Free Republic

The central US is bracing for what could be a potentially dangerous end to the weekend as forecasters track the threat of severe weather on Sunday, including the potential for a derecho that could sweep across portions of Kansas and Oklahoma with destructive wind gusts higher than 100 mph and baseball-sized hail. This comes on the heels of another deadly derecho that barreled across Texas and Louisiana on Thursday, blasting the Houston metro area with winds up to 100 mph that left at least seven people dead and more than 1 million customers without power.

A colossal earthquake that caused damage from South Carolina to Washington D.C. and temporarily reversed the course of the Mississippi River nearly two centuries ago could be repeated within the next 50 years, scientists said today. Strain is building on a fault near Memphis, Tennessee that was the site of a magnitude 8.1 earthquake in 1812, according to new observations that settle a debate on the risk of another huge quake. The odds of another 8.0 event within 50 years are between 7 and 10 percent, geologists said today. The assessment, based on new data from a recently installed array...