Yahoo! News: Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

• Tropical Storm Hubert kills 14 in Madagascar (AP)

  AP - Madagascar's disaster officials say at least 14 people have died and 32,000 have been affected by Tropical Storm Hubert.

• Report blasts firm overseeing Katrina recovery (AP)

  AP - An engineering firm hired to oversee the reconstruction of city buildings and infrastructure damaged by Hurricane Katrina has been overcharging the city, including billing for theater tickets and a flight to Las Vegas, an internal investigation found.

• Ex-New Orleans officer pleads in shooting cover-up (AP)

  AP - A second former New Orleans police officer pleaded guilty Thursday to covering up the deadly shooting of unarmed residents after Hurricane Katrina, with a judge calling the plot a "despicable" scheme that immeasurably compounded the storm's damage.

  
  

• Ex-policeman pleads guilty in Katrina killing case (Reuters)

  Reuters - A former New Orleans police detective who now works as a U.S. immigration agent has pleaded guilty to helping cover up the shooting deaths of two people by police days after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department said on Thursday.

• Hurricane season forecast: seven storms to reach land (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - America may have already had a “snowicane” this year, but now some weather forecasters are focusing on the real thing – you know, those monster storms with names like Donna or Andrew that pelt the coast with 100-mile-per-hour winds, massive amounts of rain, and tidal surges.

• Katrina victims seek to sue greenhouse gas emitters (AFP)

  AFP - Victims of Hurricane Katrina are seeking to sue carbon gas-emitting multinationals for helping fuel global warming and boosting the devastating 2005 storm, legal documents showed.

  
  

• Alternative Spring Breaks Combine Service, Learning (U.S. News & World Report)

  U.S. News & World Report - Instead of relaxing on white, sandy beaches this spring break, thousands of college students will travel around the globe to volunteer for a variety of social justice causes. Known as "alternative spring breaks," these are public-service-oriented trips, planned and led by students, that focus on volunteerism and education about social justice issues in the United States or overseas. From rebuilding homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina to tutoring students in a remote village in Ecuador, these trips can open students' eyes to issues both close to home and far away.

• Power restored in much of storm-battered Northeast (AP)

  AP - Many of the more than 1 million Northeastern homes and businesses plunged into the dark by a storm were running on electricity Monday, three days after the hard-hitting combination of snow, rain and hurricane-force winds.

  
  

• Europe storm death toll at 62; France hardest hit (AP)

  AP - Rescue workers in dinghies cruised flooded streets on France's Atlantic coast Monday, searching for people still trapped in their homes by storms that smashed through concrete sea walls and killed at least 62 people across Western Europe.

  
  

• Death toll hits 53 as storms lash Europe (AFP)

  AFP - Hurricane-force winds, surging seas and driving rain lashed western Europe on Sunday, leaving at least 53 people dead and more than a million households without power.

  
  

• Storm moves into France leaving three dead (AFP)

  AFP - A powerful storm packing hurricane-force winds moved north to the west coast of France on Sunday after lashing Spain and Portugal, killing at least three people and causing transport chaos.

  
  

• Three killed as storm lashes Spain, Portugal and France (AFP)

  AFP - A powerful storm packing hurricane-force winds lashed Spain, Portugal and France on Saturday, killing at least three people, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power and causing transport chaos.

  
  

• NH hotel fire fanned by strong wind destroys block (AP)

  AP - A fire that started in an unoccupied oceanfront hotel was fanned by hurricane-force winds and spread to several nearby buildings, engulfing and destroying an entire block of businesses on a stretch of Hampton Beach popular with summer tourists. No injuries were reported.

  
  

• Only plastic between Haiti homeless and storms (Reuters)

  Reuters - Seasonal rains and hurricanes spell trouble for Haiti in the best of times, but with hundreds of thousands of people living in flimsy makeshift shelters after last month's earthquake, this year the dangers are much greater.

  
  

• Number of storms may drop, but more could be intense, study says (The Christian Science Monitor)

  The Christian Science Monitor - The number of hurricanes, typhoons, and tropical storms globally is likely to either fall or remain flat over the course of the 21st century. But an increasing proportion of the storms are likely to hit the highest levels of intensity because of the projected effects of global warming, an international team of scientists concludes.

• Study: Warming to bring stronger hurricanes (AP)

  AP - Top researchers now agree that the world is likely to get stronger but fewer hurricanes in the future because of global warming, seeming to settle a scientific debate on the subject. But they say there's not enough evidence yet to tell whether that effect has already begun.

  
  

• HUD: Redevelopment of razed public housing at risk (AP)

  AP - Nearly two years after the contentious bulldozing of large tracts of public housing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a federal report now says that the planned redevelopment of a large portion of that land is in jeopardy.

• Galveston fears post-Ike Census means lost funds (AP)

  AP - Nearly 1 1/2 years after Hurricane Ike battered Galveston, this southeast Texas island community fears the natural disaster could land another harsh blow.

  
  

• Cyclone misses American Samoa, turns toward Tonga (AP)

  AP - A powerful tropical storm missed American Samoa early Saturday morning, causing heavy rains and high winds but sparing more devastation to the U.S. territory battered by a deadly autumn tsunami.

  
  

• Ex-employees sue Blackwater, allege overbilling (AP)

  AP - Two former Blackwater Worldwide employees say the security company repeatedly billed the U.S. government for excessive or inappropriate expenses, including a prostitute for workers in Afghanistan and strippers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.