Disasters

"The soaring cost of home insurance has consumed the town of Paradise, residents and officials say, as it prepares to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the Nov. 8, 2018, Camp Fire. Residents have received annual premiums that near or exceed $10,000 — leaving many to wonder how they’re supposed to rebuild their hard-hit community when insurance is so shockingly high for houses in an area that is supposed to be among the most affordable in California."

"The vast floating ice platforms of northern Greenland, unrivaled features of the Northern Hemisphere that keep our seas lower by holding back many trillion tons of ice, are in stark decline, according to new scientific research published Tuesday."

"When Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle five years ago, it left boats, cars and trucks piled up to the windows of Bonny Paulson’s home in the tiny coastal community of Mexico Beach, Florida, even though the house rests on pillars 14 feet above the ground. But Paulson’s home, with a rounded shape that looks something like a ship, shrugged off Category 5 winds that might otherwise have collapsed it."

"This flood-prone city on the Hudson River has bundled water-absorbing infrastructure into benefits residents asked for, like parks and safer streets."

"The UN Environment Programme (Unep) report estimated that between $215bn and $387bn a year is needed for climate adaptation in poor and vulnerable countries alone this decade. However, funding fell by 15% – to just $21bn – in 2021, the report said."

"Climate change poses a health threat through increasing weather disasters and extreme heat, the UN said Thursday, calling for better warning systems that could be weaved into public health policy."

"Insurers are already pulling back from California, Florida and Louisiana. Senate Democrats are trying to find out which states could be next."

"Hundreds of firefighters aided by aircraft on Tuesday battled a wind-driven wildfire that damaged or destroyed at least nine buildings in rural Southern California and prompted authorities to order 4,000 residents to evacuate."

It was the dead of night when the ship caught fire, Patrick Aganyebi remembers, but the flames made it seem as bright as day. ... Five workers were killed and two others presumed dead in the blast on the Trinity Spirit, a rusting converted oil tanker anchored 15 miles (24 km) off the coast of Nigeria that pulled crude oil from the ocean floor."