Disasters

"A mandatory evacuation order issued after a series of explosions at a Texas chemical plant has been lifted, a county official said Friday morning."

"The monsoon is central to Indian life and lore. ... Climate change is now messing with the monsoon, making seasonal rains more intense and less predictable. Worse, decades of short-sighted government policies are leaving millions of Indians defenseless in the age of climate disruptions – especially the poor."

"A brutal “king tides” season made worse by climate change has flooded the streets of a Florida Keys community for nearly three months."

"Lax regulation, austerity and climate change are setting the stage for another catastrophe."

"Pigeon Creek flows through a narrow mountain hollow along a string of coal mining communities, its water trickling under the reds and yellows of the changing fall foliage. The tranquil scene belies the devastation the creek delivered one night a decade ago as heavy rain fell on soggy soil and thousands of acres of nearby strip mines."

"The Environmental Protection Agency weakened a rule Thursday governing how companies store dangerous chemicals. The standards were enacted under President Barack Obama in the wake of a 2013 explosion in West, Tex., that killed 15 people, including 12 first responders."

"A bill approved by the House of Representatives could improve the nation's disaster-resilience by requiring communities to use stronger building codes when they spend federal funds to restore damaged structures."

"The Great Recession put millions of homeowners underwater on their mortgages. Since then, the Congress has required periodic “stress tests” on large financial institutions to see whether they could withstand another economic blow."

"Legislation that would create heftier penalties for unsafe pipeline operation and new requirements for gas and hazardous liquid pipelines made its way out of the House Energy committee on the strength of the Democratic majority Nov. 19."

"At least 60 percent of U.S. Superfund sites are in areas vulnerable to flooding or other worsening disasters of climate change, and the Trump administration’s reluctance to directly acknowledge global warming is deterring efforts to safeguard them, a congressional watchdog agency says."