Natural Disasters
A new path to recovery: How AI can transform disaster response
COMMENTARY | With interagency data sharing, leadership, tested tools and data security, emerging tech like AI could help states and localities be better prepared for catastrophe.
How drones are helping one community recover from Hurricane Helene
In South Carolina, drones are playing a key role in disaster assessment for the city of Aiken to more efficiently and accurately apply for federal recovery funds.
Wildfires are coming to the Southeast. Can landowners mitigate the risk in time?
No other part of the country has seen such a sharp rise in the number of big fires. The bigger challenge, though, is getting people to embrace the prescribed burns that can prevent them.
State CIOs take on bigger role in natural disasters
A recent survey of state tech leaders found that CIOs are increasingly an integral part of state emergency operations, tasked with making sure critical systems and communications remain available.
For Floridians in mobile homes, Hurricane Helene was a disaster waiting to happen
Trailers and manufactured homes have long served as a lifeline for struggling families. A warming world has made them a perilous place to live.
Election-year politics color hurricane recovery efforts
A week after Hurricane Helene struck the Southeast, some elected officials have been reluctant to put on a united front.
US disaster relief funding is running dry as Helene roars through
Congress opted not to replenish the FEMA disaster fund before it left town this week. It’s not the first time lawmakers have left the emergency management agency short of cash.
Congress averts a shutdown, setting up a lame duck fight in December
A stopgap funding bill is heading to Biden's desk as Congress staves off a pre-election shutdown.
As wildfires burn throughout the West, officials are turning to AI
In California, fire officials began using artificial intelligence last year to scan cameras for smoke.
Emergency responders struggle with burnout, budgets as disasters mount
Climate change has rewritten the script for disasters.
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Crowdstrike debacle underlines single-point-of-failure risk
COMMENTARY | As our dependency on technology and energy increases, state and local leaders need to take a hard look at their disaster recovery and business plans.
A year after the Maui wildfires, are new housing policies keeping locals housed?
Hawaii has adopted several laws to head off disaster gentrification and ensure affordable housing is available to local residents. The nation is watching to see how those efforts play out.
What defines a heat wave? The answer could decide where disaster dollars go.
With heat waves and wildfire smoke emergencies increasing, there's not always a clear pathway for states to access federal aid.
Communities step up their resilience and climate planning
COMMENTARY | A county in Florida is leveraging federal funding to reduce carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency in public buildings and invest in renewable energy infrastructure.
3D visualization predicts hurricane damage before it happens
By applying this technology to coastal communities or community buildings, such as schools and stores, researchers can help residents and officials create a plan for hurricane season.
States beg insurers not to drop climate-threatened homes
Property insurance companies say they’re taking losses amid escalating disasters.
How ‘kitty cats’ are wrecking the home insurance industry
Supercharged thunderstorms and tornadoes are ravaging the Midwest, driving insurance costs to record highs.
Texas flooding brings new urgency to Houston home buyout program
The Houston area is the site of perhaps the country’s longest-running experiment in the adaptation policy known as “managed retreat.” But the past week’s flooding has demonstrated that even this nation-leading program hasn’t been able to keep pace with escalating disaster.
Measuring and managing risk in the quest for resilience
COMMENTARY | Incidents like the Baltimore bridge collapse should motivate local leaders to think carefully about risk management, prevention and mitigation.
How hurricane response helped one state’s cyber preparedness
Local governments in Louisiana are used to having the National Guard come in during natural disasters. Today, they are growing used to the guard coming in during a cyberattack, too.
