• Climate Change

Rich Neighborhoods More Likely To Get Federal Flood Relief

• buyouts
• FEMA
• flood

Homeowners in flood-prone wealthy areas have a much better chance of receiving a government buyout than more vulnerable rural areas with lower-income residents, according to a study published last week.

Why This Matters:  As climate change worsens, many areas in the U.S. have increasing exposure to its dangers.  And the study revealed that because “local officials must request federal funds for buyouts — and then successfully navigate a series of bureaucratic requirements.

• Climate Change

Climate Change Poses Huge Risks to Housing Markets, Taxpayers Are Covering the Costs

• 100 year flood
• FEMA
• flood
• flood insurance
• sea level rise

  In the last 20 years, the U.S. has seen an average of almost seven natural events per year that each produce damages in excess of $1 billion. In the aftermath, not only are homeowners waiting an average of 5 years for FEMA-backed buyout of damaged homes but there’s growing concern that banks are giving […]

• Climate Change

Mayor Stephen Hagerty: Buttigieg Plan Is What Communities Need to Respond to Natural Disaster

• active shooter
• disaster
• emergency
• FEMA
• Fire
• flood
• hurricane
• tornado

  By Stephen H. Hagerty, Mayor of Evanston, Illinois Our nation is facing a heightened risk from natural and man-made disasters. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, active shooters. We see it practically every time we turn on the television, pick up a newspaper, or glance at social media. Due to a changing climate, so-called 100-year flooding […]

• Weather

2.3 Million Unanswered Calls To FEMA

• disaster response
• failure
• FEMA

Just as Congress finally passed a $19B disaster relief law last week, then this news from Congress’ investigatory arm — The General Accounting Office — which issued a report stating, according to E&E News,that the Federal Emergency Management Agency “failed to answer 2.3 million phone calls to its disaster assistance helpline during an eight-week period […]

• Water

The storm that hit FEMA

• extreme weather
• FEMA
• Flooding
• NFIP
• TMAC

E&E News reported yesterday that the Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC), the federal advisory panel that’s supposed to provide scientific information to the National Flood Insurance Program to ensure that flood insurance rate maps are accurate, is entering a five-month work stoppage even as property losses mount against the backdrop of severe inundation related to climate change.

• Land

Trump threatens to pull FEMA money from wildfire victims

• California
• FEMA
• Trump
• wildfire

Earlier this week President Trump tweeted out the above tweet and while many of us have ceased to be truly stunned by anything the president says and tweets, him stating that he won’t give government aid to desperate Americans struggling to survive is deeply troubling. Trump’s claim that “forest management” will magically stop the hellish infernos that California experiences each summer has been disproven numerous times but by actual fire scientists.