From the Washington Times. The Impacts and Costs of Flooding.
Effects of Floods
Reply
Author Archives: recoverydiva
CA Wildfires Explained
From The Guardian: CA Wildfires: Why are they So Intense and What Can be Done? High temperatures and lack of rainfall, exacerbated by years of drought, are contributing factors – and climate change.
Update on August 7: CA Fires Now Largest in State History.
Another update on August 7: Fires are Expected to Burn for Month of August.
Development in Floodplains
From Governing: Risky Waters. Everyone knows it is a bad idea to develop new developments on flood prone land. So why do we keep doing it?
The Diva Needs Your Support
If you value this blog, consider supporting it. The costs of maintaining and improving the blog platform, like increasing security for it, keep mounting. Just use the Donate Now button in the right column of the homepage.
Please let me know if you have a problem; PayPay seems to be unreliable right now.
“Design Safe”
From the AAAS: A new platform for the natural hazards community helps researchers build a more resilient society. University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center
National Flood Insurance Program – two articles
- This assessment from Scientific American: National Flood Insurance Is Underwater Because of Outdated Science. The FEMA program will continue to be financially unviable until it uses the latest research.
- Senate passes National Flood Insurance Program extension hours before it expires, But the extension only lasts 4 months, the program is $20B in debt, and lawmakers delayed major reforms needed to keep it solvent in the long-term.
Sure wish we had a Congress with a sense of responsibility and a long-term outlook!!!!
Critique of TX Recovery Plan
From GovTech.com: A report on the recovery of Hurricane Harvey, by Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research and the Hart Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, says the disaster recovery system in the region is not sustainable and creates a moral hazard by rewarding risky behavior.
The report, Rethinking Disaster Recovery and Mitigation Funding in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey, includes findings that suggest a top-down funding approach handcuffs local communities in developing mitigation plans and that, as a whole, Texas’ long-term hazard mitigation planning efforts have failed.
Role of the Private Sector
Article re Need for Bigger Role for Private Sector.
FEMA’s IT System Flawed
An article in Nextgov citing a new DHS IG report: Shoddy IT Is Limiting FEMA’s Ability to Respond to Disasters, IG Says.”Some of the outstanding recommendations go back to 2005, just after Hurricane Katrina.”
The Diva could not find the URL for the full DHS IG report, but here is a link to Congressional testimony (11 pp) by the IG office.This is a hard-hitting report, which is worth reading in full. [Please let me know if you find a link to the report.]
In that testimony is a reference to this earlier, related report, issued by the IG in March 2018. See: Management Alert – Inadequate FEMA Progress in Addressing Open Recommendations from our 2015 Report, “FEMA Faces Challenges in Managing Information Technology” (OIG-16-10)
A personal note: Reading this report makes me sympathetic to FEMA Administrator Brock Long and the many well-intentioned staff. But clearly some remedial actions are needed.
Disasters and Faith-Based Organizations
Just a reminder to visit the Diva’s other website for information on faith-based organizations and disasters. Go to www.disastersandfaith.wordpress.
Recovery Diva 