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Residents allowed to return areas hit by central Texas wildfire
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on October 20th, 2015
Reuters: Some of the hundreds of residents evacuated last week in a Texas wildfire that hit a pine forest southeast of Austin are being allowed to return to stricken areas, officials said on Tuesday.
The so-called Hidden Pines fire in Bastrop County has scorched nearly 4,600 acres, or about 7 square miles, and was 80 percent contained as of Tuesday, the Texas A&M Forest Service said. The blaze destroyed nearly 70 homes, it added.
"The fire conditions are such that we will be able to allow a qualified...
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Governor says deadly flooding is worst ever seen in Texas area
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on May 26th, 2015
Reuters: Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday likened the ferocity of flash flooding that killed at least three people to a tsunami, and authorities said a dam had given way in a state park. Abbott declared states of disaster in 24 counties and flew over the area south of Austin to assess the damage caused by tornadoes, heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and flooding that forced evacuations and rooftop rescues and left thousands of residents without electricity. "This is the biggest flood this area of Texas...
Small quake shakes Dallas area, stirring fracking critics
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on November 23rd, 2014
Reuters: A light earthquake shook the Dallas-Ft. Worth area of North Texas on Saturday night, leaving no known damage or casualties but stirring concern about the potential of the area's oil and gas fracking industry to generate seismic activity.
The magnitude 3.3 earthquake struck about 9:15 p.m. Central time on Saturday, said Dale Grant, an geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
The epicenter was near the border of the cities of Dallas and Irving, near the site of the former Texas Stadium,...
Actress Daryl Hannah arrested in Keystone pipeline protest
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on October 5th, 2012
Reuters: Actress Daryl Hannah was arrested in Texas on Thursday after she stood in front of an earth-moving machine clearing ground for the construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, her representative said.
The protest took place outside Winnsboro, Texas, about 80 miles east of Dallas, said Hannah's agent, Paul Bassis.
Hannah, 51, a longtime environmental activist, was arrested last year outside the White House in another protest against the pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline, a project...
Texas drought leads to shade tree die-off
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on February 15th, 2012
Reuters: Some 5.6 million urban shade trees were killed by the record drought that baked Texas last year, the Texas Forest Service reported on Wednesday.
Last year was the driest year on record in the state and the second-hottest, according to the National Weather Service.
The shade tree die-off represents some 10 percent of the state's urban forest, and is in addition to as many as a half-billion rural, park and forest trees that the forest service reported in December were killed in the drought. ...
Grim predictions say 9 more years of Texas drought possible
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on September 29th, 2011
Reuters: A devastating Texas drought that has browned city lawns and caused more than $5 billion in damages to the state's farmers and ranchers could continue for another nine years, a state forecaster said on Thursday.
"It is possible that we could be looking at another of these multiyear droughts like we saw in the 1950s, and like the tree rings have shown that the state has experienced over the last several centuries," State Climatologist John Nielson-Gammon told Reuters.
Some 95 percent of the state...
Two dead in Texas wildfires, homes destroyed
Posted by Reuters: Jim Forsyth on September 6th, 2011
Reuters: Sixty separate wildfires, whipped by strong winds, were burning across Texas on Monday, destroying hundreds of homes and killing at least two people, officials said.
Authorities in Gregg County, in northeast Texas, say a 20-year-old woman and her 18-month-old daughter were killed on Sunday when they were trapped in their mobile home by flames.
The Texas Forest Service estimates 424 homes may have been destroyed so far, including 300 from the so-called Bastrop County Complex fire east of Austin....