Weary and anxious from a week of massive blazes burning around Los Angeles, Southern California residents faced dire new wildfire warnings and power shutoffs Tuesday while they prepared to flee at a moment's notice as fire-fuelling winds blasted across the scarred landscape. The winds, predicted to reach near hurricane-force in some areas, were expected to peak Tuesday morning before easing and then regaining strength later in the day. A beefed-up firefighting force was in place to attack flareups or new blazes. A week after the first fires began, the flames have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people. Life threatening and destructive and widespread winds are already here, LA city Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told a news conference. Residents gathered up their pets and family photos in case they had to make a hasty escape. In other developments, nine people were charged with looting, including a group that stole an Emmy award from a house that had been evacuated,
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake shook eastern Cuba on Sunday, after weeks of hurricanes and blackouts that have left many on the island reeling. The epicentre of the quake was located approximately 25 miles (40 km) south of Bartolom Mas, Cuba, according to a report by the United States Geological Survey. The rumbling was felt across the eastern stretch of Cuba, including in bigger cities like Santiago de Cuba. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Residents in Santiago, Cuba's second largest city, were left shaken on Sunday. Yolanda Tabo, 76, said people in the city flocked to the streets and were still nervously sitting in their doorways. She said she felt at least two aftershocks following the quake, but that among friends and family she hadn't heard of any damages. You had to see how everything was moving, the walls, everything," she told The Associated Press. The earthquake comes during another tough stretch for Cuba. On Wednesday, Category 3 Hurricane Rafael ripp
Hurricane Rafael, which has caused 391,214 barrels per day of US crude oil production to be shut, is expected to move slowly
Hurricane Rafael made landfall in Cuba on Wednesday as a powerful Category 3 hurricane, shortly after powerful winds knocked out the country's power grid. Forecasters warned Rafael could bring life-threatening storm surges, winds and flash floods to western swaths of the island after it knocked out power and dumped rain on the Cayman Islands and Jamaica the day before. The storm was located 65 kilometres south-southwest of Havana on Wednesday. It had maximum sustained winds of 185 kph and was moving northwest at 22 kph, according to the National Hurricane Centre. The storm is bad news for Cuba, which is struggling with devastating blackouts while recovering from another hurricane two weeks ago that killed at least six people in the eastern part of the island. On Wednesday, the Cuban government issued an alert for the incoming storm while crews in Havana worked to fortify buildings and clear scraps from seaside areas in anticipation of flooding. Classes and public transport were ..
Tropical Storm Rafael chugged past western Jamaica on Tuesday and was expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it headed toward Cuba. The storm was located 170 kilometres east of Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands on Tuesday after passing by Jamaica, where little damage was reported. It was picking up speed with maximum sustained winds of 110 kph and was moving northwest at 24 kph, according to the National Hurricane Centre in Miami. The centre said it expected steady to rapid intensification over the next 24 hours. It was expected to pass over or by the Cayman Islands on Tuesday night and make landfall in western Cuba on Wednesday. "Rafael is expected to become a hurricane as it passes near the Cayman Islands with further strengthening before it makes landfall in Cuba," the centre said. The US State Department issued an advisory for Cuba on Tuesday afternoon, offering departure flights to non-essential staff and American citizens, and advising others to reconsider travel to Cuba
Tropical Storm Rafael formed Monday in the Caribbean and will bring heavy rain to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands before strengthening into a hurricane and likely hitting Cuba, forecasters said. Later in the week, it also is expected to bring heavy rainfall to Florida and portions of the US Southeast, according to the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Jamaica, and a hurricane watch was in effect for the Cayman Islands and for parts of Cuba including the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, La Habana, Mayabeque, Matanzas, and the Isle of Youth. A tropical storm watch was issued for Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, and Las Tunas in Cuba. A tropical storm watch also was issued for the lower and middle Florida Keys from Key West to west of the Channel 5 Bridge, and for the Dry Tortugas. The storm was located about 245 kilometres south of Kingston, Jamaica. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 kph while .
Four astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing's capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton. A SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station mid-week. The three Americans and one Russian should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing's new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas. SpaceX launched the four NASA's Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia's Alexander Grebenkin in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us ... and helped us to roll with all those ...
Hurricane Kristy strengthened into a Category 4 storm on Wednesday and was expected to remain away from land as it churns in the Pacific Ocean, forecasters said. The major hurricane was 710 miles (1,140 kilometres) south-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico, and was moving west at 20 mph (31 kph). It had maximum sustained winds of 155 mph (250 kph), just shy of Category 5 status, according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre. The storm was expected to continue moving over open waters. Waves generated by Kristy will affect portions of the west coast of the Baja California peninsula late this week. The waves are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Hurricane Kristy strengthened into a Category 3 storm in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday and was expected to remain away from land as it grows more powerful, forecasters said. The storm was 650 miles (1,045 kilometres) southwest of the southern tip of the Baja Califor
Hospitals and other health care facilities on Florida's Gulf Coast still reeling from Hurricane Helene are now revving up for Hurricane Milton. The system, which is shaping up to be one of the most powerful to hit the region in years, is projected to make landfall a bit south of the Tampa area late Wednesday. Long-term care facilities in counties where mandatory evacuations have been issued are taking their patients elsewhere, while hospitals are largely on guard, preparing to stay open through the storm. According to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' website, 10 hospitals have reported evacuations as of Tuesday afternoon. Three hundred health care facilities have evacuated as of this morning, the most many of the staff working there could remember, said Florida Agency for Health Care Administration deputy secretary Kim Smoak. That count included 63 nursing homes and 169 assisted living facilities. Steve McCoy, chief of the Florida Department of Health's Bureau of Emergency Medical ...
