JAKARTA, Indonesia — Rescue workers dug through tons of mud and rubble on Tuesday as they searched for dozens of missing people after a landslide hit an unauthorized gold mining area on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 23 people.
More than 100 villagers were digging for grains of gold on Sunday in the remote and hilly village of Bone Bolango when tons of mud plunged down the surrounding hills and buried their makeshift camps, said Heriyanto, head of the provincial Search and Rescue Office.
Rescuers recovered more bodies on Tuesday in the devastated hamlet where the gold mine is located.
“Improved weather allowed us to recover more bodies,” said Heriyanto, who goes by a single name like many Indonesians.
According to his office, 66 villagers managed to escape from the landslide, 23 were pulled out alive by rescuers, including 18 with injuries, and 23 bodies were recovered, including three women and a 4-year-old boy. About 35 others were missing, it said.
National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said torrential rains that have pounded the mountainous district since Saturday triggered the landslide and broke an embankment, causing floods up to the roofs of houses in five villages in Bone Bolango, which is part of a mountainous district in Gorontalo province. Nearly 300 houses were affected and more than 1,000 people fled for safety.
Authorities deployed more than 200 rescuers, including police and military personnel, with heavy equipment to search for the dead and missing in a rescue operation that has been hampered by heavy rains, unstable soil, and rugged, forested terrain, said Afifuddin Ilahude, a local rescue official.
“With many missing and some remote areas still unreachable, the death toll is likely to rise,” Ilahude said, adding that sniffer dogs were being mobilized in the search.
Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency show rescue personnel using farm tools and their bare hands to pull a mud-caked body from the thick mud and placing it in a black bag to take away for burial.
Monsoon rains cause frequent landslides and flash floods in Indonesia, an archipelago nation of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near floodplains.
Informal mining operations are common in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to thousands who labor in conditions with a high risk of serious injury or death. Landslides, flooding and collapses of tunnels are just some of the hazards facing miners. Much of gold ore processing involves highly toxic mercury and cyanide and workers frequently use little or no protection.
The country’s last major mining-related accident occurred in April 2022, when a landslide crashed onto an illegal traditional gold mine in North Sumatra’s Mandailing Natal district, killing 12 women who were looking for gold.
In February 2019, a makeshift wooden structure in an illegal gold mine in North Sulawesi province collapsed due to shifting soil and the large number of mining holes. More than 40 people were buried and died.
MATAGORDA, Texas — Power outages are mounting along the Texas coast after Beryl came ashore Monday and lashed Houston with heavy rains and powerful winds as the storm moved inland.
More than 1 million homes and businesses were without power hours after Beryl made landfall, according to CenterPoint Energy in Houston. High waters quickly began to close streets across Houston and flood warnings were in effect across a wide stretch of the Texas coast.
The National Weather Service expected Beryl to weaken to a tropical storm Monday and a tropical depression Tuesday, forecasting a turn to the northeast and increase in speed Monday night and Tuesday. The storm reached the U.S. after leaving a trail of destruction over the last week in Mexico and the Caribbean.
The storm’s center hit land as a Category 1 hurricane around 4 a.m. about 85 miles southwest of Houston with top sustained winds of 80 mph (128.7 kph) while moving north at 12 mph (19.3 kph), the National Weather Service reported. On Monday morning, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).
High waters quickly began closing roads around Houston, which was again under flood warnings after heavy storms in recent months washed out neighborhoods and knocked out power across the nation’s fourth-largest city.
More than 1,000 flights have been canceled at Houston’s two airports, according to tracking data from FlightAware.
Beryl dumped soaking rains across Houston after coming ashore and was expected to bring damaging winds into East Texas, near Louisiana, as the storm pushed north after making landfall.
“Beryl’s moving inland but this is not the end of the story yet,” said Jack Beven, senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center.
Beryl strengthened and became a hurricane again late Sunday. The storm had weakened after leaving a path of deadly destruction through parts of Mexico and the Caribbean.
A hurricane warning remains in effect for the Texas coast from Mesquite Bay north to Port Bolivar, the center said.
The storm’s center is expected to move over eastern Texas on Monday and then through the lower Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday, the weather service said.
People on the Texas coast boarded up windows and left beach towns under an evacuation order. As the storm neared the coast Sunday, Texas officials warned of power outages and flooding but also expressed worry that not enough residents and beach vacationers in Beryl’s path had heeded warnings to leave.
“One of the things that kind of trigger our concern a little bit, we’ve looked at all of the roads leaving the coast and the maps are still green,” said Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is serving as the state’s acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is travelling overseas. “So we don’t see many people leaving.”
Tropical storm winds extended 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the center and the hurricane center warned residents to be prepared for possible flash flooding in parts of middle, upper and eastern Texas as well as Arkansas as the storm gradually turns to the north and then northeast later Monday.
Along the Texas coast, many residents and business owners took the typical storm precautions but also expressed uncertainty about the storm’s intensity.
In Port Lavaca, Jimmy May fastened plywood over the windows of his electrical supply company and said he wasn’t concerned about the possible storm surge. He recalled his business had escaped flooding in a previous hurricane that brought a 20-foot (6-meter) storm surge.
“In town, you know, if you’re in the low-lying areas, obviously, you need to get out of there,” he said.
At the nearby marina, Percy Roberts showed his neighbor Ken Waller how to properly secure his boat as heavy winds rolled in from the bay Sunday evening.
“This is actually going to be the first hurricane I’m going to be experiencing,” Waller said, noting he is a little nervous but feels safe following Roberts’ lead. “Pray for the best but expect the worst, I guess.”
The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. The storm ripped off doors, windows and roofs with devastating winds and storm surge fueled by the Atlantic’s record warmth.
Three times during its one week of life, Beryl has gained 35 mph (56 kph) in wind speed in 24 hours or less, the official weather service definition of rapid intensification.
Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm indicates the hot water of the Atlantic and Caribbean and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the rest of the storm season, experts said.
Texas officials warned people along the entire coastline to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind. The hurricane warning extended from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston.
Beryl lurked as another potential heavy rain event for Houston, where storms in recent months have knocked out power across the nation’s fourth-largest city and flooded neighborhoods. A flash flood watch was in effect for a wide swath of the Texas coast, where forecasters expected Beryl to dump as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain in some areas.
Potential storm surges between 4 and 7 feet (1.22 and 2.13 meters) above ground level were forecast around Matagorda. The warnings extended to the same coastal areas where Hurricane Harvey came ashore in 2017 as a Category 4 hurricane, far more powerful than Beryl’s expected intensity by the time the storm reaches landfall.
Those looking to catch a flight out of the area found a closing window for air travel as Beryl moved closer. Hundreds of flights from Houston’s two major commercial airports were delayed by midafternoon Sunday and dozens more canceled, according to FlightAware data.
In Corpus Christi, officials asked visitors to cut their trips short and return home early if possible. Residents were advised to secure homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to guard against possible flooding.
The White House said Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had sent emergency responders, search-and-rescue teams, bottled water and other resources along the coast.
Several coastal counties called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas that are prone to flooding. Local officials also banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the Fourth of July holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks.
Beryl battered Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane last week, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.
Before hitting Mexico, Beryl wrought destruction in Jamaica, Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Three people were reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.
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Gonzalez reported from McAllen, Texas. Associated Press reporters Margery A. Beck in Omaha, Nebraska, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Julie Walker in New York contributed.
MATAGORDA, Texas — Texas officials are telling coastal residents to expect power outages and floodings as Beryl was forecast to regain hurricane strength before making landfall early Monday.
