Nature & Natural Resources

KNOXVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 6 (UPI) — National Geographic Traveler said in its newest travel destination rating the United States’ Great Smoky Mountains earned a “Places with Troubles” designation.
The Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel Friday said the mountain range along the border of North Carolina and Tennessee was described by the National Geographic Society magazine as [...]

BEIJING, Nov. 6 (UPI) — Two earthquakes less than two hours apart Thursday jolted Nantou County in central Taiwan, the China Earthquake Networks Center said.
There were no initial reports of major damage from the earthquakes, which measured 5.9 and 5.4 on the Richter scale, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
In Nantou’s Mingjian Township, the quake [...]

HANOI, Vietnam, Nov. 5 (UPI) — The Vietnamese government’s Web site said Thursday at least 99 people died as a result of typhoon Mirinae.
China’s official state-run Xinhua news agency said, according to the Web site, the Vietnamese province of Phu Yen was the hardest hit by the typhoon with at least 69 people dying [...]

MIAMI, Nov. 5 (UPI) — Hurricane Ida made landfall in eastern Nicaragua Thursday with 75 mph winds, but degraded to a near-stationary tropical storm, U.S. forecasters reported.
At 1 p.m., the center of Ida was about 75 miles north of Bluefields, and barely moving the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
The ninth named Atlantic hurricane [...]

ATLANTA, Nov. 5 (UPI) — The U.S. Geological Survey says the September flooding that inundated the Atlanta Georgia area was so extreme, scientists say the data are stunning.
“At some sites, the annual chance of a flood of this magnitude was so significantly less than 1 in 500 that, given the relatively short length of stream-gauging [...]