Environment

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Senior hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart tracks Isaac at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned that Isaac, especially if it strikes at high tide, could cause storm surges of up to 12 feet (3.6 meters) along the coasts of southeast Louisiana and Mississippi and up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) as far away as the Florida Panhandle. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

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A Chinese fisherman (center) is rescued Aug. 28, 2012, by South Korean coast guard officers from a Chinese ship in Jeju, South Korea, after a powerful typhoon pounded the nation with strong winds and heavy rain. The coast guard battled rough seas in a race to rescue fishermen on two Chinese ships that slammed into rocks off the southern coast. (Associated Press)

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A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image taken on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012, at 1:45 a.m. EDT shows a swirl of clouds in the Gulf of Mexico associated with Tropical Storm Isaac as it moves slowly toward the central Gulf Coast. Landfall is expected later Tuesday or early Wednesday in Louisiana. (AP Photo/Weather Underground)

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A line of traffic extends down Airline Highway as residents leave the New Orleans area in anticipation of Tropical Storm Isaac, in Kenner, La., on Monday. Isaac was expected to make landfall on the Louisiana coast as a hurricane. (Associated Press)

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The El Sol Market in Brawley, Calif., was hit hard by an earthquake swarm on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Imperial Valley Press, Brandy Ronek)

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A policeman looks at a burned double-decker sleeper bus on Aug. 26, 2012, after it collided with a tanker loaded with highly-flammable methanol on an expressway in Yan'an in northwest China's Shaanxi province, causing both vehicles to burst into flames and killing 36 people, state media said. (Associated Press)

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A family walks on a street as flames rise in the distance from an explosion at the Amuay refinery near Punto Fijo, Venezuela. Residents near the country’s biggest oil refinery said they smelled a strong odor of sulfur hours before a gas leak led to an explosion on Saturday. The fire was still burning on Sunday (below). The blast damaged 209 homes and 11 businesses. (Associated Press)

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Three cars that were hit by bombs as they carried Iranian scientists are displayed outside a conference hall hosting the meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

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In this photo released by MINUSTAH, the U.N. mission in Haiti, a woman swims through floodwaters in a low-lying area affected by Tropical Storm Isaac in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/MINUSTAH, Logan Abassi)

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National Mall and Memorial Parks Superintendent Bob Vogel on Thursday said the Washington Monument’s structure would require full scaffolding as part of the restoration process after last August’s earthquake. The 555-foot-tall structure has been closed since the day of the quake. A separate project to fix its elevator has been completed. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)