The outer bands of Beryl began lashing communities along the Texas shoreline on Sunday, bringing rain and intensifying winds. The storm was projected to make landfall around the coastal town of Matagorda, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Houston, but officials warned that the path could still change.
Nim Kidd, the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, said residents along the coast should expect power outages as Beryl comes ashore.
Much of Texas’ shoreline was under a hurricane warning and officials in several coastal counties urged tourists along the beach for the Fourth of the July holiday to leave.
The earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl caused at least 11 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean on its way to Texas. The storm ripped off doors, windows and roofs with devastating winds and storm surge fueled by the Atlantic’s record warmth.
“We’re seeing the outer bands of Beryl approach the Texas coast now and the weather should be going downhill especially this afternoon and evening,” Eric Blake, a senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, said Sunday morning. “People should definitely be in their safe space by nightfall and we’re expecting the hurricane to make landfall somewhere in the middle Texas coast overnight.”
Beryl would be the 10th hurricane to hit Texas in July since 1851 and the fourth in the last 25 years, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Three times in its one week of life, Beryl has gained 35 mph in wind speed in 24 hours or less, the official weather service definition of rapid intensification.
Beryl’s explosive growth into an unprecedented early whopper of a storm shows the literal hot water of the Atlantic and Caribbean, and what the Atlantic hurricane belt can expect for the rest of the storm season, experts said.
Texas officials warned people along the entire coastline to prepare for possible flooding, heavy rain and wind. The hurricane warning extended from Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, to Sargent, south of Houston.
Beryl lurked as another potential heavy rain event for Houston, where storms in recent months have knocked out power across the nation’s fourth-largest city and flooded neighborhoods. A flash flood watch was in effect for a wide swath of the Texas coast, where forecasters expected Beryl to dump as much as 10 inches of rain in some areas.
Potential storm surges between 4 and 6 feet above ground level were forecast around Matagorda. The warnings extended to the same coastal areas where Hurricane Harvey came ashore in 2017 as a Category 4 hurricane, which was far more powerful than Beryl’s expected intensity by the time the storm reaches landfall.
In Port Lavaca, Jimmy May was boarding up his business Jimmy Hayes Electric on Sunday to protect the glass, “in case we get a little bit too much wind, too much trash blowing,” he said. He said he wasn’t concerned about the forecasted high winds or possible storm surge in town but people in lower-lying areas “need to get out of there.”
Those looking to catch a flight out of the area could find that option more difficult as Beryl closes in on the Texas coast. While the majority of flights from Houston’s two major commercial airports were leaving on time as of midday Sunday, more than 65 flights had been delayed and another four canceled, according to FlightAware data.
In Corpus Christi, officials asked visitors to cut their trips short and return home early if possible. Residents were advised to secure homes by boarding up windows if necessary and using sandbags to guard against possible flooding.
Traffic was nonstop for the past three days at an Ace Hardware in the city as customers bought tarps, rope, duct tape, sandbags and generators, employee Elizabeth Landry said Saturday.
“They’re just worried about the wind, the rain,” she said. “They’re wanting to prepare just in case.”
Ben Koutsoumbaris, general manager of Island Market on Corpus Christi’s Padre Island, said there has been “definitely a lot of buzz about the incoming storm,” with customers stocking up on food and drinks, particularly meat and beer.
The White House said Sunday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had sent emergency responders, search-and-rescue teams, bottled water, and other resources along the coast.
Some coastal cities called for voluntary evacuations in low-lying areas that are prone to flooding, banned beach camping and urged tourists traveling on the Fourth of July holiday weekend to move recreational vehicles from coastal parks. In Refugio County, north of Corpus Christi, officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for its 6,700 residents.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is acting governor while Gov. Greg Abbott is traveling in Taiwan, issued a preemptive disaster declaration for 121 counties.
Beryl earlier this week battered Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane, toppling trees but causing no injuries or deaths before weakening to a tropical storm as it moved across the Yucatan Peninsula.
Before hitting Mexico, Beryl wrought destruction in Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Barbados. Three people were reported dead in Grenada, three in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, three in Venezuela and two in Jamaica.
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Lozano reported from Houston. Associated Press writer Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, and radio reporter Julie Walker in New York contributed.
MACHAKOS, Kenya — With dismay, Martha Waema and her husband surveyed their farm that was submerged by weeks of relentless rainfall across Kenya. Water levels would rise to shoulder height after only a night of heavy downpour.
The couple had expected a return of 200,000 shillings ($1,500) from their three acres after investing 80,000 shillings ($613) in maize, peas, cabbages, tomatoes and kale. But their hopes have been uprooted and destroyed.
“I have been farming for 38 years, but I have never encountered losses of this magnitude,” said the 62-year-old mother of 10.
Their financial security and optimism have been shaken by what Kenya’s government has called “a clear manifestation of the erratic weather patterns caused by climate change.”
Now a food security crisis lies ahead, along with even higher prices in a country whose president had sought to make agriculture an even greater engine of the economy.
Kenya’s government says the flooding has destroyed crops on more than 168,000 acres (67,987 hectares) of land, or less than 1% of Kenya’s agricultural land.
As farmers count their losses — a total yet unknown — the deluge has exposed what opposition politicians call Kenya’s ill preparedness for climate change and related disasters and the need for sustainable land management and better weather forecasting.
Waema now digs trenches in an effort to protect what’s left of the farm on a plain in the farthest outskirts of the capital, Nairobi, in Machakos County.
Not everyone is grieving, including farmers who prepared for climate shocks.
About 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Waema’s farm, 65-year-old farmer James Tobiko Tipis and his 16-acre farm have escaped the flooding in Olokirikirai. He said he had been proactive in the area that’s prone to landslides by terracing crops.
“We used to lose topsoil and whatever we were planting,” he said.
Experts said more Kenyan farmers must protect their farms against soil erosion that likely will be worsened by further climate shocks.
Jane Kirui, an agricultural officer in Narok County, emphasized the importance of terracing and other measures such as cover crops that will allow water to be absorbed.
In Kenya’s rural areas, experts say efforts to conserve water resources remain inadequate despite the current plentiful rainfall.
At Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, professor John Gathenya recommended practices such as diversifying crops and emphasizing the soil’s natural water retention capacity.
“The soil remains the biggest reservoir for water,” he said, asserting that using it wisely requires much less of an investment than large infrastructure projects such as dams. But soil needs to be protected with practices that include limiting the deforestation that has exposed parts of Kenyan land to severe runoff.
“We are opening land in new fragile environments where we need to be even more careful the way we farm,” Gathenya said. “In our pursuit for more and more food, we are pressing into the more fragile areas but not with the same intensity of soil conservation that we had 50 years back.”
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The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
HAMMOND, Ind. — Crews were searching Lake Michigan for two suburban Chicago men Saturday, more than a day after they went missing as a large group of people were boating along northwestern Indiana’s coastline, authorities said.
Strong winds and high waves were creating “very poor conditions” on the lake Saturday and were hampering the search efforts, Indiana conservation officer Alex Neel said.
He said 12 people were on the boat Friday afternoon off of Hammond, Indiana, when one man jumped into the lake to go swimming but began struggling, prompting a second man to jump in to help him, only to also find himself struggling in the waters.
A third man then put on a life jacket and entered the lake to try to help his two companions, but he also began struggling before strong winds pushed him and the two other men away from the boat, Neel said.
The nine other people on the boat did not know how to operate the vessel, he said. They called 911 and also shot off flares. All nine were later rescued by conservation officers, who found the boat nearly 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) off of the Whiting, Indiana, shoreline and towed it back to shore, Neel said.
