Disasters

"What was once Hurricane Isaias has been downgraded to a tropical storm after making landfall late Monday night in North Carolina. The National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. ET advisory Tuesday that threats of tornadoes were beginning to spread into southeastern Virginia."

"The Apple Fire burning in parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties has grown to at least 20,516 acres and is 5% contained, the California Interagency Incident Management Team said."

"Two Northern California wildfires have merged to form one that exceeds the size of last year’s biggest blaze in the state, fire officials said Thursday morning."

"Officials across the Caribbean and the southern U.S. have urged citizens to brace for Hurricane Isaias after the storm gained strength and barreled over Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic."

"As climate change raises sea levels, storm surges and high tides will push farther inland, a team of researchers says."

"Torrential rains have submerged at least a quarter of Bangladesh, washing away the few things that count as assets for some of the world’s poorest people — their goats and chickens, houses of mud and tin, sacks of rice stored for the lean season." "The country’s latest calamity illustrates a striking inequity of our time: The people least responsible for climate change are among those most hurt by its consequences."

"Earlier this month, when the Trump administration told hospitals to send crucial data about coronavirus cases and intensive care capacity to a new online system, it promised the change would be worth it. ... Instead, the public data hub created under the new system is updated erratically and is rife with inconsistencies and errors, data analysts say."

"Residents of Flint, Mich., can bring a class action against the state and their former governor for personal injury and property damage caused by the city switching to untreated river water that corroded pipes in 2014, which exposed thousands to lead-contaminated drinking water."

"Every day, California farmworkers worry that the pandemic plowing through agricultural hubs will catch them and kill them. They also worry that not working will kill them."

"One person was treated for smoke inhalation after a Union Pacific train derailed and caught fire on a bridge over Tempe Town Lake in Arizona, officials said Wednesday. Plumes of black smoke could be seen Wednesday morning rising into the sky beneath a trail of flames on video and images from the site of the derailment, where part of the bridge collapsed."