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ARTICLES
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More rain as Vietnam flood toll rises to 74
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-11.6.08- Thousands of people, including children and the elderly, remained trapped in their water-logged homes in Hanoi, where 20 people have died since last Friday in what officials now call the capital's worst floods in 35 years.... (
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Pakistan Earthquake Planning, October 2008
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-10.29.08- A powerful earthquake struck southwest Pakistan before dawn early Wednesday, killing at least 160 people, destroying mud homes and sending survivors screaming into the streets in panic. At least eight villages were badly hit by the 6.4-magnitude quake, police and officials said, warning that the death toll could rise as rescue workers reached villages in the remote mountainous region bordering Afghanistan... (
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Tropical Cyclone Rashmi Makes Landfall in Bangladesh
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-10.27.08- Tropical Storm Rashmi came ashore bringing heavy rains and winds of 83 kilometers per hour (52 mph), according to the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Reuters news services reported 2 deaths and many downed trees and power lines. BBC News also reported thousands of homes were damaged from Rashmi. ... (
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Flash floods kill 13 in Morocco
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-10.24.08- Two more people were reportedly killed in Tangiers when a river burst its banks and submerged over 100 manufacturing plants. The factories - employing up to 30,000 workers - have been shut down.... (
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Hurricane Omar picks up strength as it approaches islands
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-10.15.08- Puerto Rico and some portions of the northern Leeward Islands, which includes the Virgin Islands, could get up to 20 inches of rain, according to the forecast.
"These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the hurricane center warned.
Also, the storm could produce large swells affecting the western and southern coasts of the Lesser Antilles, the Caribbean islands that stretch from the Virgin Islands southward to the islands off Venezuela's coast.... (
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Blaze destroys 2 homes, torches land near Los Angeles
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-10.12.08- LOS ANGELES (AP)- Firefighters backed by water-dumping helicopters and planes gained ground Sunday on a wildfire that destroyed two homes and forced the evacuation of about 1,200 people in a rugged area 20 miles north of downtown... (
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Norbert weakens to tropical depression
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-10.12.08- Norbert barreled through Baja California as a Category 2 hurricane Saturday, uprooting trees, tearing roofs off of homes, and causing widespread flooding. Thousands of residents fled to shelters in school buses and army trucks as floodwaters rose in their homes.... (
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Tropical Storm Higos brought strong winds and pounding surf to China’s island province of Hainan on October 3, but there were no reports of fatalities from its passing.
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-10.10.08- The official Xinhua news agency reports that while the storm inflicted $6.5 million in damage to the province, its heavy rainfall helped ease a protracted drought by dropping 305 million cubic yards of water in reservoirs.... (
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Are vapor trails from aircraft influencing the climate, and if so, should we worry?
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-10.3.08- Whether contrails cause a net cooling or a net warming, even whether their effect is something to worry about, remains unclear. But with air traffic expected to double or even triple by 2050, leading contrail researchers say the influence of these artificial clouds cannot be ignored.... (
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Australian farmers trade water to survive
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-10.19.08- In the world's driest inhabited continent, there is simply not enough water to go around, and households, cities, industries and agriculture all demand their share from stressed reservoirs and rivers. So Australia's irrigation planting sector relies on a unique trading system to make the most of every drop.... (
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Follow-up petition on aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes
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-10.5.08- Until technologies are developed to treat ballast water as pollution, protect the Great Lakes from dirty ballast discharges. In the Great Lakes, complete ballast tank retention must be made mandatory for foreign ships immediately. No foreign ships should be allowed to discharge ballast water or a NOBOB mixture while operating in the Great Lakes. Exercise authorities under the Fisheries Act that states it is prohibited to throw overboard ballast water in any water where fishing is carried on, and also that no person shall destroy fish by any means other than fishing except as authorized by the Minister.
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Sign a petition
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-10.5.08- Take action with hundreds of online petitions about the environment, wildlife, endangered species, environmental health, global warming, climate change, national parks and forests, the Arctic, oceans, oil drilling, air pollution, water pollution, the rainforest and more.... (
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Stop metalic sulfide mining
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-10.4.08- There has never been a metallic sulfide mine that has failed to pollute its watershed. Once such a reaction starts it is difficult to keep this acid drainage out of the water. When water becomes acidic it leaches out and disperses heavy metals into lakes and streams. Heavy metals are dangerous to health, wildlife, and the environment.... (
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Stories in the ice
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-10.4.08- Scientists collect ice cores by driving a hollow tube deep into the miles-thick ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland (and in glaciers elsewhere). The long cylinders of ancient ice that they retrieve provide a dazzlingly detailed record of what was happening in the world over the past several ice ages. That's because each layer of ice in a core corresponds to a single year--or sometimes even a single season--and most everything that fell in the snow that year remains behind, including wind-blown dust, ash, atmospheric gases, even radioactivity. ... (
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Ensuring Species Survival
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-10.4.08- Fast isn’t always good. Species, for instance, are estimated to be heading towards extinction at a rate of about one every 20 minutes. That’s a pace a thousand times faster than the norm during Earth’s history. That’s not just fast, that’s out of control. And it’s definitely not good.