Indiana conservation officers began searching for the three missing men about 2:40 p.m. Friday. Two hours later, the U.S. Coast Guard located the man wearing a life jacket in the lake. He was treated at a hospital and released.
One of the two missing men is from northern Illinois community of Elk Grove Village, and the other man is from the nearby village of Mount Prospect, Neel said.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Beryl’s eyewall was “brushing the south coast of Jamaica.”
Wind-whipped rain pounded the island for hours as residents heeded authorities’ call to shelter until the storm had passed. Power was knocked out in much of the capital.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said on Wednesday afternoon that nearly 500 people were placed in shelters.
“We are placing emphasis on ensuring they are comfortable and well looked after,” he said in a social media post.
Before Beryl’s arrival in Kingston, people had earlier boarded up windows, fishermen pulled their boats out of the water and workers dismantled roadside advertising boards to protect them from the lashing winds.
Kingston resident Pauline Lynch said that she had stockpiled food and water in anticipation of the storm’s arrival. With wind already driving rain, Lynch said, “I have no control over what is coming so I just have to pray that all people of Jamaica is safe and we don’t suffer no deaths, no loss.”
By midday, winds already howled in the capital, turning the sea into churning whitecaps as Beryl’s eye scraped by the island’s southern coast.
“We are very concerned about a wide variety of life threatening impacts in Jamaica,” including storm surge, high winds and flash flooding, said Jon Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.
Porter called Beryl “the strongest and most dangerous hurricane threat that Jamaica has faced, probably, in decades.”
A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl was forecast to weaken slightly over the next day or two, but still be at or near major-hurricane strength when it passes near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, near the Cayman Islands on Thursday and into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Jamaica was under a state of emergency as the island was declared a disaster zone hours before the impact of Hurricane Beryl.
Holness said that the disaster zone declaration will remain for the next seven days. He also announced an island-wide curfew between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Security forces “will be fully mobilized to maintain public order and assist with disaster relief. As soon as the hurricane has passed, the security forces have developed strategic plans to counter any potential threat of looting or any other opportunistic crimes,” Holness warned.
A hurricane watch was in effect for Haiti’s southern coast and the Yucatan’s east coast. Belize issued a tropical storm watch stretching south from its border with Mexico to Belize City.
Late Monday, Beryl became the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic and peaked at winds of 165 mph Tuesday before weakening to a still-destructive Category 4. On Wednesday, the storm’s center was about 65 miles west-southwest of Kingston. It had maximum sustained winds of 140 mph and was moving west-northwest at 20 mph. Hurricane strength winds extended 45 miles from the center.
In Miami, hurricane center director Michael Brennan in an online briefing said people on the island should plan to stay sheltered throughout the day Wednesday with conditions only beginning to improve overnight.
Jamaica’s southern coast, where Kingston is located, was expected to bear the brunt of Beryl with coastal water levels rising to 6 or 9 feet above normal tide levels in some area.
Heavy rains of 4 to 8 inches, with up to a foot in isolated areas, threatened flash flooding and mudslides on the mountainous island, he said.
Mexico’s Caribbean coast was preparing for Beryl Wednesday. The government issued a hurricane warning for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun.
The head of Mexico’s civil defense agency said that Beryl is expected to make a rare double strike on Mexico. Laura Velázquez said the hurricane is expected to make landfall between late Thursday and early Friday along a relatively unpopulated stretch of the Caribbean coast between Tulum and the inland town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Because the coast there is largely made up of lagoons and mangroves, there are few resorts or hotels in the area south of Tulum.
The hurricane is expected to weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses the Yucatan peninsula and reemerge over the weekend at storm strength into the Gulf of Mexico. Velázquez said that Beryl is then expected to hit Mexican territory a second time in the Gulf coast states of Veracruz or Tamaulipas, near the Texas border.
As Beryl barreled through the Caribbean Sea, rescue crews in southeastern islands fanned out to determine the extent of the damage the hurricane inflicted on Carriacou, an island in Grenada.
Three people were reported killed in Grenada and Carriacou and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, officials said. Two other deaths were reported in northern Venezuela, where five people are missing, officials said. About 25,000 people in that area also were affected by heavy rainfall from Beryl.
One fatality in Grenada occurred after a tree fell on a house, Kerryne James, the environment minister, told The Associated Press. She said Carriacou and Petit Martinique sustained the greatest damage, with scores of homes and businesses flattened in Carriacou.
Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said Tuesday there was no power, roads are impassable and the possible rise of the death toll “remains a grim reality.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has promised to rebuild the archipelago. He noted that 90% of homes on Union Island were destroyed.
The last strong hurricane to hit the southeast Caribbean was Hurricane Ivan 20 years ago, which killed dozens of people in Grenada.
By JOHN MYERS JR. and RENLOY TRAIL – Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday proposed a new rule to address excessive heat in the workplace, warning — as tens of millions of people in the U.S. are under heat advisories — that high temperatures are the country’s leading weather-related killer.
If finalized, the measure would protect an estimated 36 million U.S. workers from injuries related to heat exposure on the job — establishing the first major federal safety standard of its kind. Those affected by excessive heat in the workplace include farmworkers, delivery and construction workers, landscapers and indoor workers in warehouses, factories and kitchens.
Biden highlighted the proposed rule as one of five steps his Democratic administration is taking to address extreme weather as Hurricane Beryl is already ripping through the Caribbean in an ominous sign for the summer.
Biden used his remarks at the D.C. Emergency Operations Center to blast those Republican lawmakers who deny the existence of climate change, saying, “It’s not only outrageous, it’s really stupid.” Biden noted that there are human and financial costs from climate change, saying that weather-inflicted damage last year cost the economy $90 billion.
“More people die from extreme heat than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined,” Biden said. “These climate fueled extreme weather events don’t just affect people’s lives. They also cost money. They hurt the economy, and they have a significant negative psychological effect on people.”
The Democratic president, who’s seeking reelection in part on his environmental record, said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was also finalizing a rule to factor in possible flooding risks for federal construction projects.
In addition, FEMA was announcing $1 billion in grants to help communities deal with natural disasters, while the Environmental Protection Agency was releasing a new report on climate change’s impacts. Lastly, Biden said his administration would hold a conference titled “White House Summit on Extreme Heat” in the coming months.
Despite increased awareness of the risks posed to human health by high temperatures, extreme heat protections — for those routinely exposed to heat index readings above 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) — have lagged.
“The purpose of this rule is simple,” a senior White House administration official told reporters. “It is to significantly reduce the number of worker-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses suffered by workers who are exposed to excessive heat … while simply doing their jobs.”
Under the proposed rule, employers would be required to identify heat hazards, develop emergency response plans related to heat illness, and provide training to employees and supervisors on the signs and symptoms of such illnesses. They would also have to establish rest breaks, provide shade and water, and heat acclimatization — or the building of tolerance to higher temperatures — for new workers.
Penalties for heat-related violations in workplaces would increase significantly, in line with what workplaces are issued for violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules, a senior White House administration official said.
An estimated 2,300 people in the U.S. died from heat-related illness in 2023. From 1992 to 2022, a total of 986 workers across all industry sectors in the U.S. died from exposure to heat, with construction accounting for about 34% of all occupational heat-related deaths, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. During that time, 334 construction workers died due to heat exposure on the job.
The Labor Department has been developing a standard for how workplaces deal with heat since 2021. Last year, OSHA held meetings to hear about how the proposed measures could affect small businesses.
