EARTHQUAKE

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.

Residents across Massachusetts and Rhode Island are preparing for their first hurricane in 20 years.

Unusually large and powerful, Hurricane Irene is moving slow but plodding on a path pushing the massive storm toward possible landfall on the North Carolina coast Saturday before assaulting the Northeast's I-95 corridor late Sunday. With hurricane force winds of at least 74 miles per hour currently extending 70 miles from its center, and tropical-storm force winds extending another 255 miles in all directions, the Category 3 storm is packing winds of 115 miles per hour and forecasters say the...

There will be more aftershocks in the coming days, if not weeks.

Hurricane Irene is threatening to become one most impacting storms to ever strike the Northeast U.S., possibly striking major cities including Philadelphia, New York and Boston at hurricane strength late into the weekend. After lashing the Bahamas on Wednesday, Irene is moving up the U.S. East Coast as a major Category 3 hurricane, packing winds of 115 miles per hour. Irene is centered about 65 miles east-northeast of Nassau, Bahamas and moving northwest at 13 miles per hour.

Hurricane Irene is cutting its way toward a direct hit on the U.S. East Coast, threatening to wreak havoc in major cities along the highly-populated I-95 corridor late this weekend, including Philadelphia, New York, Hartford, and Boston. After lashing the Bahamas on Wednesday, pummeling small outlying Caribbean islands, the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season is posing an extreme threat to the U.S. East Coast -- with potential to become historic before it sweeps away from...

Commodities trader Glencore International posted a 50 percent rise in headline first-half profit and said it saw opportunities emerging from turbulence in its key markets as commodity demand remains strong.

Hurricane Irene is strengthening, and taking aim at New York, America's largest city. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is urging city residents to focus on potential damage Irene could cause, in a rare hurricane strength strike.