Deaths, Natural Disaster | featured news

Rivers of mud unleashed by heavy rains flood parts of the Sicilian city of Messina, leaving at least 17 people dead and several still missing, Italian officials said Friday.

The earthquake that shook American Samoa nearly knocked John Newton out of bed. Within minutes he knew a tsunami had hit.

The 6.9 magnitude struck at 08:52 a.m. local time Thursday on Sumatra island, about 180 miles from the epicenter of a more powerful quake on Wednesday. Rescue workers used excavators Thursday to pull out victims, some screaming in pain, from the heavy rubble of buildings felled by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 531 people. The death toll was expected to rise.

Officials say 40 people are dead in tropical storm floods in the northern Philippines.

Hurricane Bill brought rain and heavy winds to eastern Canada on Sunday after pounding the U.S. East Coast with heavy seas that killed two people.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said Sunday he accepts responsibility for the government's slow response after Typhoon Morakot slammed into the island killing at more than 120 people and unleashing floods, mudslides and misery.