Tropical Storm Florence, presently circulating in the south-central Atlantic Ocean, may move north and east and make landfall somewhere along the US East Coast later this week. If the storm reaches this area of the ocean, unsually warm water will cause it to increase rapidly in strength. This is the same effect that has been present in the Gulf of Mexico since the early part of this century.
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Hurricane Ophelia is expected to strike Ireland and the United Kingdom with sustained winds up to 100 miles an hour. The National Hurricane Center says that gale force winds were expected to spread across southern Ireland by early Monday, then gradually extend north across the country during the day. Hurricane-force winds are forecast to arrive by Monday afternoon.
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A cluster of thunderstorms in the southwestern Caribbean has organized into the 16th tropical depression of the Atlantic’s hurricane season, and is expected to become the season’s 14th named storm, Nate. The storm is forecast to cut across the northeastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula and track northward toward the U.S.read more

Two 6.1 earthquakes struck in the Pacific, one near the island of Vanuatu and the other off the coast of Japan uncomfortably near the damaged Fukushima power plant. At the same time, frantic rescue efforts have brought out a citizen army in Mexico city who are helping overstressed emergency services. Meanwhile, Hurricane Maria is causing a catastrophe on the island of Puerto Rico, where all electric power has failed and 155 MPH sustained winds are destroying infrastructure and gigantic flash floods are roaring down the mountainsides.
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