Disasters

"Call it a smoke front. That’s what it looks like from space on weather satellites and here on the ground on air quality monitors."

"Smoky days can double emergency hospital visits for asthma, which disproportionately affects Black and Latino children. In New York, the Bronx was especially hard hit."

"A jury on Wednesday ordered the electric utility PacifiCorp to pay punitive damages for causing devastating wildfires in Oregon in 2020 — on top of an earlier verdict already expected to amount to billions of dollars."

"A disastrous breach in Ukraine's huge Kakhovka dam has further stoked alarm over the safety of the nearby Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has for months been a target of shelling due to its proximity to military front lines."

"Temperatures around the world this month have been at their highest levels in decades for this time of year."

"Tens of thousands of fish washed ashore along the gulf coast of Texas starting on Friday after being starved of oxygen in warm water, officials said."

"India and Pakistan braced for the first severe cyclone this year expected to hit their coastal regions later this week, as authorities on Monday halted fishing activities, deployed rescue personnel and announced evacuation plans for those at risk."

"As insurance companies scale back coverage in disaster-prone states because climate risks have become too costly, U.S. lawmakers have launched an investigation into seven major carriers for continuing to insure and invest billions of dollars in fossil fuel projects, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post."

"“If we’re not outside, then we don’t make money,” said a pedicab driver in Central Park, echoing the view of many workers who pressed on despite warnings about harmful air quality".

"The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam was a fast-moving disaster that is swiftly evolving into a long-term environmental catastrophe affecting drinking water, food supplies and ecosystems reaching into the Black Sea."