Natural Disasters News

Every weekend USA TODAY takes a bite-size look in approximately 180 characters per item at the past week's top stories from around the world.

State revenue officials say property tax relief is available for people whose homes were damaged or destroyed by flooding.

Sensing a Republican tidal wave, President Bill Clinton worried in the summer of 1994 that Republicans were energized heading into the midterm elections while his Democratic base was deflated.

A 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck in the sea off India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Friday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

A relative of Chinese passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 takes a photo of a slideshow displaying the chronology of events since the plane went missing during a press conference held by Hugh Dunleavy, right bottom, commercial director of Malaysia Airlines at right in a hotel in Beijing, China, Friday, March 14, 2014.

California's historic drought has folks discussing ways to curtail water use in the garden.

The medical examiner in northeast Ohio's Cuyahoga County said Thursday that heroin killed 195 people there in 2013.

In this April 8, 2011 file photo, a welcome sign for Fargo, N.D., sits in the rising floodwaters of the Red River as a flood engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, at left, inspects the levee protecting the downtown area.

LOS ANGELES a?? Now that Southern California has dried out from recent rains, folks can get back to worrying about the epic drought that still grips the state and threatens its future.

The 2:06 a.m. quake had a magnitude of 6.3 according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Adichie, whose other works include "Half of a Yellow Sun," was chosen over "The Goldfinch" author Donna Tartt and three other finalists.

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck early Friday in the sea that separates three of Japan's main islands, about 100 miles southwest of Hiroshima, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

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.