Disasters

"The agency recently said that it had reached 101% of its firefighter hiring goal for 2024, but those on the front lines say the agency is understating how badly depleted their ranks are, especially for experienced firefighters."

"Parts of the Arctic are enduring exceptionally high temperatures — up 30 to 40 degrees above normal — because of multiple intense heat domes."

"Deaths from heat are notoriously difficult to quantify because of how complex and subjective the process is. It leaves officials with an incomplete picture of who heat kills."

"Hurricane Debby left billions of dollars of damage in its wake as it moved across the southeastern U.S. last week — losses made all the more devastating because so many of them may have been uninsured."

"About half of all homes and businesses on Puerto Rico were without power on Wednesday as Hurricane Ernesto churned north into the warm waters of the Atlantic after dumping torrential rain on the U.S. territory."

"Former President Trump on Monday night said climate change is not “the biggest threat” and claimed it would create “more oceanfront property.”

"The delicate balance of one of the planet’s largest natural systems for storing carbon depends on the humble black spruce tree."

"In Gaza, the sky is full of menace. As well as the missiles that rain down on schools and shelters, the brutal rays of the sun have made the summer unbearable for those struggling to survive in a ravaged landscape of ruins and rubble."

"Tropical Storm Ernesto is edging closer to becoming a dangerous hurricane early Wednesday as it skirts Puerto Rico, unleashing flooding rainfall and heavy winds that could strike a sweeping blow to the island’s ailing power infrastructure."

"Greece's worst wildfire this year spread into the Athens suburbs on Monday, forcing hundreds of people to flee as it torched trees, homes and cars and choked busy roads with smoke and ash."