A huge fire destroyed eight businesses in Natick as it burned for several hours early Monday.

Trains and planes were delayed while cars and pedestrians slogged through knee-deep water in battered Brooklyn as flash flooding swept through parts of the borough following days of intense heat and power outages.

Flash flooding Monday morning caused damage to homes and businesses around the area. About a dozen business around the Eureka area have flooded.

A week after Hurricane Barry washed ashore, people everywhere have become expert weather forecasters. I realized this last Sunday after an irate caller told WWL Radio listeners the fake news media, meteorologists and public officials had conspired to deliver a doomsday forecast just to scare coastal residents.

Recent hurricane seasons have been vicious, last year’s killed more than a hundred people and inflicted more than $50 billion dollars in damages. The country is still deep in recovery and this year’s storm season is already underway.

Storms of unprecedented power have lashed the U.S. and the Caribbean in recent years, leaving a trail of devastation estimated in the tens of billions of dollars. The U.S. alone has experienced 212 natural disasters since 1980 with the overall costs totaling $1.2 trillion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA).

Even though the June 1 hailstorm has long passed, residents are still feeling the effects as insurance claims soar. "It was the worst hailstorm I can remember in 30 years," Jeff Blue said, owner of Reliance Insurance Agency in Goshen.

Fire officials said that the massive three-alarm fire at a Crystal Lake apartment building early Wednesday morning was caused by an unattended candle and damage is estimated at $3.5 million.

A Clearwater woman became something of a celebrity when a giant alligator broke into her home back in May.

As Californians rocked by the recent quakes seek coverage, they’re finding sky-high premiums. Across California, consumers have been watching earthquake insurance rates increasing. The reason is that the latest premiums calculations include forecasts of how large future quakes will be and where the worst ones will strike.

Catastrophe risk modeller Karen Clark & Company (KCC) has estimated that Hurricane Barry will drive an insurance industry loss of close to $300 million, excluding National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) losses.

Firefighters rushed to Larry Flynt’s Lucky Lady Casino in Gardena Monday morning after its roof partially collapsed, injuring nearly a dozen people.

A utility worker was killed and 15 other people were injured on Monday when a ruptured gas line triggered an explosion that leveled a house and shattered windows in nearby homes in the Southern California town of Murrieta, authorities said.

A severe thunderstorm that moved through Great Falls Sunday afternoon brought heavy rain, nickel-sized hail, numerous power outages and extensive damage to central and north-central Montana.

You can’t tell from looking at the streets still under water, but the Gulf Coast got lucky with this storm. Barry, which made landfall as a hurricane Saturday, quickly turned into a tropical storm and has been inundating Louisiana ever since.