Disasters

"An Oklahoma oil company is challenging the state’s limits on drilling wastewater injections that came in response to a sharp increase in earthquakes."

"There are more than 87,000 dams in America and, like most infrastructure, they go largely unnoticed — until something goes wrong. That was the case in and around South Carolina's capital this week, when at least 20 dams collapsed during catastrophic floods."

"Hundreds of Wyoming residents were forced to flee a wind-driven wildfire that destroyed at least 10 homes even as a separate blaze in neighboring Idaho burned several cabins to the ground and prompted dozens to evacuate, fire managers said on Monday."

"Evidence is mounting that the El Nino ocean-warming phenomenon in the Pacific will spawn a rainy winter in California, potentially easing the state's punishing drought but also bringing the risk of chaotic storms like those that battered the region in the late 1990s."

"South Carolina's governor warned on Thursday that several coastal areas were about to be hit by a second round of major flooding, while residents inland hauled soaked furniture and appliances from homes left in ruins by unprecedented rainfall."

"COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Flooding from historic rainfall in South Carolina claimed two more lives on Wednesday, and the threat of further inundation from swollen rivers and vulnerable dams put already ravaged communities on edge."

"The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday ended its search for missing crew of the cargo ship El Faro that sank off the Bahamas last week after sailing into the path of Hurricane Joaquin."

"Some 60 million people across sub-Saharan Africa are already going hungry and the situation could deteriorate dramatically as climate phenomena hike the risk of drought, the Red Cross said Monday."

"The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the sinking of a cargo ship that vanished five days ago near the Bahamas. The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday said the ship sank in the brutal seas and high winds of Hurricane Joaquin."

"At least 18 dams have breached or failed in South Carolina since Saturday, the state's emergency management agency said early Tuesday."