaminating supplies for 12 million
Millions of Texans are facing water shortages after the deadly winter storm ravaging the state caused pipes to burst and treatment plants to back up, disrupting services and contaminating supplies.
Texas officials ordered 7 million people – a quarter of the population of the nation’s second-largest state – to boil tap water before drinking it following days of record low temperatures that damaged infrastructure and froze pipes.
Continue reading...At least 20 people have died across the country as more than 100m people remain covered by winter weather warning
Anger over Texas’s power grid failing in the face of a record winter freeze is mounting, as millions of residents remained shivering, with no assurances that their electricity and heat – out for 36 hours or longer in many homes – would return.
Related: The California mothers fighting for a home in a pandemic – photo essay
Continue reading...Millions of people are without power in Texas as one of the worst storms in history plunges Texas into chaos
Continue reading...Officials warn of treacherous travel conditions as icy winter storm heads to America’s north-east
Ferocious winter weather sweeping across large parts of the central and southern US has brought record-breaking cold temperatures, left millions without power and killed at least 21 people across multiple states.
Continue reading...Two people have died in Texas, likely due to sub-zero temperatures and power outages, officials say, as winter storms hit large parts of the southern US.
Authorities reported two men were found dead along Houston-area roads
Continue reading...Greg Abbott, the governor, issued a disaster declaration for every county in the state as conditions continued to get colder
Texas is experiencing one of its coldest winter in decades , with temperatures expected to drop to as low as 11F (-12C) in Houston and 9F (-13C) San Antonio under a winter storm warning.
The governor, Greg Abbott, issued a disaster declaration for every county in the state on Friday, as conditions continued to get colder over the weekend.
Continue reading...Witnessing the destructive power of a tornado can be exhilarating. Now some amateur enthusiasts are helping scientists predict these awesome weather events
Eight years ago on 20 May – a Monday afternoon – the most destructive category of tornado, known as an EF5, touched down just outside the town of Newcastle, Oklahoma. For 37 minutes, with winds estimated at 210mph, it snaked its way northeast towards the city of Moore, forging a catastrophic path. More than 1,000 homes were destroyed, 24 people were killed and 377 were injured. The damage was estimated at $2bn.
Late that same night I drove from my then-home in Austin, Texas, the five-and-a-half hours to Moore to report on the aftermath. On the way into town the following morning, I passed abandoned cars that told their own story of panic and terror. I saw houses that had been ripped from their foundations.
Continue reading...A powerful winter storm has engulfed the US north-east, blanketing much of the region in heavy snow. The storm is expected to bring nearly 2ft of snow to New York, Boston and several other cities. ’This is a dangerous, life-threatening situation,’ New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, said while declaring a state of emergency in 44 counties and New York City. Mayor Bill De Blasio also declared a local state of emergency - suspending in-person classes, restricting non-essential travel and putting coronavirus vaccination appointments on hold. ‘You're going to see two to four inches of snow per hour. That is extremely intense snow. That's blinding snow’
Hazardous conditions reported in multiple states as regions in Pennsylvania and New York saw accumulations in double digits
The first major snowstorm of the season left the north-east blanketed in snow, setting records in some areas.
“Williamsport regional airport made history,” the National Weather Service in State College said, reporting 24.7in of snow. Forecasters said that was the most snow in that location from a single storm on record, breaking the previous record of 24.1in set there in January 1964.
Continue reading...Treacherous storm set to hit states from Virginia to Massachusetts today as 3,019 people die in the last 24 hours
Continued shipments of the vital coronavirus vaccine around the US face delay as a monster winter storm is set to pummel states from Virginia to Massachusetts later Wednesday, even as the US suffered its third deadliest day of the pandemic.
A total of 3,019 people died because of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the third highest total since the first cases were recorded in the US as far back as January.
Continue reading...Hurricane and storm surge warnings have been declared for the keys with the storm expected to hit Sunday night or early Monday
A strengthening Tropical storm Eta sliced across Cuba on Sunday and was aimed at the tip of Florida, where officials braced for a storm that could hit at hurricane force after leaving scores dead and over 100 missing in Mexico and Central America.
The US National Hurricane Center in Miami declared hurricane and storm surge warnings for the keys from Ocean Reef to the Dry Tortugas, including Florida Bay, with the storm expected to reach that area by Sunday night or early Monday.
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