This situation is directly tied to two issues – habitat destruction and climate change. In the same 20 minutes, we will destroy 1,200 acres of forest and emit 180,000 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere worldwide. Less forest cover means fewer acres of habitat for species and more climate-changing carbon in the atmosphere. As climate, landscapes, and oceans change, species must move or adapt. Those that can’t simply die out.
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Sinking City of Venice
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-10.3.08- What can be done about this unstoppable rise in sea level, which brings the waters of the Adriatic, borne on twice-daily tides, higher and higher against the stones of Venice?... (
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Arctic Sea Ice Hits Second-lowest Recorded Extent, Likely Lowest Volume
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-10.3.08- While it may appear to be a recovery of the sea ice, the large extent masked an important aspect of sea ice health since thin ice is more prone to melting during the summer. The widespread thin ice in spring 2008 set the stage for extensive ice loss during the melt season... (
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Smoking And Solid Fuel Use In Homes In China Projected To Cause Millions Of Deaths
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-10.3.08- If current levels of smoking and biomass and coal fuel use in homes continues, between 2003 and 2033 there will be an estimated 65 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 18 million deaths from lung cancer in China, accounting for 19% and 5% of all deaths in that country during this period.... (
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Global Warming Will Have Significant Economic Impacts On Florida Coasts, Reports State
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-10.3.08- "The impacts of climate change on Florida's coasts and on our economy will be substantial, persistent and long-term, even under our conservative estimates," said Julie Harrington, director of the Center for Economic Forecasting and Analysis at FSU. "Should, as many models predict, sea level rise, and hurricane strength and other factors become more extreme, much greater economic impacts will occur along many parts of Florida's coast in this century."... (
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SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Mekong Flood Warning System Fails
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-9.30.08- As communities along the Mekong River face some of the worst floods in decades, a flood warning network that combines scientific and local knowledge is under scrutiny. Activists say it has failed its first major test.... (
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Greenland glacier crack points to disintegration
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-9.29.08- In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and a 28.5sqkm chunk of ice breaking off a glacier.
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Drought Has Cut Iran’s Wheat Production, Growing Our ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)
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-9.29.08- Iran has been hit hard by drought, slashing their own production by one-third this year. The fact that they came to the United States to buy their wheat shows how dire the situation is.... (
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Breaking news: Kingsnorth Six found not guilty!
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-10.2.08- To recap on how important this verdict is: the defendants (campaigners) were accused of causing £30,000 of criminal damage to Kingsnorth smokestack from painting. The defence was that they had 'lawful excuse' - because they were acting to protect property around the world "in immediate need of protection" from the impacts of climate change, caused in part by burning coal.
So the evidence for the defence centred around the enormous damage burning coal does to ecosystems, people and property around the planet - and the UK government's abject failure to take any meaningful action.
(This is the first case, by the way, where preventing property damage from climate change has been used as part of a 'lawful excuse' defence in Crown Court.)
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EU response to floods in Romania, Ukraine and Moldova
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-9.29.08- The flooding in Ukraine, which started in the northwest of the country, has now moved to the southwest. Up to 15,000 people are estimated to have been affected, and there are at least 30 dead. Six regions of the country have been hit, with the worst of the damage coming along the banks of the Dniester and Prut rivers.... (
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CWS Hotline - 08 Sep 2008: India, USA, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba
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-9.8.08- "It is a catastrophe far greater than the annual floods," says long-time Church World Service partner Church's Auxiliary for Social Action, of severe flooding in India.
More than two million people have been affected by floods caused by the overflowing Kosi River in Bihar, India--the worst flooding to hit the northeastern Indian region in decades. At least 70 people have been killed. The flooding has inundated towns and villages—even some that were considered "flood-safe areas" and that have not seen such floods for decades.
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The 10 eco-best fish
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-10.04.08- we’ve pulled together this short list of the 10 eco-best fish. Enjoy them often -- the fish below are either wild fish caught from healthy, well-managed populations using low-impact fishing gear, or they’re farmed fish raised in systems that control pollution, chemical use and escapes.
