Warm oceans strengthened Hurricane Francine and could power more Fall storms

Warm water in the Gulf of Mexico helped quickly strengthen Hurricane Francine, creating danger for Louisiana residents rushing to buy supplies and secure their homes ahead of the storm's landfall Wednesday. Warm ocean water is essential for forming and strengthening hurricanes. Heat...

CLIMATE GLIMPSE: Wildfires plague U.S. West and Brazil, Yagi rampages in Vietnam

Extreme weather is striking multiple places around the world, including wildfires in California, a hurricane that threatens Louisiana, drought and wildfires in the Amazon, flooding in Nigeria and a lethal typhoon in Vietnam. The death toll from Typhoon Yagi reached at least 155 after...

PHOTO COLLECTION: Hurricane Francine

Francine becomes a hurricane as Louisiana residents brace for expected Wednesday landfall

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Francine became a hurricane Tuesday evening as it barreled toward south Louisiana, strengthening over extremely warm Gulf waters as those in possible harm's way rushed to complete storm preparations, filling sandbags, buying gas and stocking up on necessities for an...

Death toll from Typhoon Yagi rises to 87 in Vietnam. Dozens remain missing

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The death toll from Typhoon Yagi and its subsequent rain that triggered floods and landslides climbed to 87 on Tuesday as 70 others remain missing and hundreds were injured, state media said. Yagi was the strongest typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian country in...

As warming threatens polar bear tourism, a Canadian town adapts and thrives

CHURCHILL, Manitoba (AP) — Change has broken, remade and continues to reshape this remote town where tundra meets forest on the shore of Hudson Bay. The economic base collapsed when the military left town. Rail service and cargo ships — the lifeblood of supplies for a town not...

Flooding kills more than 20 people in Morocco and Algeria

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Torrential downpours hit North Africa's normally arid mountains and deserts over the weekend, causing flooding that killed nearly two dozen people in Morocco and Algeria and destroyed homes and critical infrastructure. In Morocco, officials said the two days...

Louisiana residents brace as Tropical Storm Francine is expected to hit their coast as a hurricane

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Tropical Storm Francine strengthened Monday in the Gulf of Mexico and was forecast to make landfall as a hurricane this week in Louisiana, where evacuation orders were quickly issued in some coastal communities and residents began filling sandbags in preparation for heavy...

Vietnam storm deaths rise to 64 as a bridge collapses and flooding sweeps away a bus

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A bridge collapsed and a bus was swept away by flooding in Vietnam on Monday, raising the death toll in the Southeast Asian country to at least 64 from a typhoon and subsequent heavy rains that also damaged factories in export-focused northern industrial hubs, state media...

Book Review: ‘Category Five’ examines superstorms amid compelling personal memoir

I graduated from Middlebury College with Porter Fox just over 30 years ago. We weren’t friends, but it was a small campus and everyone knew something about everybody else. I knew he sailed and wore L.L. Bean like a native Mainer. I didn’t know that he’d spend a good chunk of his career as a...