Natural Disasters News

The winter of 2013-14 was a tale of two extremes, with intense cold and heavy snow in the north-central U.S. and record-breaking warmth and drought in the West, especially California.

California water officials are planning to temporarily dam three channels on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to keep out salty ocean water if the state's drought persists.

A wall of dust as tall as 1,000 feet and 200 miles wide that roared across parts of West Texas and New Mexico is yet another sign of how rain-starved the region is.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the earthquake struck at 7:11 p.m. about 34 miles south of the community of Lone Pine, near the south end of Sequoia National Forest.

A gas leak triggered an earthshaking explosion that flattened two apartment buildings on Wednesday, killing at least three people, injuring more than 60 and leaving nine missing.

The first quake was reported at 4:50 a.m. Wednesday 14 miles east-northeast of Anthony in Harper County, Kan.

A state park in the Texas Panhandle has reopened following a wildfire that scorched about 15 acres and closed the site for a day.

With 2013 the driest year on record and 2014 possibly worse, the devastation of California's drought is trickling down to crops, fields, farmers markets, grocery stores -- and the kitchen table.

The turmoil over how to end an epidemic of sexual assaults in the U.S. military is far from over as Congress haggles over legislative remedies and new details emerge about a high-profile case involving an Army general and a female captain under his command.

A fifth minor earthquake has been recorded in an area of northeastern Ohio where state regulators have ordered a gas drilling company to stop drilling.

Nearly 1,500 Haitians filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking compensation from the United Nations for victims of a cholera outbreak that health officials say has killed more than 8,000 people and sickened over 600,000 in the impoverished Caribbean nation.

A new lawsuit has been filed by 1,500 Haitian plaintiffs against the United Nations over a cholera outbreak that has killed thousands in the Caribbean nation.

Wildlife officials said they will consider a plan to move millions of hatchery-raised salmon by tanker trucks to the ocean if the Sacramento River and its tributaries prove inhospitable due to the drought.

Drug dealers beware: If a client of yours overdoses and dies in the state of New Jersey, prosecutors there may charge you in the death.

The Smithsonian Board of Regents on Monday named Cornell University President Dr. David Skorton to lead the world's largest museum and research complex in the nation's capital.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to boost rebuilding efforts as the country marked the third anniversary Tuesday of a devastating earthquake and tsunami that left nearly 19,000 people dead, destroyed coastal communities and triggered a nuclear crisis.

So much rain and snow has fallen across Washington state in recent weeks that there's little chance of a statewide drought being declared this year, water supply experts said Monday.

One of the largest earthquakes to hit California in decades rattled the state's northern coast, but its depth and distance from shore reduced the impact on land, where there were no reports of injuries or damage, scientists and authorities said.

In this Sunday, March 9, 2014 photo, Yasuo Takamatsu wears his goggles before taking a diving lesson at Takenoura bay, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan.

Swollen rivers and impassable roads left hundreds of people cut off in rural areas of Montana on Monday, while in neighboring Wyoming members of the National Guard joined the fight to protect two towns threatened by high water.