Yahoo! News: Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

• Hurricane season ending after record damage in US (AFP)

  AFP - The Atlantic hurricane season in 2008 is coming to a close after producing 16 storms, including eight hurricanes, and inflicting record damage in the United States, a report by university researchers said on Wednesday.

  
  

• Tropical storm hits Vietnam, casualties feared (Reuters)

  Reuters - A tropical storm hit central Vietnam on Monday, threatening severe floods, landslides and substantial damage to coffee output from the world's second-largest producer of the crop.

• Thousands evacuate as Vietnam braces for storm (AP)

  AP - Vietnam called its fishermen ashore and began evacuating 80,000 people from high-risk areas as a tropical storm churned toward the country's southern coast Monday.

• California fires destroy 1,000 homes, winds ease (Reuters)

  Reuters - Wildfires hop-scotched around Southern California on Sunday although calmer winds slowed flames that have destroyed almost 1,000 houses, forced tens of thousands to evacuate and turned some neighborhoods into scenes resembling war zones.

  
  

• Southern California battles devastating wildfires (AP)

  AP - Southern Californians weathered a second straight day of devastation Saturday as wind-blasted wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes, shut down major freeways and forced thousands of residents in the path of flames to flee to safety.

  
  

• Many Texans calling tents home 2 months after Ike (AP)

  AP - Truong Van Cao and two other fishermen share a cramped, muddy tent amid the wreckage of homes, including his own, destroyed when Hurricane Ike stormed across this tiny Southeast Texas town.

  
  

• Ky. farmers manage solid yields despite weather (AP)

  AP - Roller-coaster weather that included a soggy spring, hurricane-induced winds and drought had Kentucky grain farmers expecting the worst for this year's harvest.

• Etc. (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - There's plenty of super food down yonder in New OrleansNew Orleans may still be in recovery mode from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but its reputation as a food lover's paradise is undiminished. The iExplore travel website has recognized the Big Easy as the world's best culinary destination.

• Lawsuit claims discrimination in Katrina recovery (AP)

  AP - A group of civil rights attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday claiming racial discrimination by the Louisiana Road Home program, an already troubled $10.3 billion effort designed to help Hurricane Katrina victims rebuild their storm-damaged homes.

• Man gets prison over FEMA trailer refurbish scheme (AP)

  AP - A man who advertised a bogus investment plan to buy and refurbish FEMA trailers used after hurricanes Katrina and Rita is going to prison.

• Raul Castro says Cuban storm losses near $10 billion (Reuters)

  Reuters - Cuba has suffered almost $10 billion in damages from the three hurricanes that struck the island this year, President Raul Castro said in a report aired on Tuesday on state-run television.

  
  

• Man vs. nature: huricanes usually beat utilities (AP)

  AP - From the Gulf Coast to Ohio, the only thing louder than the howling winds from hurricanes this year were the complaints about how long it took to get the lights back on.

  
  

• Texas House panel studies response to hurricane (AP)

  AP - Hurricane Ike left thousands homeless, millions without power and destroyed houses and businesses along the Texas Gulf Coast. But it also gave state and local governments a chance to learn from their mistakes during a natural disaster.

• Report: Cotton production to drop nearly a third (AP)

  AP - U.S. cotton production is expected to drop to 13.5 million bales this year, down nearly a third from last year, after farmers planted fewer acres in favor of higher-priced crops and took a hit along the Gulf Coast from hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

• Paloma dissipating after ravaging central Cuba (AP)

  AP - Thousands of Cubans returned to homes demolished by Hurricane Paloma even as the once-powerful storm dissipated off the coast on Monday.

  
  

• Paloma weakens to tropical depression as it passes over Cuba (AFP)

  AFP - Storm-weary Cuba assessed the damage Sunday from Hurricane Paloma, which pounded the island just weeks after deadly storms Gustav and Ike claimed hundreds of lives and exacted millions of dollars in rebuilding costs.

  
  

• Paloma downgraded to tropical depression (Reuters)

  Reuters - Paloma lost its punch as it stalled over Cuba on Sunday and was downgraded to a tropical depression after coming ashore as a powerful hurricane that battered the island still recovering from two earlier storms.

  
  

• Hurricane Paloma weakens further to Category One (AFP)

  AFP - Hurricane Paloma weakened further early Sunday to a Category One storm as it moved across Cuba, the US National Hurricane Center said.

  
  

• Congo rebel leader Nkunda vows to keep fighting (AP)

  AP - High in the mist-shrouded Mushaki mountains, amid a drenching tropical storm, the rebel leader swept into the crumbling brick farmhouse, his sinewy frame swathed in a red-and-black shawl — dutifully followed by a pet lamb called Betty.

  
  

• Hurricane Paloma makes landfall in Cuba: meteorologists (AFP)

  AFP - Dangerous Hurricane Paloma made landfall Saturday on Cuba's southeast coast as a powerful Category 3 storm, the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center reported.