This paper evaluates whether mangroves can mitigate the impact of hurricanes on economic activity. The paper assembles a new, regionwide panel data set that measures local economic activity using nightlights, potential hurricane damages using a detailed hurricane windstorm model, and mangrove protection by mapping the width of mangrove forests on …
The full scale of the disaster unfolding in Houston and across large parts of Texas and Louisiana was emerging on Monday, as authorities warned that 30,000 people would be forced to seek shelter from an epic deluge of historic proportions. The official death toll from the catastrophe now stands at …
SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A Gulf of Mexico storm rapidly intensified on Thursday spinning into the potentially biggest hurricane to hit the mainland United States in 12 years and taking aim at the heart of nation’s oil refining industry. Hurricane Harvey is forecast to make landfall late Friday or early …
VERACRUZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Storm Franklin, now a Category 1 hurricane, is set to crash into eastern Mexico's key oil-producing Gulf state of Veracruz as the Atlantic's first hurricane of 2017, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday. Slideshow (5 Images) On Wednesday afternoon, the storm was located about …
Insurance is an underused way to help save lives in natural disasters and soften their impact on the poorest countries - and it needs to be better understood by governments and aid groups, said insurers, aid experts and government ministers on Thursday. About 1.5 million people have died in natural …
Natural disasters pose grave threats to electric grids and their ability to deliver reliable electricity to communities. Climate change, expanding populations, and insufficiently diversified sources make our energy future more unpredictable. This report explores how extreme weather and other natural catastrophes are evolving in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and examines …
U.S. weather forecasters on Thursday predicted more tropical storms in 2017 than normal for the Atlantic hurricane season, which last year brought one of the deadliest recorded storm systems that killed several hundred people. Meteorologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center said there was a 70 …
Hawaii will likely suffer more coastal flooding this week driven by record high tides, a symptom of global warming that could become routine within decades, scientists said Monday. After a high tide in April broke a 112-year record, combining with wave action to flood low-lying coastal areas, similar tides are …
The World Meteorological Organisation has revealed the deadliest weather events to have hit the planet. It found that the 1970 tropical cyclone that killed up to half a million people in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, was the all-time deadliest weather phenomenon to have struck anywhere in the world. The agency, …
The government of Costa Rica confirmed on Friday that Hurricane Otto had killed at least nine persons in the country, after the storm battered northern regions. The director of the country's legal investigation bureau, OJI, Walter Espinoza gave a press conference to explain the deaths had occurred in the areas …
Last December, more than 190 countries adopted the Paris Agreement. At least 55 countries representing minimum 55 per cent of global emissions need to formally join the agreement before it comes into force. US President Barack Obama has said the Paris climate deal would come into force much earlier than …
Severe hurricanes, storm surges and an increase in the number of icebergs are just some of the changes planet Earth has experienced due to warming oceans over the last 20 years, according to a new report. The report, Explaining ocean warming: causes, scales, effects and consequences, which was presented at …
A preview of things to come? Global warming and rising sea levels may be exacerbating the widespread flooding along the east coast of the US in the wake of Hurricane Hermine this week. The category 1 hurricane made landfall in Florida on Friday with wind speeds of 120 kilometres per …
Hurricane Newton barrelled across Mexico's Baja California peninsula tourist haven on Tuesday, dumping heavy rain and killing at least two people, officials said. Three people were missing. The Category 1 hurricane hit Cabo San Lucas early on Tuesday morning, then headed northwest. By evening, the storm had crossed the tourist …
The upper depths of the oceans of the Earth have warmed significantly over the last 20 years causing an increase in the number of severe hurricanes, storm surges, loss of ice and change in global weather patterns, according to a new report. The report which was presented at the IUCN …
A huge storm bearing down on the Pacific coast of Mexico has strengthened to a hurricane just hours before it is due to make landfall. Hurricane Newton is heading north-west towards the southern end of the Baja California peninsula with winds of about 75mph (120 km/h). The US National Hurricane …
Atlantic storm Hermine lurked off the middle of the U.S. East Coast late on Sunday, threatening to regain hurricane strength but so far sparing the region the brunt of its wind, rain and tidal surge. Forecasters warned the storm could produce deadly surf and ordered swimmers and boaters to stay …
The death toll from Typhoon Lionrock, which struck Japan on 29 August, has risen to 17 with several people still missing and a new tropical storm set to batter the southern islands. Officials announced on Sunday (4 September) that two more deaths have been confirmed on the main island of …
US president delivers two major speeches on climate change, on in Nevada, pleading with politicians to act in the interest of future generations Barack Obama has issued perhaps his most personal plea yet to overcome the existential threat posed by climate change. The US president gave two major speeches on …
Florida has had a remarkable run of gambler’s luck over the past decade. It’s been that long since a hurricane struck the state that usually gets them every two years. Since Hurricane Wilma made landfall at Cape Romano near the pointy end of the state in 2005, about 20 hurricanes …
BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Honduras must develop a long term approach to combat the impact of drought exacerbated by climate change and put the poorest and most vulnerable at the center of government initiatives and funding, a U.N. special envoy said. Two consecutive years of severe drought linked to …
