FEMA reviewing Sandy flood claims

Federal Emergency Management Agency officials say they are reviewing flood insurance claims of Superstorm Sandy victims. FEMA said Friday the agency is mailing letters to about 142,000 National Flood Insurance Protection policyholders. The development comes after FEMA announced plans to set up a review process in March. Storm victims have said some insurance companies underestimated damage after the October 2012 storm that killed 71 people in New Jersey and 68 in New York…

Wife of Oklahoma pastor shot by trooper amid flooding challenges police account

The wife of a man who was fatally shot by Oklahoma highway patrol officers as they responded to a stranded vehicle call has questioned the initial police account of the incident. Nehemiah Fischer was an assistant pastor at Faith Bible Church in Tulsa. Police said the 35-year-old was shot dead by a highway patrol officer who responded with a partner to a call about a motorist stuck in a truck in rising waters in a rural road south of Tulsa after 9pm on Friday night…

Rain brings little relief to southern India as heatwave death toll nears 2,200

Despite hopes that weekend thundershowers would help end a raging heatwave in southern India, the rain brought only limited relief as the death toll since mid-April approached 2,200. Officials said on Sunday the intense heat was likely to continue for another day in the worst hit states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Daytime temperatures hovered between 45C and 47C (113-116 F) in parts of the two states over the weekend, 3-7C (5-12F) above normal, said YK Reddy, a director of the Meteorological Centre in the Telangana state capital of Hyderabad…