Disasters

"Posting on the social media site he owns, Mr. Musk blamed the fires on government. Scientists said a warming planet set the conditions."

"It’s too soon to know the financial cost of the wildfires burning around Los Angeles. But the toll on California’s troubled insurance market could be enormous."

"Southern California is experiencing it’s most devastating winter fires in more than four decades. Fires don’t usually blaze at this time of year, but specific ingredients have come together to defy the calendar in a fast and deadly manner."

"The Palisades fire had grown to more than 2,900 acres as of Tuesday evening, driven by ‘life-threatening and destructive’ winds. The extreme wind event blasting Southern California is forecast to peak between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m."

"A top aide to the president-elect wants tighter control over the National Climate Assessment." "Scientists and climate policy experts say the proposed changes — which are being pushed by aides to President-elect Donald Trump — run the risk of undermining a foundational reference for government officials. And they say it could make it harder to craft future U.S. policies to address global warming."

"Carmen, her husband and three children were sound asleep in their western North Carolina home when she heard her phone ring that late September morning. It was her brother-in-law alerting the family to downed trees, powerlines and homes destroyed by historic rain and strong winds from Hurricane Helene."

"Insurance companies that stopped providing home coverage to hundreds of thousands of Californians in recent years as wildfires became more destructive will have to again provide policies in fire-prone areas if they want to keep doing business in California under a state regulation announced Monday."

"Even as groundwater levels have rapidly declined in farming regions from California’s Central Valley to the High Plains, the federal government has mostly taken a hands-off approach to the chronic depletion of the nation’s aquifers. But in a new report for the White House, scientists say the country is facing serious and unprecedented groundwater challenges that call for the federal government to play a larger role."