Surveying storm damage in North Carolina, former President Donald Trump on Monday blasted federal emergency responders whose work has been stymied by armed harassment and a deluge of misinformation, but he said he was not concerned that the aftermath of Hurricane Helene would affect election results in the battleground state. Trump was asked whether it was helpful to criticise hurricane relief workers after the Federal Emergency Management Agency recently paused its work in the area because of reports they could be targeted by militia. He responded by again attacking the agency and repeating the falsehood that the response was hampered because FEMA spent its budget helping people who crossed the border illegally, a claim that was debunked weeks ago by US Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., who stood behind Trump as he spoke. Well, I think you have to let people know how they're doing," Trump told reporters outside Asheville. If they were doing a great job, I think we should say that too ...
Vice President Kamala Harris met Saturday with Black leaders in North Carolina and was to help volunteers prepare relief packages for hurricane victims as she resumed campaigning in the state, followed on Sunday by attending church and holding a campaign rally. The weekend trip is her second to the battleground state after it was struck by Hurricane Helene, with Harris stepping back into campaign mode in a place that Democrats see as a potential pick-up in November's election. North Carolina narrowly backed Republican Donald Trump in 2020. The Democratic presidential nominee went to North Carolina last week to survey the destruction caused by Helene and pledged assistance for its victims. She was to attend church Sunday as part of her campaign's Souls to the Polls effort in Greenville, a city of roughly 90,000 on the state's coastal plain. Before departing the Washington area, Harris told reporters accompanying her that she looked forward to talking with residents first and foremost
Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes. At least 10 people were dead, and rescuers were still saving people from swollen rivers, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn't worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized. Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water that could hide dangerous objects. We're now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable, DeSantis said. You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there. As of Friday night, the number of customers in Florida still without power had dropped to 1.9 million, according to poweroutage.us. St. Petersburg's
Hurricane Milton crashed into Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday, pounding the coast with ferocious winds of over 100 mph (160 kph) and producing a series of tornadoes around the state. Tampa avoided a direct hit. The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (205 kph) as it roared ashore 8:30 p.m. near Siesta Key, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre said. Siesta Key is a prosperous strip of white-sand beaches that's home to 5,500 people about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. The Tampa Bay area has not taken a direct hit from a major hurricane in more than a century, but the storm was still bringing a potentially deadly storm surge to much of Florida's Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers. Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes as Milton traverses the Florida peninsula as a hurricane, eventually to emerge in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. More than 1 ..
Eye of the storm made landfall in Siesta Key, a barrier island town of some 5,400 off Sarasota about 60 miles (100 km) south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than 3 million people
A severe solar storm is headed to Earth that could stress power grids even more as the US deals with major back-to-back hurricanes, space weather forecasters said on Wednesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a severe geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday into Friday after an outburst from the sun was detected earlier this week. Such a storm could temporarily disrupt power and radio signals. NOAA has notified operators of power plants and orbiting spacecraft to take precautions. It also alerted the Federal Emergency Management Agency about possible power disruptions, as the organization copes with the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene and gears up for Hurricane Milton barrelling across the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida. Forecasters do not expect the latest solar storm to surpass the one that slammed Earth in May, the strongest in more than two decades. But they won't know for sure until it's just 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away, where
Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday along Florida's Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, bringing powerful winds, deadly storm surge and potential flooding to much of the state. Milton drew fuel from exceedingly warm Gulf of Mexico waters, twice reaching Category 5 status. The cyclone had maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (205 kph) as it roared ashore near Siesta Key in Sarasota County, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre said. The storm was bringing deadly storm surge to much of Florida's Gulf Coast, including densely populated areas such as Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers. Heavy rains were also likely to cause flooding inland along rivers and lakes as Milton traverses the Florida peninsula as a hurricane, eventually to emerge in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. Milton slammed into a Florida region still reeling from Hurricane Helene, which caused heavy damage to beach communities with storm surge and killed a dozen people in seaside Pinellas County ...
Scientists have linked high ocean temperatures to the rapid intensification of hurricanes- Milton's wind speed increased 95 miles per hour in a single day
Hurricane Milton hurled rain, tornadoes and tropical storm-force winds at the US coast on Wednesday as time began to run out for residents to evacuate from the potentially catastrophic path the storm was carving toward Florida. The National Hurricane Centre stressed that it was not certain where Milton's centre would come ashore Wednesday night because the storm's path might wobble, but the entire Tampa Bay region and points south were at grave risk. Tropical storm-force winds began lashing the coast Wednesday afternoon. Earlier, officials issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival. This is it, folks, said Cathie Perkins, emergency management director in Pinellas County, which sits on the peninsula that forms Tampa Bay. Those of you who were punched during Hurricane Helene, this is going to be a knockout. You need to get out, and you need to get out now. By late afternoon, some officials said the time had passed for such efforts. Unless you really have a good reaso
Astronomers onboard the International Space Station (ISS) caught a breathtaking video of the monstrous hurricane Milton as it approached Florida
Florida residents are bracing for Hurricane Milton, a Category 5 storm with winds of 165 mph, days after Hurricane Helene caused devastation. Evacuations are underway as Milton nears landfall