Hurricane Leslie has slammed into western Portugal, packing winds of around 160 kilometres per hour.

In poor countries, they care for children, the elderly, and the sick and so are less likely to be evacuated and are more likely to be at home when, say, an earthquake strikes, writes Bharati Sadasivam

Hurricane Florence forced some residents of North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to evacuate their homes last week.

The centre of the hurricane made landfall near Wrightsville, North Carolina, bringing with it life-threatening storm surges and 90mph winds.

The Government is making almost €9m available to local authorities, to help deal with the clean up following Hurricane Ophelia and other major weather events in 2017.

The whole country is this morning being warned to be braced for potentially life-threatening conditions, with a myriad of dangers including flying debris, surging seas, flooding, fallen trees, and downed but live electricity wires.

US President Donald Trump has lashed out at the mayor of San Juan and other officials in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, contemptuous of their claims of a slow American response to the natural disaster that has threatened the island's future.

British police officers will be deployed as part of the country's efforts to step up support to the Caribbean islands left devastated by Hurricane Irma, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) has said.

Latest: Tourists returning from areas in the Caribbean which have been hit by Hurricane Irma have described the experience as "like being in a nightmare".

Latest: The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) has issued advice to Irish holidaymakers travelling to the Caribbean and Florida as Hurricane Irma makes landfall there.

Hurricane Nicole has roared across Bermuda, pummelling the resort island with winds up to 115mph which snapped trees and peeled off roofs before the storm spun away into open water.

Rescuers have been working to save around 1,500 residents in North Carolina who were trapped when the Lumber River overflowed because of Hurricane Matthew.

US president Barack Obama has declared a state of emergency in Florida as Hurricane Matthew approaches with winds of 140mph, leaving more than 100 dead in its wake across the Caribbean.

Haitian officials dramatically raised the known death toll from Hurricane Matthew on Thursday as they finally began to reach corners of the country that had been cut off by the rampaging storm.

People boarded up beach homes, schools closed and officials ordered evacuations along the East Coast as Hurricane Matthew tore through the Bahamas and took aim at Florida.

Anxious Florida residents have cleared supermarket shelves while North Carolina called for the evacuation of three barrier islands as Hurricane Matthew threatens a large swathe of the US east coast in the coming days.

Former hurricane Hermine has regained strength as it moved slowly up the eastern side of the US.

A quiet hurricane season in the US could be the latest factor bearing down on world oil prices and prices could stay depressed for months to come, a leading Irish-based expert has predicted.

Fears have been expressed that defences erected around a toxic dump were breached during the recent hurricane, releasing potentially harmful chemicals into Cork harbour.