Disasters

"President Barack Obama on Wednesday said the U.S. government has teams and supplies positioned to respond to Hurricane Matthew as the storm barrels toward Florida and other southeastern states." Millions were told to evacuate in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

"Florida and Georgia have also called states of emergency for a storm that has pounded the Caribbean."

"Hurricane Matthew assaulted Haiti’s southern coast with deadly fury on Tuesday, destroying homes and crops, sweeping away livestock and cutting off transportation as a large part of the Caribbean was pummeled by the storm’s 145-mile-per-hour winds and torrential rain."

"LES CAYES, Haiti -- Haitians living in vulnerable coastal shacks frantically sought shelter as the strongest Caribbean storm in nine years, Hurricane Matthew, closed in on the southwestern peninsula, sending storm surges, wind and rain into seaside towns."

"Southern California residents should remain on heightened alert until Tuesday for the increased possibility of a major earthquake, officials said."

"The United States prepared to airlift hundreds of people from its Guantanamo Bay naval base as the most powerful cyclone to form over the Atlantic since Hurricane Felix in 2007 ground slowly toward Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba."

"Hurricane Matthew has strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Friday."

"The Chemical Safety Board brought voted Wednesday evening to approve the final report and recommendations that were the result of a more than two and a half year investigation into a Charleston chemical leak."

"Firefighters worked to control a wildfire on Tuesday in the Santa Cruz Mountains south of San Francisco Bay area that has forced hundreds of residents to evacuate, despite its relatively small size, officials said."

"The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been called one of the worst environmental disasters in American history — and more than six years later, scientists are still investigating how much damage it actually caused. Now, a new study suggests the spill may have permanently marred one of the Gulf shore’s most important ecosystems. "