(And if you’re wondering what the 10 eco-worst fish are, we’ve got that list, too.)... (
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Hanna speeding up Atlantic coast
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MYRTLE BEACH,-9.7-08- South Carolina (CNN) -- After earning a reputation as a killer in Haiti, Tropical Storm Hanna amounted to little more than a windy rainstorm along the Atlantic Coast on Saturday.
No states have "expressed any damage that they couldn't handle," said Glenn Cannon, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's assistant administrator for disaster operations.
He said there were some concerns about flooding near rivers and in low-lying areas.
"We're monitoring Hanna, but it seems to be a heavy rain event," he said.
According to the Associated Press, Hanna did cause one death in a traffic accident on Interstate 95 in Maryland.... (
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Ike looms as Haiti counts the dead from 3 storms
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GONAIVES, Haiti (AP) -9.7.08- U.N. peacekeepers and aid groups are struggling to feed thousands left hungry by Tropical Storm Hanna, but are yet to reach thousands even as powerful Hurricane Ike approached Saturday with the likelihood of more rain.... (
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Tourists, residents ordered out of Keys as Ike strengthens
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-9.6.08- MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Visitors to the Florida Keys were told to pack up and leave Saturday because of the threat from Hurricane Ike, swirling in the Caribbean.
"We're sorry to interrupt their vacations, but we need visitors to leave the Keys to ensure their safety," said Keys Mayor Mario Di Gennaro, who also chairs the islands' Tourism Council. "We do hope they will return and understand our concerns for their well-being."
A couple of hours after the orders were announced, Ike strengthened to an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm with winds near 135 mph, said the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.
At 11 p.m. ET Saturday, Ike's center was near the Turks and Caicos Islands, moving west-southwest at 15 mph.
Florida emergency management officials began evacuating visitors from Key West and the rest of the Keys on Saturday and planned to help residents leave Sunday.... (
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Election 2008 - Your green guide to this presidential election
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-10.4.08- You want to know where the presidential candidates stand on offshore drilling, alternative energy investment and all things green. With the help of our friends at Grist.org and TheDailyGreen.com, we're pleased to offer you comprehensive guides to the candidates' platforms, voting records and more. Check back often -- we'll be adding coverage of the conventions, debates, vice-president selections and more as the election approaches.... (
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FLASH FLOOD: more casualties in North Vietnam
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-9.30.08- The flood swept out 672 houses and damaged another 17,792. It also ruined 14,088 ha of rice and other agricultural products.
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Heavy rain in South Korea
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(8.3.08)Torrential rain has lashed South Korea for much of this week giving rise to floods which have killed at least seven people and left scores more missing.
The rain started pounding many parts of the country on Wednesday and continued for the next few days. Flash floods inundated hundreds of homes, forcing families to evacuate and seek refuge in temporary shelters. More than 1,220 hectares of farmland have been washed away with large areas of paddy fields damaged.... (
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Environment Canada confirms Coboconk funnel cloud was a tornado
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(7.30.08)Environment Canada meteorologists have confirmed a funnel cloud over Shadow and Silver lakes in Coboconk on Saturday was a tornado.
Several area residents reported trees snapped in half or uprooted and Kawartha Lakes OPP also reported considerable damage to property. Miraculously, no one was hurt.
On Wednesday, severe-weather specialist Geoff Coulson said the storm was an F1 tornado on the Fujita scale, (named for the scientist who determined how to measure wind speeds in tornadoes). A funnel cloud must actually touch down on land to officially be classified as a twister, he said.... (
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Giant chunks break off Canadian ice shelf
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(7.29.08)OTTAWA (Reuters) - Giant sheets of ice totaling almost eight square miles broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic last week and more could follow later this year, scientists said on Tuesday.
Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen far faster than the global average in recent decades, a development that experts say is linked to global warming.
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Dozens still await rescue after weekend flood
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(7.29.08) RUIDOSO, N.M. - More than 75 people stranded by massive flooding in and around this mountain resort town still awaited rescue Tuesday, but spirits rose as missing people were accounted for and the region made it through a day without rain, authorities said.... (
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Typhoon kills one in Taiwan, heads for China
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(7.28.08)TAIPEI (Reuters) - A typhoon dumped up to 700 mm (28 ins) of rain on Taiwan on Monday, killing one person, injuring five, causing widespread flooding and closing businesses and financial markets.
Typhoon Fung-Wong, Chinese for phoenix, was expected to weaken into a tropical storm over the next 24 hours after it makes landfall in China.... (
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Saskatchewan 'up and over' yearly tornado average after four more twisters hit
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(7.28.08) SASKATOON — The summer isn't half done yet, but the number of tornado touchdowns in Saskatchewan is already more than the yearly average.