The AFL-CIO union federation praised the measure. “If finalized, this new rule would address some of the most basic needs for workers’ health and safety,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler.
Heat protection laws in the U.S. have faced steady industry opposition, including from chambers of commerce and other business associations. Many say a blanket mandate would be difficult to implement across such a wide range of industries.
California, Colorado, Oregon, Minnesota and Washington are the only states with workplace standards for heat exposure. Over the past year, Florida and Texas, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis and Gov. Greg Abbott, both Republicans, passed legislation preventing local governments from requiring heat protections for outdoor workers.
If finalized, the Biden administration’s rule would override state standards, and states with existing procedures to deal with heat would have to institute measures at least as stringent as the finalized federal rule.
The OSHA plan was announced as the EPA released a new report on climate change indicators in the U.S. The report, last updated in 2012, highlights data showing the continuing and far-reaching impacts of climate change in the U.S. This year’s report adds heat-related workplace deaths and marine heat waves as climate change indicators.
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Associated Press writers Matthew Daly and Josh Boak contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Forecast for coastal waters east of Ipswich Bay and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Friday: Northwest winds around 5 knots, becoming southeast in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: Southeast 3 feet at 8 seconds. Patchy fog in the morning with visibility 1 to 3 nautical miles.
Friday night: South winds 5 to 10 knots, becoming west after midnight. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: southeast 3 feet at 9 seconds and south 1 foot at 2 seconds.
Saturday: West winds around 10 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: Southeast 3 feet at 9 seconds and west 2 feet at 3 seconds.
Saturday night: West winds 10 to 15 knots. Gusts up to 20 knots after midnight. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: West 2 feet at 3 seconds and southeast 2 feet at 8 seconds.
Sunday and Sunday night: West winds 10 to 15 knots with gusts up to 20 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Wave detail: Southwest 2 feet at 3 seconds and southeast 2 feet at 8 seconds. A chance of showers.
Monday through Tuesday night: Southwest winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet.
TAPACHULA, Mexico — A strong earthquake shook the border of Mexico and Guatemala early Sunday, driving frightened residents into the streets.
The temblor struck just before 6 a.m. near the Mexican border town of Suchiate, where a river by the same name divides the two countries. The epicenter was just off the Pacific coast, 10 miles (16 kilometers) west-southwest of Brisas Barra de Suchiate where the river empties into the sea.
The earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.4, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and a depth of 47 miles (75 kilometers).
In Mexico, there were no immediate reports of damage, but more mountainous, remote parts of the border are prone to landslides.
Across the border Guatemala’s national disaster prevention agency shared photos of small landslides onto highways in the Quetzaltenango region and large cracks in walls in a hospital in San Marcos on its social media accounts, but there were no reports of deaths.
In Tapachula, near the border, civil defense brigades were moving through the city looking for signs of damage.
Didier Solares, an official with Suchiate’s Civil Defense agency, said so far they had not found damage.
“Luckily, everything is good,” Solares said. “We are talking with companies, to the (rural areas) via radio and there’s nothing, there’s no damage thank God,” he said.
The early morning quake still gave people a fright.
In the mountainous and picturesque colonial city of San Cristobal, the shaking was strong.
“Here we got up because we have the seismic alert service,” said resident Joaquin Morales. “The alert woke me up because it comes 30 seconds before (the quake).”
In Tuxtla Chico, a town near Tapachula, María Guzmán, a teacher said: “It was horrible, it felt strong. It was a real scare.”
Coloradans looking to buy homes or simply hold onto their property face a barrage of challenges: a white-hot real estate market, high interest rates and soaring property taxes. You can add surging home insurance rates to the pile of problems eroding the landscape of affordable housing options.
Colorado homeowners are reporting premium increases ranging from roughly 30% to more than 130% in just the past few years. People are getting the bad news that their policies won’t be renewed. Some insurance companies are deciding not to write new policies to cut their risks.
And condo owners are getting hit with special assessments and higher dues because premiums are skyrocketing for homeowners associations. The groups must often resort to non-standard carriers, which typically charge sky-high rates for lesser coverage.
“We truly have the hardest market that we’ve seen in a generation for property insurance,” said Carole Walker, executive director of the trade organization Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association.
Colorado’s not alone. Inflation, higher home costs and the rising number and severity of natural disasters and wildfires are pushing up insurance costs. The average premium rate increase nationwide in 2023 was 11.3%, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
But Colorado’s recent increases stand out. The state was one of three with the biggest cumulative change in rates 2018-2023. Colorado logged a 57.9% jump, just behind Texas at 59.9%. Arizona saw a 52.9% increase.
A convergence of factors is driving the run-up in costs, Walker said. Higher inflation is one of those. “You have everything that insurance pays for going up in cost.”
Building materials are more expensive. Labor costs are up and labor shortages create delays and add to the expense. Walker said insurance-related lawsuits also help push up premiums.
An even larger force is the fallout from increasingly costly wildfires, hail storms and other disasters. Insurance companies doing business in Colorado reported the fourth-highest losses in the country for five years, according to data compiled for a 2023 report by the Colorado Division of Insurance.
“I hate to say it, but we all likely need to adjust to higher premiums over the long term,” Walker said.
The effects of the mounting risks are being felt by a lesser known, but crucial link in the chain that connects to homeowners: the reinsurance market. Reinsurers are typically large, global companies that provide insurance to insurance companies to help spread the risk.
“The international impact of climate change, of increasing climate disasters, the severity of those disasters is causing reinsurers to consider their risk, reduce their exposure or increase their premiums,” said Vince Plymell, spokesman for the insurance division.
As a result, the effects of hurricanes and earthquakes in other parts of the country or world can eventually show up in a Colorado homeowner’s insurance bill, said Jason Lapham, the state’s deputy commissioner for property and casualty insurance.
Closer to home are the growing risks of wildfire and hail storms. Colorado is second in the nation for hail-damage claims and second only to California for the number of homes at risk from wildfires. Colorado hasn’t seen the kind of wide scale refusal of companies to write new policies that California has, but Lapham said there is a trend of some companies not re-upping policies in areas prone to wildfires or other disasters or taking “a pause” on new clients.
“It doesn’t mean they’re leaving the state entirely, but for those people who are affected, the effect is the same,” Lapham said.
State officials don’t have a lot of insight into the modeling used by companies to decide which areas are too risky to insure, Lapham said. “We’re focused on getting a better understanding and creating transparency, not just for us but also for policy holders.”
Levi Ware, project manager from Red Hawk Roofing company from Denver, takes pictures of a roof damaged by large hail and a tornado along Chesapeake Street in Highlands Ranch on June 23, 2023. A rare tornado hit the Highlands Ranch area Thursday afternoon causing damage to roofs and uprooting large trees. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
What’s worse than rising premiums?
There were plenty of insurance options for Bryan Watts and his wife when they bought a house in Guffey in Park County, west of Cripple Creek. The premium was about $2,000 in 2019 and rose gradually to $2,522 for the 2023-2024 policy year.
“Things changed dramatically in August 2023 when we received a notice of non-renewal at the policy maturity of June 2024,” Watts said. “I called them and was told it was simply due to wildfire risk.”
Watts tried to reason with the company, saying he had done a lot of work to reduce threats from wildfire. He offered to send pictures of his home or show an inspector around his property. But the insurer told him that it wasn’t going to cover homes in his zip code.
“I thought, ‘Well, no big deal. I’ll just move to another carrier,’” Watts said. “I had no idea how bad it had gotten just in the last year or two.”
