US report finds climate change 90% manmade, contradicting Trump officials. Major report by government agencies goes against senior members of Trump administration and finds evidence of global warming stronger than ever. A copy of the Executive Summary can be found here.
From Bloomberg News, this commentary: How the Trump White House Wound Up Releasing Dire Climate Report
Reminder that the Diva maintains another blog site called DisastersandFaith. Info about building safety and how to deal to an active shooter are on that site.
From the NYTimes: A Broke, and Broken, Flood Insurance Program. Now, an unusual coalition of insurers, environmentalists and fiscal conservatives is seeking major changes in the federal plan as a deadline approaches.
In response to the many comments on the last posting, the Diva would like to know
To what extent does FEMA assess the capabilities of all of the states and territories prior to a disaster? And how adequate are their assessments?
Generally, I am interested in the extent to which a problematic response can be anticipated. Specifically, I wonder if FEMA staff knew what the weaknesses were in Puerto Rico re Commonwealth and local emergency management capability before hurricane season started?
From the NYTimes: U.S. Response to Storm-Hit Puerto Rico Is Criticized by U.N. Experts.
Well this is embarrassing. The U.S. used to be considered a model for national emergency management….
From the Tampa Bay newspaper: Nelson, Rubio press FEMA to improve hurricane response. Some people waiting hours just to talk with someone at FEMA.
In defense of FEMA, the Diva knows that the agency is in the process of hiring and training 2,000 new workers. I guess that cannot happen soon enough for the FL victims of H. Irma.
The Inspector General of DHS had warned about FEMA’s Disaster Funding.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General concluded one-third of the FEMA grants it inspected were improper or unauthorized, a finding that lead him to warn congressional committees about problems at the agency, Bloomberg News reported late Thursday.
The Inspector General found 29 percent of the fiscal 2015 FEMA grants it audited had problems like “duplicated payments, unsupported costs, improper contract costs, and unauthorized expenditures,” according to the report. Audits of FEMA-funded projects since then exhibited other issues.
A discussion of the question that has been asked since 2003 when FEMA was included in the Dept. of Homeland Security. From the National Interest: Should FEMA Be a Stand Alone Agency?
From the Wash Post: With thousands still in shelters, FEMA’s caution about temporary housing hinders hurricane recovery, An excerpt:
The triple-punch of the three hurricanes has created a housing challenge for FEMA that is unmatched since Katrina. In Texas, an estimated 1.2 million homes were damaged or destroyed. In Florida, where estimates are still being tabulated, the number is already in the tens of thousands. In Puerto Rico, about 250,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.
From Bloomberg News: HUD Explores Temporarily Housing Puerto Ricans on U.S. Mainland
Update on Nov. 1: Here is the FEMA info re transitional housing available in the U.S. mainland.
(1) From the Claims Journal: Officials Reflect on Superstorm Sandy 5 Years Later
(2) From the Guardian: Hurricane Sandy, five years later: ‘No one was ready for what happened after’. Survivors of the 2012 storm remain haunted. As hurricanes continue to batter the US, many say plans to mitigate climate change have not gone far enough: ‘People need to open their eyes’
(3) From the New Yorker: The Fifth Anniversary of H. Sandy.
(4) From CNN.
(5) From the New York Times.
Recovery Diva 