Tropical Storm Ida prompted a hurricane warning for New Orleans and an emergency declaration for the state of Louisiana as it pushed across the Caribbean toward an anticipated strike on Cuba Friday.

Ida could be near major hurricane strength by the time it reaches the northern Gulf Coast, which forecasters predict may happen sometime late Sunday or early Monday.

Nashville-based helicopter pilot Joel Boyers had just finished helping his fiancee earn her pilot's license on Saturday morning, and they were heading home to celebrate, when he received a frantic call from a woman in Pennsylvania. Her brother's home in Waverly, Tennessee, was underwater and he was trapped on a roof with his daughters. Could Boyers help?

"I thought, 'How would I feel if I told her I'm not even going to try?'" he said in a Thursday interview. "She just so happened to call the right person, because I'm the only person crazy enough to even try to do that."

The death toll from heavy rains that triggered mudslides and floods in western Venezuela has risen to 20, local authorities said Wednesday, with 17 other people missing.

Nine states are in an "emergency" situation and more than 54,000 people have been affected by the downpours, Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos told state television.

The ground at the summit of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has been rumbling and swelling in recent days, prompting scientists to warn that the mountain could once again disgorge lava. But there's no indication an eruption is imminent. The volcano, which is among the world's most active, has behaved similarly in the past without any magma breaking the surface.

Here's an overview of the latest developments at Kilauea:

A wildfire that burned several homes near Los Angeles may signal that the region is facing the same dangers that have scorched Northern California.

The fire in San Bernardino County erupted Wednesday afternoon, quickly burned several hundred acres and damaged or destroyed at least a dozen homes and outbuildings in the foothills northeast of LA, fire officials said. Crews used shovels and bulldozers and mounted an air attack to keep the South Fire from the tiny communities of Lytle Creek and Scotland near the Cajon Pass.

Huge gaps between air quality sensors in the western U.S. have created blind spots in the warning system for wildfire smoke plumes sweeping North America this summer, amid growing concern over potential health impacts to millions of people exposed to the pollution.

Government programs to alert the public when smoke pollution becomes unhealthy rely on about 950 permanent monitoring stations and dozens of mobile units that can be deployed around major fires.

A village in the Austrian Alps known for its family-friendly ski resort has been forced to adapt to waning snow due to climate change, turning to a new downhill sport -- mountain biking.

Russia's central regions on Wednesday battled "extreme" wildfires fueled by an unusual heatwave that comes after forest fires linked to climate change ravaged Siberia for most of the summer. 

Authorities were fighting 15 wildfires in the Urals region of Sverdlovsk, the emergencies ministry said. 

Operators of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant unveiled plans Wednesday to construct an undersea tunnel to release more than a million tons of treated water from the site into the ocean.

A massive oil spill caused by leakage from a power plant inside one of Syria's oil refineries is spreading along the coast of the Mediterranean country, Syria's state news agency said and satellite photos showed Wednesday.

SANA said the spill reached the coastal town of Jableh, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the refinery in the town of Baniyas, adding that Syria's environment department and the municipality of the coastal province of Latakia have placed all concerned departments on alert. It said work is underway to clean the coast in the rocky areas.