A broker Watts worked with found only nonstandard insurers willing to cover his home. The insurers might take on customers that more traditional companies consider too risky, but the coverage comes at a high price. In Watts’ case, the quote was for nearly $35,000.
After making calls on his own, Watts found one of the big-name companies willing to write a policy for $4,800. A hang-up for companies that turned him down was that the nearest fire station is about 16 miles from his home. “They’re looking for substations that are 10 miles or closer,” Watts said.
Like a lot of people, Watts has a mortgage on his house, which means he needs to carry insurance. “There are going to be very few people who are able to live out here without a mortgage,” he said.
Escalating home insurance premiums and companies scaling back coverage are creating angst in the real estate industry. Brian Tanner, vice president of public policy for the Colorado Association of Realtors, said agents are seeing properties lose coverage or unable to find insurance.
“All of this together is incredibly problematic for a market that we already know is strained. We need more available units,” Tanner said. “If we have existing residences that cannot secure insurance, that is absolutely a market disruptor.”
Real estate agents are scrambling to help clients to find coverage, Tanner said. He is concerned about rising rates on people on fixed incomes.
The state is creating an insurer of last resort, officially called the Fair Access to Insurance Requirements, which will be paid for by assessments on the insurance industry. But it won’t be up and running until 2025 and applicants must have been turned down by at least three carriers.
Walker said the goal is to relieve pressure on the standard carriers by shifting some of the high risks, which the industry hopes will stabilize the market.
“Everybody I talk to is talking about the property insurance issue,” said Sarah Thorsteinson, CEO of the Altitude Realtors association, which includes Summit and Routt counties.
Real estate agents working in mountain communities started looking at the effect of wildfire risks on home insurance rates around 2012. That’s when the association started education and fire-mitigation programs for members and the public to head off possible mandates it worried could increase costs for buyers and sellers.
Thorsteinson represents property owners as a non-voting member of the Colorado Fire Commission. She said the association’s biggest concern with rising insurance premiums is housing affordability.
The ongoing struggle by homeowners associations, HOAs, to secure insurance has grown tougher, Thorsteinson said. She has heard of HOA dues doubling and tripling for condo owners in her area after insurance premiums shot up.
“We’ve seen increases of 100% or more for HOA policies,” said Lapham with the state insurance division.
Even before the recent rate increases, it was common for HOAs to have to seek providers in the non-standard market, also called the surplus lines market. “My guess is that it’s more common now than it has been simply because of the tightening of the market generally,” Lapham said.
Many of the more well-known insurers have gotten out of the condo business, Walker said, leaving the nonstandard carriers, whose policies are more expensive and have higher deductibles.
The more traditional insurers exited in part because of fears around construction-related lawsuits by HOAs. A 2017 law that requires a majority of homeowners to approve pursuing a lawsuit rather than just the HOA board has done little to coax insurers to write policies for condo buildings.
In some cases, HOA boards, trying to avoid raising dues, have put off infrastructure improvements and maintenance, making insurers nervous about the liabilities, Walker said.
The Hiland Hills Townhomes HOA was able to line up a new insurer in 2023, but had to budget for a 30% increase in premiums. Dues went up from $336 a month to $460 per unit.
“The coverage decreased overall. This year we’re budgeting for another 15% increase,” said Dmitry Gall, the HOA board president at the Denver complex.
The HOA was able to shuffle some items in the policy to hold down the increase. Gall said the association is cutting back in other areas to help pay the premium.
The HOA where Jon Christianson has a rental unit saw its insurance premium leap from the $167,000 budgeted last year to nearly $607,000. His fees doubled, “with a special assessment coming,” he said.
A letter from the HOA board that Christianson shared with The Denver Post said the previous insurance carrier got out of the Colorado market. Several companies declined to offer bids on a new policy because of the height and age of the three buildings in the complex and the fire suppression system.
Then the insurance for Christianson’s primary residence rose by 40%.
“I’ve never filed a claim. I’ve been with same insurance company for five years,” Christianson said. “This is becoming unsustainable.”
Carole Walker, the Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Association, stands for a photo outside the residential building where she lives in Denver on May 7, 2024. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post)
A marathon, not a sprint
The Marshall fire, which killed two people and destroyed 1,084 homes and businesses, receives a lot of the blame for Colorado’s escalating home insurance rates. The Dec. 30, 2021, wildfire raged through Louisville, Superior and parts of unincorporated Boulder County, leaving more than $2 billion in property damage in its wake.
Walker said although the Marshall fire was a devastating event, the reasons for rising rates are more complex. For instance, more people are moving into areas along the Front Range that frequently get battered by hail. Walker said Colorado’s most expensive hail storm hit in May 2017, wreaking $2.7 billion in damage in today’s dollars.
But for Alan McDaniel, who has an insurance agency in Castle Rock, the threat of wildfire is the primary obstacle when looking for ways to get a handle on rising insurance costs.
“I’m lucky enough that the carrier I mostly use, Farmers Insurance, isn’t not renewing policies, but others are,” McDaniel said.
He has worked with homeowners around Larkspur and other areas deemed too risky for wildfires by some insurers. “You have to fill out a fire-mitigation plan, take pictures and prove to my underwriter that it’s worth taking on because they’ve done all the steps they need to do,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel and other insurance agents have met with fire agencies to learn more about reducing wildfire risks and programs like Firewise, a national program overseen by the state forest service in Colorado. A goal is to lower homeowners’ premiums by making changes.
“In light of the Marshall fire, we did get inquiries from some homeowners and associations that were facing increased premiums as well as potentially losing coverage,” said Bart Chambers, the fire marshal for the Castle Rock Fire and Rescue Department.
Chambers has met with insurance agents to help them understand the steps needed to better protect homes and businesses. The fire department collaborates with town planners on decreasing wildfire threats and hopes to increase the number of certified Firewise neighborhoods in Castle Rock.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Chambers said. “It needs to be maintained and followed through continuously.”
Chambers spent 30 years with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
“We saw that on the front end there and we’re seeing it nationally now 20 years later, not only with wildfires but also with natural disasters,” Chambers said. “In Colorado, we can look at other people’s losses and make it better locally.”
A powerful solar storm put on an amazing skyward light show across the globe overnight but has caused what appeared to be only minor disruptions to the electric power grid, communications and satellite positioning systems.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said extreme geomagnetic storm conditions continued Saturday, and there were preliminary reports of power grid irregularities, degradation of high-frequency communications and global positioning systems.
But the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that as of early Saturday morning, no FEMA region had reported any significant impact from the storms.
NOAA predicted that strong flares will continue through at least Sunday, and a spokeswoman said in an email that the agency’s Space Weather Prediction Center had prepared well for the storm.
On Saturday morning, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service said on its website that service had been degraded and its team was investigating. CEO Elon Musk wrote on X overnight that its satellites were “under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far.”
Brilliant purple, green, yellow and pink hues of the Northern Lights were reported worldwide, with sightings in Germany, Switzerland, London, Prague, Barcelona and elsewhere.
In the U.S., Friday’s night’s solar storm pushed the lights much further south than normal. People in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and other Midwestern states were able to capture photos of colors along the horizon.
NOAA said the solar storm will persist throughout the weekend, offering another chance for many to catch the Northern Lights on Saturday night.
The agency issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.
NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit, as well as FEMA, to take precautions.
“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
“That’s really the gift from space weather: the aurora,” Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.
Snap a picture of the sky and “there might be actually a nice little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center.
The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii.
This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth.
An extreme geomagnetic storm in 2003, for example, took out power in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.
Even when the storm is over, signals between GPS satellites and ground receivers could be scrambled or lost, according to NOAA. But there are so many navigation satellites that any outages should not last long, Steenburgh noted.
