10/30/2012 22:21 GMT

NEW YORK, Oct 30, 2012 (AFP) - The death toll from superstorm Sandy has risen to 43 in the United States and Canada, and was expected to climb further as several people remained missing, officials said Tuesday.

Officials in the states of Connecticut, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia all reported deaths from the massive storm system, while Toronto police said a Canadian woman was killed by flying debris.

by Robyn Beck

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, June 30, 2012 (AFP) - Firefighters said Saturday they have contained 45 percent of a deadly blaze that has left hundreds homeless in Colorado, as President Barack Obama again hailed their efforts.

Obama used his weekly radio address to urge Americans to support emergency workers like those tackling the week-old Waldo Canyon blaze, which has killed two people and destroyed 347 homes in the state's second largest city.

06/28/2012 19:51 GMT

by Robyn Beck

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, June 28, 2012 (AFP) - Massive wildfires raging across Colorado have destroyed hundreds of homes and forced tens of thousands to flee, but better weather Thursday should help crews beat back the blazes.

"There is not a tool we won't use," fire incident commander Rich Harvey told reporters. "Today we will be incredibly aggressive. We have the horsepower in place."

06/25/2012 22:15 GMT

MIAMI, June 25, 2012 (AFP) - Florida declared a state of emergency on Monday as Tropical Storm Debby barreled in from the Gulf of Mexico with torrential rain and strong winds causing power outages and flash flooding.

At least on woman died in a tornado that local media attributed to Debby and state authorities warned that more deadly twisters were possible.

Florida Governor Rick Scott issued a statement declaring a state of emergency, which allows disaster funds to be unlocked and evacuation plans to be enacted.

03/04/2012 01:23 GMT

by Mira Oberman

CHICAGO, March 4, 2012 (AFP) - Rescuers and residents searched house to house Saturday a day after tornadoes killed at least 37 people and injured hundreds, tearing across the US heartland and virtually wiping out communities.

Even as stunned Americans grappled with the magnitude of the destruction brought by Friday's twisters, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued new tornado warnings for parts of Georgia and Florida, in the country's southeast.

NEW YORK — Oil companies began evacuating workers from rigs in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday ahead of what US forecasters said could be a powerful and dangerous storm.
"Right now we're giving it a 70 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone sometime in the next 48 hours," said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the Miami-based National Hurricane Center. "Where it will go and what it will do is too early to tell."

CHICAGO — The toll from the deadliest single tornado to strike the United States in six decades rose to 159 after a woman died of her injuries, according to officials in Joplin, Missouri.

That brings the year's total to 545 tornado fatalities, making 2011 the deadliest tornado season since 1936 and the third worst on record, according to the national weather service.

Two bad days accounted for nearly all the deaths: an outbreak of dozens of tornadoes that killed 314 people in five states on April 27 and the massive twister that struck Joplin on May 22.

WASHINGTON — Losses from the deadly burst of tornados that swept the US south and midwest late last month could hit as much as $7 billion, a company which estimates catastrophe damages said Monday.

Insured losses from the massive twister that killed a record 138 people in Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, and 150 other tornados that struck during May 20-27, are likely to run $4-7 billion, AIR Worldwide estimated.

The losses include residential, commercial, and industrial properties and their contents, and automobiles, Boston-based AIR said.

NEW YORK — Massachusetts was under a state of emergency after at least two tornadoes hit the northeastern US state late Wednesday, leaving four people dead, officials said.

Governor Deval Patrick declared the state of emergency "in response to the impacts of the tornadic activity and severe weather," his office said.

"The severity and magnitude of the tornadoes we saw today is unprecedented in Massachusetts," Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency spokesman Scott MacLeod told AFP.