EARTHQUAKE

The storm comes just a week after an unprecedented magnitude-5.8 earthquake struck central Virginia.

Hurricane Irene is about to make history, aiming at a rare strike on New York. The city is getting ready for Irene's arrival. Evacuations are underway, and the MTA is nearing noon shutdown.

Hurricane Irene was downgraded to a Category 1 storm early Saturday but updated forecasts still show Irene is a powerful threat. The hurricane is nearing landfall in North Carolina, and models still show it should hit New York within 24 hours at hurricane strength. New York remains directly in the path of Irene on Saturday, and the storm is forecast to strike late Saturday and early Sunday at hurricane strength. But first, the Category 1 storm is within hours of making landfall in eastern North ...

Irene is bearing down on North Carolina early Saturday, preparing to make landfall. In New York, residents and officials continue preparation with evacuations and closings.

The world writes Friday that New Yorkers are in a state of panic and emergency. The city is facing the threat of Hurricane Irene, and it is serious. But New York on Friday was only a picture of calm and resolve as Irene made a track toward America's largest city.

Amazon, hurricane Web sites have various books on the subject.

President Barack Obama on Friday warned Americans to take Hurricane Irene seriously and urged them to obey orders to evacuate from the path of what is likely to be an extremely dangerous and costly storm.

It has been quite a year for New York, as the city has been hit with tornadoes, a blizzard, a heat wave, an earthquake and now a hurricane.

As the hurricane warning area expands on the East Coast covering a large area from North Carolina to Boston, the National Weather Service warned Washington, D.C. area with a higher danger.

The main radioactive element released from the Fukushima nuclear disaster since March equals 168 Hiroshima World War Two bombs, a news report said Thursday.

Irene would truly have to be a catastrophic event to fall into the following list of the costliest natural disasters in recorded history.

U.S. Atlantic coastal residents from the barrier islands of North Carolina to the capital in Washington and the financial center of New York rushed to prepare on Thursday for an assault by powerful Hurricane Irene.

Hurricane Irene continued its path of destruction towards the East Coast on Thursday -- posing extreme danger to some of the country's largest cities.

New Yorkers are preparing for Hurricane Irene, which threatens to become one of the biggest storms to hit the metropolitan area in decades. If Irene makes landfall in the New York area at hurricane strength, the powerful storm would be one of about five hurricanes to come within 75 miles of the city, according to records dating back 160 years.

As Hurricane Irene batters the northern Bahamas on as it heads toward the East Coast on Thursday, train services were canceled and workers scrambled to protect power lines in the U.S. capital, Washington D.C.

While no one can know ahead of time just how much destruction a Category 3 Hurricane like Irene will do, specialty companies that specialize in catastrophic risk analysis are armed with historical data as well as links to national computer centers that track the storm in real time.

Maryland governor Martin O'Malley declared a state of emergency on Thursday ahead of incoming Hurricane Irene, which continues to batter the Caribbean region.

Hurricane Irene continued its path of destruction on Thursday on its way towards the East Coast, and it could have big effects in Maryland and Virginia.

The 5.8 earthquake that rumbled through Washington D.C. on Tuesday didn't leave the city unscathed. Instead, it went straight for some of its most-loved treasures: the Washington Monument and National Cathedral.

Hurricane Irene threatens to batter the U.S. East Coast, perhaps making a direct strike on New York City, as sharpened forecast models show the storm has the makings of the hurricane of a lifetime for Mid-Atlantic and Northeast areas. A major Category 3 storm that could strengthen before making landfall this weekend, one weather source called Hurricane Irene a serious, significant event. The storm holds the potential, forecasters say, to wreak havoc along the East Coast, with torrential ...

As Hurricane Irene threatens to lash the U.S. East Coast this weekend, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has signed a declaration of emergency in order to mobilize the National Guard in preparation for the storm.