The sun has produced strong solar flares since Wednesday, resulting in at least seven outbursts of plasma. Each eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection, can contain billions of tons of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.
The flares seem to be associated with a sunspot that’s 16 times the diameter of Earth, NOAA said. It is all part of the solar activity ramping up as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle.
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Dunn reported from Cape Canaveral, Florida, while Krisher reported from Detroit and Funk from Omaha, Nebraska.
A preliminary 79 tornadoes were reported Friday across six states, most occurring in Nebraska and Iowa, where homes were leveled and buildings collapsed.
Omaha, Nebraska, Mayor Jean Stothert said in a Facebook post early Saturday that no deaths had been reported and there were a few minor injuries after a destructive tornado moved through rural farmland before hitting the suburbs.
Omaha police Lt. Neal Bonacci said hundreds of homes were damaged, mostly in the Elkhorn area in the western part of the city.
“You definitely see the path of the tornado,” Bonacci said.
Police and firefighters went door-to-door to help residents and to search areas where people could be trapped, Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman said.
“We’ll be looking throughout properties in debris piles, we’ll be looking in basements, trying to find any victims and make sure everybody is rescued who needs assistance,” Bossman said.
Pat Woods, who lives in Elkhorn, told The Associated Press, that he and his wife took shelter but could hear the tornado “coming through.”
“When we came up, our fence was gone and we looked to the northwest and the whole neighborhood’s gone,” he said.
His wife, Kim Woods, said the neighborhood to the north of them was “pretty flattened.”
Two women help carry a friend’s belongings out of their damaged home after a tornado passed through the area in Bennington, Neb., on Friday.Josh Funk / AP
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds declared a disaster emergency for Pottawattamie County after video posted on social media showed parts of Minden, about 30 miles northeast of Omaha, Nebraska, completely flattened.
Jeff Theulen, the chief deputy of the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office, said at a Friday evening news conference that 40 or 50 homes were “completely destroyed.” There have been two reports of injuries, one “fairly severe but not life-threatening,” he told reporters.
“It’s a very dangerous right now. We’ve shut off entrance to the city except for the people that live here,” he said, noting that “50% of the town is damaged badly and then there’s light damage everywhere else.”
In nearby Shelby County about 40 homes were damaged, said county emergency coordinator Alex Londo. Officials were assessing the destruction, he said, noting there have been no reports of fatalities.
There were also more than 30 damaging wind reports and 60 hail reports Friday afternoon and overnight. National Weather Service offices are surveying the damage ahead of more severe weather expected Saturday.
More than 30 million people in Oklahoma City; Dallas; Wichita, Kansas; Omaha; Milwaukee; and Madison, Wisconsin, are in the path of severe weather.
Northwestern Texas and western Oklahoma are under tornado watches for Saturday, according to The National Weather Service.
“Numerous strong to severe thunderstorms are expected over parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and North Texas today into tonight,” the agency’s Storm Prediction Center said in a Facebook post. “Strong, potentially long-track tornadoes, very large hail, and damaging winds are likely.”
Circumstantial evidence points to climate change as worsening the deadly deluge that just flooded Dubai and other parts of the Persian Gulf, but scientists didn’t discover the definitive fingerprints of greenhouse gas-triggered warming they have seen in other extreme weather events, a new report found.
Between 10% and 40% more rain fell in just one day last week — killing at least two dozen people in the United Arab Emirates, Oman and parts of Saudi Arabia — than it would have in a world without the 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.2 degrees Fahrenheit) warming that has come from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas since the mid-19th century, scientists at World Weather Attribution said Thursday in a flash study that is too new to be peer-reviewed.
In at least one spot, a record 11 inches (28.6 centimeters) of rain fell in just 24 hours, more than twice the yearly average, paralyzing the usually bustling city of skyscrapers in a desert.
One of the key tools in WWA’s more than 60 past reports has been creating computer simulations that compare an actual weather event to a fictional world without climate change, but in the Dubai case there wasn’t enough data for those simulations to make such a calculation. But analysis of decades of past observations, the other main tool they use, showed the 10% to 40% bump in rainfall amounts.
Even without computer simulations, the clues kept pointing at climate change, scientists said.
“It’s not such a clear fingerprint, but we have lots of other circumstantial evidence, other lines of evidence that tell us that we see this increase,” said Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto, who coordinates the attribution study team. “It’s what we expect from physics. It’s what we expect from other studies that have been done in the area, from other studies around the world, and there’s nothing else that’s going on that could explain this increase.”
There is a long-known effect in physics that finds the air holds 7% more moisture with every degree Celsius (4% for every degree Fahrenheit).
Otto said she has confidence in the conclusion, but said this was one of the harder attribution studies the team has undertaken.
El Nino, which is a natural occasional warming of the central Pacific that changes weather systems worldwide, was a big factor, the report said. These heavy Gulf downpours have happened in the past but only during an El Nino. And the researchers said those past deluges seem to be trending heavier — something scientists have long said would happen in many parts of the world as the world warms.
This flooding, which came from two separate and near simultaneous storm systems, would not have happened without El Nino, said study co-author Mansour Almazroui of the Center of Excellence for Climate Change Research (CECCR), King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia. Nor would it have been like this without human-caused climate change, Otto added.
Because rainfall amounts varied over the region and the lack of data, the report couldn’t put a figure on if climate change had increased the likelihood of downpours like this in Dubai, but Otto estimated that it’s probably about three times more likely to happen now than in pre-industrial times.
The report and its authors threw cold water on speculation that UAE cloud seeding had anything to do with the amount of rain or its likelihood. Many scientists dispute cloud seeding’s effectiveness in general. Even so, the clouds in the storm system were not seeded, the report said. And the results of cloud seeding, if any, in general are more immediate, Otto said. And this storm was forecast days in advance.
“This type of rainfall never comes from cloud seeding,” Almazroui said in a Thursday news conference.
While the authors use well-established techniques and this is what scientists expect with climate change, when there’s a disagreement between computer simulations and observations, conclusions shouldn’t be drawn, said University of Victoria, Canada, climate scientist Andrew Weaver, who wasn’t part of the research.
It’s a strong enough case that greenhouse gas emissions are a factor, several other outside scientists said.
University of Melbourne, Australia, climate scientist Malte Meinshausen called Thursday’s study “a well-balanced, impressively detailed and adequately cautious assessment.”
“This work, when combined with theory and attribution studies associated with the increasingly frequent other extreme rain and flooding events around the world, makes the convincing case that climate warming supercharged the recent extreme rainfall and flooding event UAE and Oman,” said climate scientist Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the University of Michigan’s environment school. “This is what global warming increasingly looks like — more severe climate extremes and human suffering.”
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Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment
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Follow Seth Borenstein on X at @borenbears
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, experienced record-breaking rainfall and flooding last week. But some videos online falsely claimed to show the deluge.
Text on an Instagram video shared April 17 read, “Dubai city today, tornado storm everywhere.” The video included four different clips showing extreme weather events.
The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The first clip showed a large tornado near a beach. We found the same video posted on TikTok in January, with claims the footage was from Florida. The TikTok footage looks as if it could be generated by artificial intelligence, and it differs from footage of the tornado from a local news outlet. More importantly, the TikTok footage was posted online Jan. 5, and the Florida tornadoes occurred Jan. 8 and 9.
The next clip shows heavy clouds covering tall buildings. The same clip was also posted on YouTube on Nov. 3, 2023, saying it showed weather in Bahrain. Other TikTokandYouTube posts claim the footage came from Dubai in November. The United Arab Emirates did have heavy rain that led to flights being canceled in November 2023, but we could not confirm whether this footage shows that.
