April 23, 2020
A study of hurricane-hit areas of the United States has revealed a trend of larger homes being built to replace smaller ones in the years following a storm. The research, led by the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom …
January 10, 2020
The U.S. had 14 weather disasters costing $1 billion or more last year, with Midwest flooding accounting for almost half of the total, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Flooding from the Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas rivers caused …
January 8, 2020
As the devastation from Australia’s bushfires widens, the insurance industry is calling for concerted action to mitigate the impact of climate change. Months of out-of-control fires have burnt an area more than five times the size of Wales and industry-wide …
November 22, 2019
The Trump administration’s move to relax an Obama-era chemical safety regulation put in place after an explosion at a fertilizer plant is the latest example of the White House easing rules established in the wake of disasters. Trump’s professed goal …
April 16, 2019
WASHINGTON — It was the middle of the night when Yvonne Rawhouser’s neighbor woke her up to warn her that a nearby hillside was aflame. The wildfire that had been raging through northern California’s wine country in October 2017 was …
September 20, 2018
Navigation apps like Waze are trying to help motorists avoid hurricane flooding. But can people really rely on their smartphones to steer themselves out of a disaster zone? Amid heavy rain from Florence, some smartphone or in-car map directions in …
January 7, 2014
Natural catastrophes like floods and storms claimed more than 20,000 lives and caused around $125 billion in damage worldwide in 2013, well below the average of the last decade, reinsurer Munich Re said on Tuesday. The world’s largest reinsurer said …
May 17, 2013
Economic losses from disasters since 2000 are in the range of $2.5 trillion, a figure at least 50 percent higher than previous international estimates, according to a U.N. report released Wednesday. The U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction warned in …
November 14, 2011
When flood waters rose in Thailand, Wal-Mart stores in Japan ran out of mouthwash. “We were out of mouthwash in Japan for about four days,” Scott Price, Wal-Mart’s Asia chief executive officer, said at the APEC business leaders’ summit. “A …
November 8, 2011
Deaths and health problems from floods, drought and other U.S. disasters related to climate change cost an estimated $14 billion over the last decade, researchers said Monday. “When extreme weather hits, we hear about the property damage and insurance costs,” …