August 30, 2010
A volcano in western Indonesia on the Island of Sumatra spewed hot lava and sand high into the sky early Sunday in its first eruption in 400 years. Government volcanologist Surono, who uses only one name, said Mount Sinabung in …
August 30, 2010
Hurricane Earl has strengthened into a major Category 3 storm Monday and could arrive off the East Coast of the U.S. by the end of this week. It is currently rocking the Caribbean’s Northern Leeward Islands. The National Hurricane Center …
August 30, 2010
Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina caused an estimated 1,300 tragic deaths as well as $41.1 billion in insured losses across six states. Louisiana and Mississippi suffered the brunt of Katrina’s wrath followed by Alabama. As we commemorate this terrible event …
August 27, 2010
Writing about the landfall of Hurricane Katrina five years ago, essayist Ellis Anderson of Mississippi likened the communities along the gulf to a string of pearls. “Then, in August 2005, in the course of a single morning, Katrina severed the …
August 26, 2010
Hurricane Danielle has recovered some strength, and is once again a “category two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale,” according to the most recent bulletin from the National Hurricane Center in Miami at 11:00 a.m. AST. The storm is …
August 26, 2010
The U.S. National Hurricane Center is reporting that Hurricane Danielle is still a category two hurricane, with sustained winds of 105 miles per hour, and that it is expected to strengthen somewhat in the next 24 hours. As of early …
August 26, 2010
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said his department is better able to quickly respond to disasters now, five years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast. FEMA was widely pilloried in the days after the 2005 …
August 26, 2010
Controlling urban growth and increasing forested land are the most effective ways to decrease future water runoff and flooding, according to a Purdue University study. Bryan Pijanowski, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources, used a model to simulate …
August 25, 2010
The latest bulletin, issued at 5:00 a.m. AST by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, notes that Hurricane Danielle has weakened slightly, with “maximum sustained winds near 85 mph, 140 km/hr. with higher gusts.” The storm is presently a category …
August 25, 2010
A bulletin on the Lloyd’s of London web site (www.lloyds.com) warns that a “major transformer failure can wreak havoc, causing power shortages or outages affecting millions of homes and businesses and costing many millions of pounds.” Transformers are an essential …