Disasters

After a mild and dry Christmas Day, a fierce blizzard whipped across the rolling plains of West Texas and eastern New Mexico. The wind blew mercilessly for 48 hours, leaving snow drifts as high as 14 feet."

"Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday ordered new regulations, including stepped-up inspections and safety measures, for all natural gas storage facilities in California in response to the continuing leak that has displaced thousands of people in the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles."

"After the oil industry won a victory by persuading Congress to end a 40-year-old ban on the export of crude, it is far from clear what the impact will be on oil-filled tanker trains traveling through New Jersey."

"After a year of hype and hope, El Niño's punch is finally arriving in California, bringing a series of storms to soak the Bay Area and most of the rest of the drought-stricken state through this week and probably into next."

"Warnings of high rivers and large coastal waves have been issued as persistent wind and rain batter parts of Scotland."

"Residents of flooded areas in far southern Illinois anxiously waited for the swollen Mississippi River to peak on Sunday, with hundreds electing to remain in their homes, as states downstream prepared for the rising waters."

"Hundreds of homes have been evacuated and thousands left without power in Scotland and Northern Ireland as Storm Frank brings torrential rain and gales."

"Rain-swollen rivers across Missouri were still rising on Wednesday, with widespread flooding forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people, closing part of a major interstate highway and threatening to wash out scores of structures."

"Contractors at Entergy's Waterford 3 nuclear power plant on the west bank of St. Charles Parish failed to conduct required hourly fire inspections and falsified records for 10 months to show the inspections occurred, according to the results of a 15-month-long investigation announced Wednesday (Dec. 23) by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission."