Evacuation | featured news

Lisa Carpenter defied evacuation orders when a massive wildfire in eastern Arizona crept closer to the RV park she manages, but at one point she had second thoughts about her decision.

Thousands more were ordered to leave as the authorities grew worried about the out-of-control nature of the fire.

Stiff winds whipped up a gigantic blaze in the mountains of eastern Arizona on Monday, forcing the evacuation of a third resort town and casting a smoky haze over states as far away as Iowa....

The Puyehue volcano in southern Chile erupted Saturday, sending a huge plume of smoke and ash into the sky and prompting officials to evacuate about 600 people living nearby. There were no reports of injuries. Authorities had put the area around the volcano on alert Saturday morning after a flurry of earthquakes, and the eruption began in the afternoon. The National Emergency Office said it recorded an average of 230 tremors an hour.

Two Arizona wildfires have consumed more than 200,000 acres and prompted evacuations, officials said.

Mississippi state officials expect to evacuate 2,000 to 5,000 people in coming days. In Louisiana, more spill gates are opened to divert floodwater.

Officials are warning residents in low-lying areas to leave, as the Mississippi River approached a crest Monday.

Authorities ordered more evacuations near the Mississippi and Ohio rivers as flood waters continued to surge early Friday, drenching farmlands, highways and homes.

A tornado destroyed 50 to 80 houses and killed at least one person in an Arkansas town on Monday, while a warning of imminent failure for a levee on the Black River in southeast Missouri prompted the mandatory evacuation of about 1,000 people.

Paris' Eiffel Tower was evacuated Wednesday after a suspicious package was found at the base of one of the world's most visited tourist sites, the monument's operating company said.