Category 4 storm News

Home Smashed: For One Family, Hurricane Laura the Third Strike

HACKBERRY, La. — Bradley Beard calls Hurricane Laura his third strike. In 2005, Rita pushed a foot of floodwaters into his white, wooden home in Hackberry, Louisiana, a tiny community in Cameron Parish 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gulf …

Laura Is Poised to Become a ‘Catastrophic’ Category 4 Hurricane

Hurricane Laura is set to slam into the U.S. Gulf Coast early Thursday as an extremely powerful Category 4 storm, unleashing deadly storm surges, flash floods and destructive winds that could inflict as much as $25 billion in damages. Laura …

One Square Kilometer of Wetlands Worth $1.8M in Storm Damage Prevention

U.S. protection of wetlands has expanded and contracted dramatically over the last five years, as Democratic and Republican administrations rewrote Clean Water Act rules to their constituencies’ liking. The lack of high-quality economic analysis has been a recurring theme in …

Judge: Army Corps Not Responsible for Harvey Flooding Damage

HOUSTON — A federal judge has ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers isn’t liable to damage to thousands of Houston homes that were inundated by two federally owned reservoirs in the days following Hurricane Harvey because they would have …

U.S. Forecasters Predict Near Average 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season

U.S. forecasters expect the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season beginning June 1 to be near average in the number and intensity of storms, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center said on Thursday. The forecasters estimate between two and …

Houston Marks Harvey Anniversary With Flood Control Vote

Voters in Houston and its surrounding county were marking Saturday’s anniversary of Hurricane Harvey coming ashore by deciding whether to approve the issuance of $2.5 billion in bonds to fund flood control projects that might mitigate the damage caused by …

US Awards $18.5B in Disaster Recovery Grants to Puerto Rico

The U.S. government announced Tuesday that it will award $18.5 billion worth of disaster recovery grants to Puerto Rico to help repair homes, businesses and its crumbling power grid as the U.S. territory struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria. It …

Hurricane Cristina Strengthens to Cat 4 Storm

Hurricane Cristina has rapidly strengthened to a major Category 4 storm off Mexico’s Pacific coast. The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds increased to near 145 mph (230 kph) Thursday morning. The hurricane reached Category 4 strength just hours after becoming a …

Hurricane Amanda Remains a Category 4 Storm

Hurricane Amanda remains a powerful Category 4 storm far of Mexico’s Pacific coast but is expected to begin weakening. The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds early Monday are near 140 mph (220 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center says rapid weakening …