Natural Disasters News

Santa Claus should avoid kissing children and shaking their hands to prevent spreading the flu and should get vaccinated against the illness, Hungary's state health authority said.

L.A. County firefighters have gained the upper hand on a small brush fire in La Habra Heights.

THE unprecedented rainfall which devastated parts of Cumbria "would have overwhelmed any defence" the Environment Agency said last night as residents faced up to the damage caused by the floods.

A Chinese dissident who tried to help victims of last year's Sichuan earthquake was jailed for three years on Monday on charges of illegally possessing state secrets, his wife said, decrying the sentence as "revenge." The court decision is another sign that China is in no mood to ease political controls after last week's visit by U.S. President ...

Flood response efforts continue across County Clare with local authority staff, Clare County Fire and Rescue, the Army and Gardai providing 24-hour cover to the flooding crisis.

Swine flu vaccines are still effective despite reported cases of mutations in the A virus, health experts in Europe and North America said Saturday.

Hundreds of residents in eastern Australia were on alert Sunday as out-of-control wildfires fanned by soaring temperatures and windy conditions threatened properties, officials said.

Clean-up efforts were underway Sunday in flood-hit towns following the heaviest downpours ever recorded in England, as fears mounted for a woman thought swept into a swollen river in Wales.

A magnitude 3.7 earthquake has rattled Southern California's Big Bear Lake area, followed by a sharp aftershock.

A canoeist pulled from a river during stormy conditions has died, the fire service has confirmed.

A thousand people were evacuated and traffic was stopped after the Galeras volcano erupted in southern Colombia without causing casualties, officials said Saturday.

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaks to residents at a rescue centre in Cockermouth, northern England, yesterday British Prime Minister Gordon Brown visited the scene of massive floods that killed one person and stranded hundreds in the heaviest rainfall on record in England.

The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the United States, health experts said on Friday.

Residents of Duncan, B.C., rescued a car from the flooded streets Friday. The flood situation on Vancouver Island has improved dramatically as floodwaters recede, but officials warn more rain is on the way.

Emergency crews ran pumps through the night and into the early morning Saturday in an effort to combat massive flooding that had prompted the communities of North Cowichan and Duncan on Vancouver Island to declare a state of emergency.

The emergency services are searching homes as residents braced themselves for more rain after England's wettest day on record caused chaos, flooding homes, sweeping away bridges and claiming the life of a policeman.

The World Health Organization said Friday it is investigating samples of variant swine flu linked to two deaths and one severe case in Norway, but that so far the significance of the mutation is unclear.

FOX 26 meteorologist Mike Iscovitz and Russell Hubbard, deputy director Greater Houston Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, present several items to help MyFoxHouston.com visitors prepare for the 2010 hurricane season.

Four North Carolina patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, health officials said Friday.

Parts of Scotland have remained under flood water after a month's rain fell in just 36 hours in some places.