Author Archives: recoverydiva

Support for Schools

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Resources to Support Education Agencies With Recovery and Continuity of Operations and Learning Following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

Has your education agency been affected by Hurricanes Harvey or Irma? In collaboration with other federal agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Dept. of Education’s mission during this time is to ensure continuity of operations and learning via the provision of critical services to students, families, and educators and the restoration of the learning environment. To support this mission, ED has established a page to support you and your community partners with recovery and continuity activities.

For general hurricane support and for help with Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, visit: https://www.ed.gov/hurricane-help.

Review of Painful Lessons So Far

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This is a good recap of the response so far. Will the lessons be learned or just noted?

Hurricanes Harvey and Irma offer sobering lessons in the power of nature

William “Brock” Long, the FEMA administrator, has had two epic storms in his first three months on the job, and what he’s seen affirms his philosophy that the United States needs a fundamental change in disaster preparedness.
“We don’t seem to learn the lessons over and over again from past hurricanes,” he said. He cited the many people who refused to evacuate from storm-surge zones, “which blows my mind.”

FL Is “Ticking Time Bomb”

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From Scientific American: Hurricane Irma: Florida’s Overdevelopment Has Created a Ticking Time Bomb. Disaster risk expert says intense population growth and urban coastal development have created a huge danger.

The title is a bit dramatic, but the message is one we are seeing in many articles these days. Both FL coastal cities and Houston have been growing with inadequate attention to risk.

Insurance – Different in FL and TX

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The insurance issues in FL are quite different from those in TX. See this article from the NYTimes: Irma May Force Florida Insurers to Turn to Deeper Pockets  

When the storm is over and the streets are safe again, Floridians will be checking what has become of their homes. They may also want to check on their insurers.
The big national carriers like State Farm and Allstate pulled out of Florida’s homeowners’ market years ago, citing catastrophic risks and unhelpful state regulators. Those departures left a vacuum that the state filled, initially, with a state-owned insurer, Citizens Property Insurance. Eventually, the state offered incentives to coax some brave new insurers into the market.

As a result, all that may seem to stand between Florida’s homeowners and potential ruin is one state-owned insurer and dozens of relatively little-known companies that do all or most of their business in the state. They all have the benefit of the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, which, with no major storms in the past 12 years, has $17 billion at the ready — a sum that may not be nearly enough.