Latest Accidents and disasters News

This 2009 photo provided by Sebastian Pfautsch shows a eucalyptus forest that burned during a 2009 wildfire in Victoria, Australia. As of early 2020, fires have consumed some 40,000 square miles of Australia this fire season and scientists say the effects on the nation’s forests could be long-lasting. (Sebastian Pfautsch via AP)

Fires set stage for irreversible forest losses in Australia

Jan. 18, 2020 10:02 PM EST

Australia’s forests are burning at a rate unmatched in modern times and scientists say the landscape is being permanently altered as a warming climate brings profound changes to the island continent. Heat waves and drought have fueled bigger and more frequent fires in parts of Australia, so far this...

In this Friday, Jan. 10 photo, residents from the Indios neighborhood of Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, Milagros Figueroa and Ruben Fantausi, sit under a tarp between vehicles parked on a private hay farm where locals affected by earthquakes have set up shelter amid aftershocks in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico. A 6.4 magnitude quake that toppled or damaged hundreds of homes in southwestern Puerto Rico is raising concerns about where displaced families will live, while the island still struggles to rebuild from Hurricane Maria two years ago. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti)

Discovery of unused disaster supplies angers Puerto Rico

Jan. 18, 2020 7:58 PM EST

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — People in a southern Puerto Rico city discovered a warehouse filled with water, cots and other unused emergency supplies, then set off a social media uproar Saturday when they broke in to retrieve goods as the area struggles to recover from a strong earthquake. With anger...

A blizzard packing winds of 50 mph or more reduced visibility to near zero at the intersections of Interstate 94 and Interstate 29 in Fargo, N.D., on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. Interstate 94 was shut down from Fargo to Bismarck, N.D., and Interstate 29 was closed from Grand Forks, N.D., to Sioux Falls, S.D. No travel was advised on secondary roads in states within the blizzard warning, which included parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. (Jim Monk/KFGO Radio, Fargo via AP)

Winter storm brings heavy snow, ice to Midwest, Northeast

Jan. 18, 2020 6:00 PM EST

CHICAGO (AP) — A winter storm that brought snow and sleet to the Midwest and Plains created travel headaches Saturday after airlines canceled flights and officials shut down major roads. The storm system began moving through the Plains and Midwest on Friday, leading to trouble at airports in Chicago and...

A residents makes their way through the snow in St. John's, Newfoundland on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020. The state of emergency ordered by the City of St. John's is still in place, leaving businesses closed and vehicles off the roads in the aftermath of the major winter storm that hit the Newfoundland and Labrador capital. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP)

Newfoundland asks for military help after record blizzard

Jan. 18, 2020 5:50 PM EST

ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland (AP) — Newfoundland's premier asked for the Canadian military's help Saturday as residents of the province's capital struggled to tunnel out from homes buried by the heaviest snowfall ever recorded in St. John's. Premier Dwight Ball said he had asked for the federal government's...

Pumps acquired to help drain lake, ease pressure on dam

Jan. 18, 2020 5:30 PM EST

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Pumps to help take some of the pressure off a dam that's perilously close to failing are on site to help drain Oktibbeha County Lake. The pumps arrived Friday after a contract for their rental was agreed upon with Birmingham, Alabama-based Herc Rentals, The Starkville Daily News...

Official: Homeless woman killed in vacant house fire in KC

Jan. 18, 2020 4:17 PM EST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A homeless woman has been killed in a fire at a vacant home on the northeastern side of Kansas City, fire officials there said. The fire was reported early Friday, according to the Kansas City Star. When firefighters arrived, the home was fully engulfed in flames, Kansas City Fire...

FILE - In this Oct. 14, 2019 file photo, Charlotte Charles, mother of Harry Dunn, who died after his motorbike was involved in an August 2019 accident in Britain with Anne Sacoolas, wife of an American diplomat, speaks at a news conference joined by family members in New York. A British police chief on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020 is requesting an urgent meeting to discuss road safety with the U.S. military after more reported incidents in the area where a British teen was struck and killed by a car driven by the wife of U.S. diplomat in August. Harry Dunn's parents Charlotte Charles and Time Dunn have travelled to Washington and met with President Donald trump in a bid to force Sacoolas to return to Britain to face trial. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, file)

Wrong-side drivers near air base used by US worry UK police

Jan. 18, 2020 3:55 PM EST

LONDON (AP) — A British police chief requested an urgent meeting with a U.S. military commander Saturday after learning of two more traffic incidents in the area where a teenage motorcyclist died in a collision with a car driven by an American diplomat's wife. Harry Dunn was killed when he was hit by a...

Quake shakes eastern Indonesia; no initial report of damage

Jan. 18, 2020 1:13 PM EST

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong inland earthquake late Saturday night struck Indonesia's easternmost Papua province. There were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties. The magnitude 6.0 quake was centered 141 kilometers (87 miles) west of Abepura city at a depth of 33.6 kilometers (20.8...

Michel Dietlin, center, stands with musicians of the orchestra outside the Palais Garnier opera house after performing Saturday, Jan. 18, 2020 in Paris. As some strikers return to work, with notable improvements for train services that have been severely disrupted for weeks, more radical protesters are trying to keep the movement going. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu)

Splits in France's strike movement trigger fears of violence

Jan. 18, 2020 12:47 PM EST

PARIS (AP) — A French government minister warned that seditious groups bent on violence were hijacking the protest movement against pension reform that has gripped the country, after a fire Saturday damaged a renowned Paris restaurant patronized by President Emmanuel Macron. The Paris fire service said...

In this Dec. 11, 2019 photo, Henry Red Cloud points to his property where flooding rose as high as 3-feet in March on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He fears what winter storms will do after flooding damaged their home last spring. They ran workshops on solar panel and wind turbine installation, but had to halt the classes when flooding damaged their tools and property. (AP Photo/Stephen Groves)

Reservations brace for winter storms amid slow recovery

Jan. 18, 2020 11:05 AM EST

PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) — Snow blanketed the living room of Erna Shepard’s home the morning after a storm on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. “I’m going to freeze,” she said. It’s been 10 months since the “bomb cyclone” that dumped the snow and rain that...

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