Natural Disasters News

The violent tornado outbreaks of the past several days, including the killer twister that hit Moore, Okla., on Monday, have shattered the calm of what had been a very quiet tornado season so far.

A mammoth tornado carved a trail of destruction through the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, killing at least 51 people and ripping apart two elementary schools today, local authorities said.

Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

Citing a lack of leads, a police agency said Monday that it is closing the active investigation of the disappearance of Susan Powell, a Utah mother whose now-dead husband was a prime suspect Police say they believe a missing Utah woman's brother-in-law was "heavily involved" in getting rid of her body.

Deadly tornadoes that have raked communities in Middle America over the past week, including Monday's massive twister that carved a path of destruction through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, belie what had been a relatively quiet start of the 2013 tornado season.

A Concord woman was arrested Sunday evening on suspicion of arson after police say she used a lighter to set fire to a hillside that in turn sparked a four-acre burn.

A rash of tornadoes destroyed homes and tossed trees around like toothpicks as it ripped through Oklahoma and the Midwest on Sunday and Monday.

More than a decade ago, British parents refused to give measles shots to at least a million children because of a vaccine scare that raised the specter of autism.

The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 has struck off the coast of Chile.

Crews continue to build containment lines around a wildfire burning for a fourth day in the hills and mountains around Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles.

A massive storm front swept north through the central United States on Sunday, hammering the region with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes , including a half-mile wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City.

Tornadoes touched down in two states on Sunday, ripping roofs off homes and turning trees to matchsticks, as severe weather swept the region.

A large and extremely dangerous tornado was reported near Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, in Wichita, Kansas, on Sunday evening, the National Weather Service said.

Owners of the Habitat for Humanity homes outside of Granbury, Texas, endured months of scrutiny and background checks, invested 300 hours of house-building labor and waited a full year for a chance to own their own home.

One of Alaska's most restless volcanoes shot an ash cloud 15,000 feet into the air Friday in an ongoing eruption that is visible for miles when the weather allows.

The blaze broke out around 1:30 p.m. Friday along the southbound 5 Freeway near Castaic Road.

The National Weather Service, in a survey released Saturday, says all tornadoes had winds of 90 mph to 100 mph.

Alaska's remote Pavlof Volcano has been shooting lava hundreds of feet into the air, but its ash plume is thinning and is no longer making it dangerous for airplanes to fly nearby.

An earthquake with a magnitude measured at 5.9 by Japan's Meteorological Agency has struck the northeast of the country.

People on both sides of the border felt an earthquake originating around the Quebec and Ontario borders, the Canadian government said.