(Screenshot from Instagram)
The third clip shows a group of people taking cover from wind and rain. That video was first posted July 25, 2023, by China Central Television, China’s national television broadcaster. Its caption says it shows a storm hitting the Taihang Mountain Grand Canyon in Changzhi, Shanxi, on July 24, 2023.
(Screenshot from Instagram)
The final clip, showing heavy rains over a busy road with large buildings, first appeared in a TikTok from Nov. 21, 2023.
We rate the claim that a video compilation shows a tornado and storms in Dubai on April 17 False.
Follow the storm tracker for the path and forecasts of the latest storm.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. The areas covered include the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
The National Weather Service defines a hurricane as a “tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 74 mph (64 knots) or higher.”
Hurricanes are rated according to intensity of sustained winds on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The 1-5 scale estimates potential property damage.
A Category 3 or higher is considered a major hurricane.
The National Hurricane Center advises preparedness:
• A hurricane watch indicates the possibility that a region could experience hurricane conditions within 48 hours.
• A hurricane warning indicates that sustained winds of at least 74 mph are expected within 36 hours.
April 4, 2024 – The Colorado State University Tropical Meteorology Project team predicts an “extremely active” Atlantic hurricane season. The team forecasts 23 named storms, including 11 hurricanes, five of which will be major hurricanes.
Nine individuals lost their lives and over 800 were injured in a devastating earthquake in Taiwan on Wednesday, which also caused significant damage to numerous buildings. This event led to tsunami alerts being issued across Japan and the Philippines, though these were later retracted.
Authorities have described this earthquake as the most severe to impact the island in many years, with expectations of further seismic activity to follow.
Thanks to rigorous construction standards and a general awareness of disaster preparedness, a greater disaster was likely averted on the island, which is prone to seismic events due to its location near the convergence of two tectonic plates.
This quake, with a magnitude of 7.4, is noted as the most significant since a 7.6 magnitude quake in September 1999, which resulted in approximately 2,400 fatalities, marking it as the most tragic natural disaster in the island’s recent history.
The quake struck just before 8:00 am local time (0000 GMT), with the US Geological Survey (USGS) identifying the epicenter 18 kilometers south of Hualien City, at a depth of 34.8 kilometers.
Among the casualties were three hikers, part of a group of seven, who were fatally struck by falling rocks during an early morning trek in the surrounding hills of the city. Additionally, falling rocks caused the deaths of the drivers of a truck and a car, and one individual perished at a mining site.
While specific details on the other three fatalities were not immediately provided, the National Fire Agency confirmed that all deaths occurred in Hualien county and reported 882 injuries, without detailing their severity.
Footage and images circulating on social media depicted the country’s buildings swaying during the quake.
“There was intense shaking; things were falling off the walls, my TV, and my liquor cabinet,”
Local television displayed images of buildings in Hualien and other locations leaning post-quake, and footage of a warehouse in New Taipei City collapsing.
More than 50 individuals were rescued from the debris of the collapsed structure, as reported by the mayor of the city.
Efforts were underway to clear debris and rocks blocking the primary route to Hualien, a coastal city encircled by mountains, which had been isolated due to landslides.
With the main access roads running through a series of robust tunnels, officials estimated up to 120 individuals could be trapped in vehicles within these tunnels.
“We need to ascertain the number of individuals trapped and ensure their swift rescue.”
Stated Lai Ching-te, the president-elect and current Vice-President, in Hualien.
Efforts were also being made to restore the primary railway line along the east coast, which had been disrupted in several locations.
President Tsai Ing-wen urged for collaboration between local and central government agencies and announced military support.
Regional Impact
Following the earthquake, tsunami warnings were issued in Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines but were withdrawn by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center by 10 am (0200 GMT), stating the threat had largely subsided.
In Taipei, the metro service was temporarily suspended but resumed after an hour, and residents received advisories to check for gas leaks.
Situated near the junction of two tectonic plates, Taiwan frequently experiences earthquakes, as does Japan, which records about 1,500 seismic events annually.
In China’s Fujian province and elsewhere, social media users reported feeling the quake’s tremors.
Hong Kong residents also felt the earthquake, with China expressing readiness to offer disaster relief to Taiwan, which it views as a part of its territory.
Operations at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the leading chip manufacturer globally, were momentarily disrupted, and construction activities at new sites were paused for the day.
While the region often experiences mild quakes, their impact varies based on the depth and location of the epicenter beneath the Earth’s surface.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s governor has declared a state of emergency in 11 counties across central Ohio struck by severe weather last week.
Gov. Mike DeWine also activated the Ohio National Guard to help officials in one county, Logan County, where three deaths were confirmed, with the cleanup of storm debris on public property. DeWine announced the emergency declaration Sunday.
The declaration also covers Auglaize, Crawford, Darke, Delaware, Hancock, Licking, Mercer, Miami, Richland and Union counties. It orders all relevant state departments and agencies to lend their services, equipment, supplies, and personnel to aid in response and recovery efforts, the governor’s office said.
Thursday night’s storms claimed three lives in the Indian Lake area of Logan County, one of the hardest-hit regions.
The storms also left trails of destruction across parts of Kentucky, Indiana and Arkansas. About 40 people were injured and dozens of homes were damaged in one Indiana community. Tornadoes were also reported in Illinois and Missouri.
The National Weather Service confirmed nine tornados in Ohio, including an EF-3 tornado that began in southern Auglaize County near Fryburg and continued through the Lakeview area in northern Logan County. Forecasters say EF-3 tornados can pack winds up to 136 to 165 mph (219 to 266 kph).
EF-2 tornados – which forecasters say can have winds up to 111 to 135 mph (179 to 218 kph) — were confirmed in central Union County and in Darke and Miami counties as well as in Crawford/Richland counties.
As Floridians continue to grapple with a state property insurance crisis, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has warned that the state-backed insurer of last resort for disaster damage is insolvent.
This squeeze has pushed more homeowners to explore insuring with Citizens Property Insurance Corp., which holds about 1.2 million policies. The company is considered the “insurer of last resort” because it offers policies to customers who are seen as high risks because their properties are particularly vulnerable to damage, making them unattractive to conventional insurers.
Insurers of last resort do not have to agree to cover properties they consider too risky, and they may require potential policyholders to adhere to certain conditions for protecting a property before offering a policy.
During the legislative session, DeSantis touted efforts to improve Florida’s insurance market, saying new companies have entered the state.
On Feb. 27 on CNBC’s “Last Call,” DeSantis said the companies that recently entered the Florida market “have taken out hundreds of thousands of policies from this Citizens Property Insurance, which was created decades ago.
“It is not solvent,” DeSantis said of Citizens, “and we can’t have millions of people on that because if a storm hits, it’s going to cause problems for the state.”
DeSantis has repeated the claim several times over the last year — catching Washington, D.C.’s attention. In a Nov. 30 letter to Florida officials and Citizens, U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chair Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said his committee began investigating Citizens’ finances “in light of the state’s acknowledgment of Citizens’ potential insolvency.” Whitehouse outlined concerning implications for the Florida insurance market, state taxpayers and the potential of a federal bailout.
However, the company’s financial data undermines DeSantis’ use of “not solvent.” Financial experts said that term is inaccurate for the situation.
Citizens’ latest financial report, from December 2023, shows that the insurer had a $5 billion surplus at the end of 2023. The company expects a $6.3 billion surplus by the end of 2024. (A surplus is the amount of money or resources an organization has that is not immediately being used to pay expenses.)
