Piles of charred rubble smoldered along California's scenic coastal highway Thursday as a ferocious wildfire descended on the storied tourist town of Big Sur.

A tropical storm dubbed Bertha has formed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean off Africa's coast and is heading west towards the Caribbean, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday.

Severe thunderstorms swept across parts of Michigan, flooding streets and cutting power to hundreds of thousands of residents.

Transportation corridors opened over and on the Mississippi River Wednesday as floodwaters continued to recede at a rapid pace.

A new climate model estimates that by 2100 high temperatures for once-in-a-generation heat waves will rise twice as fast as everyday average temperatures.