Natural Disasters News

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.

The sexual assault case against an Army general was thrown into jeopardy Monday when the judge said the military may have improperly pressed ahead with a trial to send a message about its determination to curb rape and other widespread misconduct.

A Mexican channel that's been dry for decades as cities and farms drink up the waters of the Colorado River will once again flow in an experiment to restore the region's flora and fauna.

The radioactive water that has accumulated at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant remains the biggest problem hampering the cleanup process three years after the disaster.

Although there were no reports of injuries or damage, the quake was felt in San Francisco, which lies 250 miles from Ferndale.

Officials say a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Sunday night off the coast of Northern California, but there were no early signs of a tsunami.

A powerful magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck late Sunday night off the coast of Northern California, but there were no immediate reports of injury or damage and no danger of a tsunami, officials said.

Tens of thousands of people on Japan's northeastern coast who were left homeless in the March 2011 tsunami are shivering their way through yet another winter in cramped temporary housing, with perhaps several more to go.

Officials say a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Sunday night off the coast of Northern California, but there was no danger of a tsunami.

Sunday night's quake was centered just offshore, about 26 miles southwest of the coastal city of Pinotepa Nacional, the U.S. Geological Survey says.

Yard MD: Ice out on the Fox River washes away wint...: Yard MD: Ice out on the Fox River washes away winter.

PEOPLE starting to return to their homes after flooding on the Somerset Levels are being reminded of the risks associated with clearing up after the waters have receded.

Very low levels of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear disaster likely will reach ocean waters along the U.S. West Coast next month, scientists are reporting.

This NOAA satellite shows a broad area of low pressure off the coast of British Columbia.

Meter reader Laura Rodelas of the Alameda County Water District works along South Grimmer Boulevard on Friday afternoon, March 7, 2014, in Fremont, Calif.

HE was one of the heroes of last January's Dunalley bushfire emergency, standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow volunteers to fight the Tasman Peninsula blazes just nine days after losing his wife of 35 years.