Additional state funding, and the company’s ability to draw funds from Florida taxpayers in a pinch, brings the insurer’s total reserves to about $17.8 billion, according to the report.
Jeremy Redfern, the governor’s press secretary, told PolitiFact that Citizens was never meant to accommodate as many policies as it currently does, and, therefore, “at its current growth rate, Governor DeSantis is correct.”
But this is not what “insolvency” means — it means that an entity can no longer meet its financial obligations today. Citizens could be considered insolvent if its debts exceeded the value of its assets, economics experts said.
If the company can now pay out claims and other expenses it isn’t insolvent. This remains true even if Citizens had to offload its expenses onto policyholders, which is allowed by Florida law, but would likely be unpopular.
“Citizens has the capacity to levy surcharges on property insurance policies,” said Hakan Yilmazkuday, an economics professor at Florida International University. “In other words, Citizens can never be ‘insolvent’ in technical terms.”
Redfern acknowledged that Citizens can’t run out of money to pay claims.
“Citizens is structured so that it will always be able to protect its policyholders and pay claims,” Redfern said. “But this comes at the expense of all Florida insurance policy holders.” These charges can be levied on nearly every type of property and casualty policy in Florida, including homeowner, renter, auto, boat and pet insurance policies.
Citizens CEO Timothy Cerio made a point similar to Redfern’s in a Dec. 15 reply to Whitehouse, writing the senator’s concern about insolvency showed “a fundamental misunderstanding” of how the company operates and its ability to pay claims.
He told PolitiFact in an email that DeSantis has been “consistent and clear” in his concern that, if there were a major storm or series of storms and Citizens exhausted its surplus and reinsurance, Florida law would require the company to levy an emergency charges on state policyholders — “83% of whom are not even Citizens’ customers.”
“Although Citizens’ assessment authority means that it will always be able to pay claims. Citizens’ rates are currently actuarially unsound,” Cerio wrote. “It is critical that Citizens be able to charge actuarially sound rates to help minimize the risk of such assessments on the people of Florida.” (Citizens said “actuarially unsound” means charging rates that inadequately cover potential losses.)
Cerio further explained to Politico’s E&E News that the company’s premiums are 55% below their actuarially sound level and, in some areas, 40% below rates charged by insurance companies. The Insurance Information Institute verified the data with PolitiFact.
With a major storm, Citizens may not have enough resources to pay its customers. It would then need to rely on financial assistance from the state, and that would mean a hit to Florida taxpayers.
“If certain property insurance policies are transferred to multiple private policy companies, the stress on each company would be easier to handle … without any impact on the Florida State budget,” Yilmazkuday said.
Still, he said that DeSantis inaccurately defined Citizens’ fiscal position in the CNBC interview. DeSantis could have described Citizens as financially stressed, financially vulnerable, under financial strain, or a state budget risk, Yilmazkuday said.
Efforts to shift policies from Citizens to other insurers have led to some small results. The number of Citizens’ policies declined from 1.4 million in September to about 1.2 million in January. That’s still about three times more Citizens policies than the company had in 2019.
Our ruling
DeSantis said that Citizens Property Insurance is “not solvent.”
Insolvency means a company cannot pay its bills today. That’s not so with Citizens, which has a $5 billion surplus and expects a surplus of more than $6 billion by the end of 2024.
Citizens faces significant financial challenges and must worry about one or more massive storms pressuring those surpluses. If that happens, the company can rely on backstopping from taxpayers under state law. That would be unpopular, but is different from insolvency.
DENVER — A major storm dumped heavy snow in Colorado on Thursday – forcing flight cancellations and shutting down a highway that connects Denver to Colorado ski resorts.
“Our city hasn’t seen a storm like this in a few years,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston posted Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The storm, which began Wednesday night, delivered the slushy, wet snow typical for March, one of the snowiest months in Denver, and wasn’t expected to wind down until Friday morning. The heaviest snow accumulations were expected in Colorado’s Front Range region, where the vast majority of the state’s population lives, with most falling in the foothills and mountains west of Denver. Those higher elevations were expected to get 18 to 36 inches (45 to 91 centimeters), and some amounts exceeding 4 feet (1.2 meters), the National Weather Service said.
Major sections of Interstate 70 were closed in the Colorado mountains, with numerous reports of vehicles stranded on the highway for hours. While a boon to Colorado’s ski industry, the extreme conditions shut down at least one ski resort.
“Stay home !! Troopers are getting stuck trying to get to all the stranded motorists,” the Colorado State Patrol posted on X.
Aspen Springs, in the foothills west of Denver, had more than 3 feet (about 1 meter) of snow as of Thursday morning.
The storm started as rain in the Denver area and turned into snow. The area was expected to get 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of snow, with up to 2 feet (60 centimeters) in the western suburbs, the weather service said. The snow eased up in the morning but was expected to get heavier again in the afternoon and evening.
Denver deployed 36 residential plows starting at 3 a.m. Thursday with the plan to shave the top few inches of snow off streets, to help clear paths to main streets.
Denver International Airport was open early Thursday, but about 800 flights were canceled and others were delayed, according to Flightaware.com.
The snowstorm comes as other parts of the country face severe weather. Massive chunks of hail pelted parts of Kansas and Missouri on Wednesday night, with storms unleashing possible tornadoes in Kansas.
After wildfires broke out in Texas, the largest in the state’s history, a familiar conspiracy theory began circulating online: Social media users are claiming the blaze was set intentionally using “directed energy weapons.”
A March 3 Instagram post shared side-by-side videos of a purported “directed energy weapon” attack and the Texas wildfires. The video on the left showed what appeared to be a flash of lightning with a green laser beaming down behind a house at night. The video on the right showed a Texas landscape covered in smoke and fire.
The video’s text says, “Could these two events be related?”
(Screengrab from Instagram)
Other Instagramposts also shared the green laser video and suggested it was related to the Texas wildfires.
One post’s caption read, “If this is actual footage … we’re looking at yet ANOTHER intentionally set fire courtesy of DEWS (directed energy weapons) and our lovely (government).”
Some X postsshared a clip of President Joe Biden discussing the Texas wildfires and claimed he said directed energy weapons were involved. We previously fact-checked social media posts that took this clip of Biden out of context. The president was discussing the need for buildings to be up to code to better withstand wildfires.
These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
In the week since fires broke out across the Texas Panhandle, more than 1 million acres of land have burned, and at least two people have been killed. The fires have also killed thousands of livestock animals, scorched fields of crops and destroyed hundreds of buildings.
Directed energy weapons are real and fire concentrated electromagnetic energy at light speed. Such weapons include high-energy lasers, high-power microwaves and radio frequency devices. The United States and other countries are researching using directed-energy weapons for military purposes, but there is no evidence they were used to ignite the Texas wildfires.
Authorities are still investigating how the Smokehouse Creek fire, which still burns, started. A Texas homeowner sued a utility company, blaming a downed power line, but officials have not determined a link. Hot weather, dry land and high winds have fueled the fire’s spread.
The green laser beam video predates these Texas fires. Reverse-image searches using Google Images found this video was shared online as early as Dec. 31, 2023. The account that appears to have first shared it is known for videos that claim to show paranormal or extraterrestrial activity.
Last year, social media users alsoclaimed thatdirected energy weapons ignited fires that devastated Maui, Hawaii. There have been similar claims about fires in Canada and Russia. But all these claims are unfounded.
We rate the claim that the Texas wildfires were started by directed energy weapons False.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
