World News for Students of English

22-09-2020 07:00

Wildfires on the US West Coast have burned more than five million acres, and on the US East Coast, hundreds of homes are flooded in Florida after Hurricane Sally made landfall.

Some scientists believe that people play a role in wildfires, and the majority of fires are human-caused. A recent study found that humans were responsible for starting 97% of home-threatening wildfires between 1992 and 2015 in the US. Warming temperatures are a result of human activities, and they mean that fires are going to keep getting worse and more aggressive.

Scientists also think that hurricanes in a warmer climate are going to have higher rainfall rates, and they will become more intense. Looking at global data since the late 1970s, there was an increase in storms that reached Category 3 or higher.

Difficult words: landfall (when a storm moves over land after being over water), intense (of extreme force, degree, or strength), aggressive (violent and sometimes unpredictable), Category 3 hurricane (a hurricane with winds ranging from 111 to 129 mph and with the risk of devastating damage).

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