Tropical Storm Claudette made landfall in the Florida Panhandle early Monday. The storm hit near the eastern end of Santa Rosa Island, just southeast of Fort Walton Beach in Florida, about 1:15 a.m. ET, the National Weather Service said. Claudette is expected to move through the Panhandle and into southern Alabama, CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said. Even before Claudette made landfall, the storm's outer bands pounded the area with heavy rain, with officials warning that some coastal areas had the ...

Tropical Storm Claudette was on course late Sunday afternoon to hit the Florida Panhandle in the evening, and the storm's outer rain bands already were pushing into the area. At 5 p.m. ET, the center of Claudette, with maximum sustained winds near 50 mph, was in the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles west-southwest of Apalachicola, Florida, and about 120 miles southeast of Pensacola, the National Hurricane Center said. It was moving northwest at about 14 mph. A tropical ...

A warning was issued overnight for a potential tropical storm that may hit the Florida-Alabama border Sunday. It formed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Hurricane Center. A tropical storm warning means that weather conditions will deteriorate in the next 24 hours. The system, still a tropical depression, was about 125 miles south-southeast of Apalachicola, Florida, at 8 a.m. ET, according to the center. It was expected to reach tropical storm strength by Sunday afternoon. ...

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. Ma, who has faced heavy criticism from victims of the disaster, ruled out resignation, insisting his government did its best in the face of difficulties, however he pledged an investigation into any irregularities. "Certainly, I will take full responsibility whatever the blame is because, after all, I ...

Tropical Storm Ana threatened the Caribbean on Saturday, but it was too early to know how much trouble the first named storm of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season might cause. Ana formed overnight and was expected to gain strength as it moved west toward the Leeward Islands, where forecasters expect it to hit on Monday. The Dutch Antilles issued a storm watch for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, meaning tropical storm conditions are expected in the islands within 36 ...

Hundreds of people were stranded on Wednesday in villages dotting Taiwan's mountainous regions after Typhoon Morakot unleashed its fury over the weekend and caused the worst flooding in a half-century. Morakot dumped 83 inches (2.1 meters) of rain on parts of the island, unleashing the worst flooding there in half a century, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Buildings collapsed in the floodwater, and mudslides buried everything in their paths. After hitting Taiwan on Saturday, ...

A deadly typhoon that slammed into China's coastal provinces and Taiwan over the weekend has displaced nearly one million people and left dozens missing, state-run media reported Monday. High winds and torrential rain from Typhoon Morakot hit coastal provinces Fujian and Zhejian hardest, and caused the worst flooding in decades in Taiwan -- where flood waters as high as seven feet were reported, China Daily said. The typhoon swept across the Philippines and Taiwan's Hualien region before crashing into eastern ...

A suspected pedophile surrendered to police after German law enforcement published clips from videos of child pornography allegedly showing the man. Taiwanese Premier Liu Chao-shiuan examined the island's emergency operation center and asked all personnel to stay on high alert over the next day, when the typhoon is forecast to "affect all regions of Taiwan," according to Taiwan's Central News Agency. Government offices and schools island-wide will be closed Friday in preparation for the arrival of the medium-strength typhoon, CNA ...

If there was ever any question over the importance of finding the black boxes from Air France flight 447 then there is certainly none now. Most of what we heard from Thursday's briefing by the investigating team only serves to deepen the mystery behind the loss of the Airbus A330. Lead investigator Alain Bouillard sums matters up when he says: "As of today we are far from having any real idea of the causes of this accident."" Consider what we ...

Norman Ollestad remembers the tree limb. He was 11 years old, riding in a Cessna in a blizzard through California's San Gabriel Mountains in 1979, on his way to pick up a trophy he won in a skiing competition. "The gray clouds were just pressing against the windows; it didn't even seem like we were moving," he recalls. "Then, there's a limb reaching out of that fog and disappearing. Then another one and another one. "Then realizing we were in ...