Aftershocks continued on Sunday in Southern California after the strongest earthquake in two decades hit the area on Friday. Gov. Gavin Newsom called the magnitude 7.1 quake a “wake-up call.” He said local governments must take a hard look at alert systems and building codes, and residents need to have an emergency plan for themselves and their families. Officials voiced concerns about the possibility of major aftershocks in the days and even months to come. Seismologists said there could be up to 30,000 aftershocks over the next six months.

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake centered in the Mojave Desert hit Southern California and parts of Nevada Thursday morning. No deaths were reported, but Kern County Fire Chief David Witt said the town of Ridgecrest, Calif., reported some structural damage and multiple injuries. He added that authorities evacuated 15 hospital patients from a regional facility as a precaution and emergency crews battled two house fires and responded to small vegetation fires, gas leaks, and cracked roads.

A spate of tornadoes hit the southern Plains over the weekend, with more severe weather possible in the coming days. An EF2 tornado destroyed two homes and injured one person in Geronimo, Okla., on Saturday morning, the National Weather Service confirmed, with another suspected tornado damaging numerous homes in northwestern Arkansas. Kansas and Nebraska also saw several twisters on Friday.

Felton and Geraldine Eubanks did not have flood insurance. Their home of 53 years in rural Trenton, N.C., is in a low-risk area for flooding, according to state records. Prior to Hurricane Florence, they hadn’t needed flood insurance. 

“We had never been flooded. Never,” Geraldine said. When the last two big hurricanes hit the state (Hurricane Floyd in 1999 and Matthew in 2016), nearby neighbors and family members whose homes weren’t as elevated found refuge in the Eubankses’ home.

Nearly 100,000 households lost power Sunday after powerful storms swept across the South over the weekend, spawning tornadoes and flooding that killed at least eight people. The storm brought widespread damage to Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas and is expected to move on to the northeastern United States. One of the confirmed tornadoes ripped through the central Texas town of Franklin.

At 2 a.m. on a Friday—hours after Cyclone Idai struck—Robert Koehn and his wife, Karis, bailed water by the bucketful from their home in Lamego, 51 miles inland from the central port city of Beira in Mozambique. 

The American missionary couple with the Africa Inland Mission lived in the village for more than 18 years. They witnessed past storms and had shuttered their windows in advance. 

“We really had no idea how strong it was going to be.” 

Media reporting on the recent devastating flooding—in places as distant as Mozambique and as close as the Missouri River Valley—brought a new reminder: The doctrine of creation matters.