North Carolina News

By RAF CASERT , Associated Press BRUSSELS — Just as the European Union was announcing plans to spend billions of euros to contain climate change, massive clouds gathered over Germany and nearby nations to unleash an unprecedented storm that left death and destruction in its wake. Despite ample warnings, politicians and weather forecasters were shocked at the ferocity of the precipitation that caused flash flooding that claimed more than 150 lives this week in the…

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore. — Smoke and heat from a massive wildfire in southeastern Oregon are creating giant “fire clouds” over the blaze — dangerous columns of smoke and ash that can reach up to 6 miles (10 kilometers) in the sky and are visible from more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) away. Authorities have put these clouds at the top of the list of the extreme fire behavior they are seeing…

By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press BERLIN — In one flooded German town, the ground collapsed under family homes. In another, floodwaters swept through an assisted living center, killing 12. Rescue workers across Germany and Belgium rushed Friday to prevent more deaths from some of the Continent’s worst flooding in years as the number of dead surpassed 125 and the search went on for hundreds of missing people. Fueled by days of heavy rain, the floodwaters…

By ED WHITE, Associated Press DETROIT — Steady rain drenched the Detroit area Friday, flooding highways and raising the anxiety of frustrated residents whose homes filled with water again exactly three weeks after thousands of basements were wrecked by sewage from a tremendous storm. A downtown ramp to M-10, known as the Lodge Freeway, was below water and closed, while sections of Interstate 94 in Detroit and suburbs were also flooded. The National Weather Service…

By Jessica Patrick, WRAL multiplatform producer Raleigh, N.C. — The State Emergency Response Commission met Friday for updates on hurricane season, recent disruption to the Colonial Pipeline, COVID-19 vaccination rates and other emergency preparedness items. The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1 and runs until Nov. 30, and the state is ready to respond to possible flooding and other disasters after a record-breaking 2020 season. The 2021 season is expected to be above…

BERLIN — At least 110 people have died in devastating floods across parts of western Germany and Belgium, officials said Friday, as search and rescue operations continued for hundreds more still unaccounted for or in danger. Authorities in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate said 60 people had died there, including 12 residents of an assisted living facility for people with disabilities in the town of Sinzig who were surprised by a sudden rush of water…

By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press BERLIN — More than 60 people have died and dozens were missing Thursday as severe flooding in Germany and Belgium turned streams and streets into raging torrents that swept away cars and caused houses to collapse. Among those killed were nine residents of an assisted living facility for people with disabilities and two firefighters involved in rescue efforts across the region. “I grieve for those who have lost their lives…

NEW YORK — Coastal communities in the United States, be forewarned. A “dramatic” surge in high-tide floods is just over a decade away in the US, according to NASA. The rapid increase will start in the mid-2030s, when a lunar cycle will amplify rising sea levels caused by the climate crisis, found a new study led by the members of the NASA Sea Level Change Science Team from the University of Hawaii. Only far northern…

By The Associated Press ANKARA, Turkey — At least six people have been killed and two people are missing after heavy rains hit Turkey’s northeastern Black Sea coast, triggering floods and landslides, Turkey’s health minister said Thursday. The heavy downpour struck the tea-growing province of Rize late on Wednesday, sweeping away cars and causing a number of houses to collapse. Video images from the region also showed mudslides destroying tea plantations. A 75-year-old woman was…

By NATHAN HOWARD and SARA CLINE, Associated Press BLY, Ore. — Fierce wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are threatening Native American lands that already are struggling to conserve water and preserve traditional hunting grounds amid a historic drought in the U.S. West. Blazes in Oregon and Washington state were among some 60 large, active wildfires that have destroyed homes and burned through about 1,562 square miles (4,047 square kilometers) in a dozen mostly Western states,…

By JOHN ANTCZAK and CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Wildfires that torched homes and forced thousands to evacuate burned across 10 parched Western states on Tuesday, and the largest, in Oregon, threatened California’s power supply. Nearly 60 wildfires tore through bone-dry timber and brush from Alaska to Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Arizona, Idaho and Montana accounted for more than half of the large active fires. The fires erupted as…