Environment Canada meteorologist Bob Cormier says 15 tornadoes have touched down in Saskatchewan so far this year - surpassing the long-term average of 12 tornadoes annually. Four twisters hit the province Sunday, although all were in remote areas and caused little damage.... (
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Disaster warning after floods kill 26 in Ukraine and Romania
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(7.28.08) KIEV (AFP) - Storms and floods in western Ukraine and neighbouring Romania have killed 26 people, forced the evacuation of tens of thousands and damaged scores of bridges, officials said Monday.
Romanian President Traian Basescu warned the region faced an "ecological disaster" if lakes containing potentially lethal mining waste were allowed to overspill in the north of his country.
Fifteen people were killed in the Ivano-Frankivsk region in southwest Ukraine while seven people were killed in Chernivtsy, the emergency situations ministry said in a statement.... (
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N.H. tornado caused severe damage in 9 towns
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(7.25.08) EPSOM, N.H. - A baby's cries led rescuers to the 3-month-old in the wreckage of a home flattened by a tornado that killed his grandmother and blew his grandfather into the yard, officials said Friday.
Brenda Stevens, 57, was the only person killed in Thursday's twister, which left a 20-mile-long swath of fallen trees and damaged homes in central New Hampshire.... (
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Lighting Strikes 10 People in Boston Area
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(7.21.08) Lighting struck and injured 10 people who were taking shelter from a powerful thunderstorm under a tree in Dorchester in the Boston area. The victims, spectators of a soccer game, were forced to seek shelter from the violent storm which swept across the region.
All the victims suffered severe burns and were rushed to the nearest hospital, local authorities said. All the victims were males; the youngest of them was a 13-year-old boy and the oldest was in his 40s. According to eyewitnesses, some of the victims were given cardiopulmonary resuscitation as the ambulances left the scene of the accident to the hospital. ... (
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Cristobal inches closer to North Carolina coast
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(7.20.08) CHARLESTON, South Carolina (CNN) -- Tropical storm Cristobal was forecast to move "parallel and very close" to the North Carolina coast Sunday morning, but the storm is not expected to make landfall along the eastern U.S. shores.
Satellite image taken at 1:15 p.m. Saturday shows Tropical Storm Cristobal off the coast of the Carolinas.
Satellite image taken at 1:15 p.m. Saturday shows Tropical Storm Cristobal off the coast of the Carolinas.
At 11 p.m. ET Saturday, the center of the storm was about 45 miles southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina, and about 170 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The National Hurricane Center said Cristobal was moving northeast at about 6 mph, with maximum sustained winds of about 45 mph and some higher gusts.... (
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Tropical Storm Dolly approaches Mexico
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(7.20.08) MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Tropical Storm Dolly headed toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Sunday evening while Tropical Storm Cristobal skirted the North Carolina's Outer Banks and headed away from the coast.
A satellite image shows Tropical Storm Dolly near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula at 10:15 p.m. ET Sunday.
Mexican authorities posted tropical storm warnings from the border with Belize northward to Campeche after Dolly emerged Sunday in the western Caribbean Sea.
At 8 p.m. ET, the storm was centered about 125 miles southeast of the resort island of Cozumel, moving northwest at nearly 14 mph with sustained winds of about 45 mph, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. ... (
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Fausto becomes hurricane off Mexico's Pacific coast
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- Tropical Storm Fausto has become a hurricane far off Mexico's Pacific coast, while two other tropical storms churn over the open ocean.
Fausto, here at 4:16 a.m. ET Friday, has become a hurricane far off Mexico's Pacific coast.
(7.18.08) The National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, said Friday that none of the storms are expected to threaten land.
Hurricane Fausto has maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).... (
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Death toll from storm ‘Helen’ rises to 2 - NDCC
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(7.17.08)MANILA, Philippines - The death toll from tropical storm "Helen" has risen to two as of Thursday noon, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).... (
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Tornado touches down near Vulcan
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(7.16.08) Residents south and east of Calgary are cleaning up after two powerful and dangerous storm cells moved through our province.
Environment Canada has confirmed a tornado did touch down near Vulcan.... (
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California Mudslide Damages Homes
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(7.14.08)INDEPENDENCE, Calif. (AP) — A huge mudslide on Sunday significantly damaged more than 50 homes and nearly destroyed a historical fish hatchery in an area scarred by last year’s wildfires.
Residents of the homes were evacuated to a nearby school serving as a shelter, said Carma Roper, a spokeswoman for the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office.
Severe thunderstorms on Saturday caused the mudslide, which was 300 yards wide and up to three feet deep, officials said.
U.S. 395 was closed for several hours in this remote town on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada about 90 miles east of Fresno. The California Highway Patrol later started shuttling small groups of vehicles through the mudslide area on a single open lane, Ms. Roper said.... (
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