From the GAO: Disaster Assistance Scams: Education and Awareness Are Key to Consumer Protection

“Disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and wildfires afflict hundreds of American communities and millions of people each year. The resulting federal disaster response—i.e., billions of dollars distributed quickly—also attracts scammers.

In this Q&A, we looked at ways federal and state agencies are educating people to protect them from disaster assistance scams. For example, information booths at disaster recovery centers display signs with tips about identifying, reporting, and avoiding scams. Online information—including press releases and emergency app push notifications—also helps raise awareness.”

From HomelandSecurityNewswire: DROUGHT: As Drought Worsens, Western States Brace for Wildfires, Water Shortages

“From the Rockies to the Cascades to the Sierra Nevada, mountainsides across the West are sparsely covered by the snow that usually blankets the high country well into the summer. That snowpack is like a savings account that the West draws on when the hot, dry months arrive, but this year Western states are heading into the summer with a desperately low balance — threatening wildfires, drinking water, crops, electricity and more.”

From HSNW: As Drought Worsens, Western States Brace for Wildfires, Water Shortages

“From the Rockies to the Cascades to the Sierra Nevada, mountainsides across the West are sparsely covered by the snow that usually blankets the high country well into the summer. That snowpack is like a savings account that the West draws on when the hot, dry months arrive, but this year Western states are heading into the summer with a desperately low balance — threatening wildfires, drinking water, crops, electricity and more.”

From the New Republic: Trump’s FEMA Is an Unnatural Disaster
The president has staffed the agency in charge of federal disaster response with a rotating cast of fools—and it’s showing.

“FEMA is not all right. As the United States faces another summer of extreme weather exacerbated by climate change, the Federal Emergency Management Agency—which coordinates federal disaster response, relief, and preparedness—continues to shuffle through leadership a roster of mostly unqualified Trump loyalists.”

From the WashPost: A super El Niño wiped out millions of people in 1877. Are we better prepared now?

“As chances rise for one of the strongest El Niño events on record later this year, the potential for dangerous conditions has prompted comparisons to 1877, when such an event drove catastrophe around the globe.”

From Politico: Trump gets his chance to upend FEMA

“Long-anticipated recommendations to revamp the disaster agency were approved Thursday. Now, President Donald Trump has to make a decision.

Long-anticipated recommendations to revamp the disaster agency were approved Thursday. Now, President Donald Trump has to make a decision.

The most-sweeping proposal would end the decades-old system used to determine if states are eligible to receive billions of dollars in disaster aid. Instead of estimating monetary damages from catastrophes like hurricanes to decide whether aid is warranted, the agency would look at the atmospheric conditions of an event, such as wind speed or flood depth, before releasing aid.

That would help the agency meet one of Trump’s biggest complaints about FEMA — that it’s too slow to deliver money. The report says payments to states would occur within 30 days of a flood, storm, wildfire or other disaster.”

From the NY Times: Trump Panel Calls for FEMA Overhaul

From MS Now: FEMA and the American people deserve better than Trump’s political lackeys

“Reports suggest the Trump administration is considering even deeper workforce cuts at FEMA, a highly dangerous proposal with the start of hurricane season less than a month away.”

From the NYTimes: It’s Harder Than Ever to Get Federal Disaster Aid. Even in Red States.

During President Trump’s second term, the disaster declarations that unlock money are taking longer than in the past. Blue states wait the longest and they hear ‘no’ more often.

From MSN: FEMA Aims to Rehire Most of the Disaster Response Employees It Fired Months Ago.

“The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working to rehire more than 100 disaster-response employees who had been fired months ago in time for hurricane season, according to FEMA officials.

The agency is planning to bring back most of the staffers from the Cadre of On-Call Response and Recovery (CORE), FEMA’s largest workforce, who were suddenly terminated this past winter as part of then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem’s plans to cut the agency by 50 percent. These employees are among the first on the ground after a disaster and often stick around for years to help communities recover. They work under two- to four-year contracts that are usually renewed, barring any performance issues, because disaster recovery efforts can span years, if not decades.”