New Report from the Gov. Accounting Office: COVID-19: Lessons Can Help Agencies Better Prepare for Future Emergencies

From the Bipartisan Policy Center: Status of Federal Disaster Assistance Funding

“Despite ongoing disaster recovery efforts and urgent hurricane and wildfire-related risks, several federal disaster assistance programs again face an uncertain fiscal outlook. Outlined below are the Biden administration’s outstanding requests for supplemental disaster funding, the key programs such funding would support, and the implications of delayed funding for disaster-impacted communities.”

From the Congressional Research Service: Federal Assistance for Wildfire Response and Recovery. (3 pp)

From the Congressional Research Service, this report on the Disaster Relief Fund State of Play. (13 pp)

From HSToday, an article and a link to a book: Transforming the Business of Government – Insights on Resiliency, Innovation, and Performance:

From FastCompany: This study shows where the highest concentration of FEMA disaster areas are, and it’s not where you think. Disasters along the coasts get all the exposure, but extreme storms are happening all the time in hot spots like Vermont, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.

“What the data tell us is that the frequency and severity of disasters at local-state scales is increasing with rural, suburban, and urban places being affected nationwide,” Susan Cutter, co-director of the Hazards Vulnerability and Resilience Institute at the University of South Carolina, said in an email. She wasn’t part of Chester’s research. “More needs to be done to enhance resilience to reduce their impacts on people.”

New Report From the National Academy of Sciences that is free to download:
(1) Intensifying Pace and Severity of Extreme Events Increases Risks of Compounding Disasters and Demands Rethinking of U.S. Emergency Management.

From insideclimatenews: As States Recover from Climate-Related Disasters, They Also Must Prepare for Future Ones,

“New policies for flooding and wildfires could help people prepare for future damages.
This summer has brought a revolving door of climate-fueled disasters across the U.S.—from Hurricane Beryl in Houston to the wildfires tearing through California.

But what happens in the aftermath of these extreme weather events? For many states, recovery is no longer just about trying to return to normal, but rather rebuilding to prepare for future disasters as climate change accelerates.

A recent string of federal policies and a growing push from the insurance industry has made climate-minded disaster recovery more urgent than ever before, experts say.”

From ScienceDirect: Hospital preparedness for one of the worst predicted hurricane seasons on record – why this time is different.

Hurricane Ian in 2022 devastated western Florida becoming the seventh deadliest hurricane in US history with 66 total direct deaths attributed to the storm of which 41 were a result of storm surge. The leading causes of death were blunt trauma and drowning due to storm surge and flooding, particularly in Lee County, Florida. Freshwater flooding caused additional fatalities in central and eastern Florida.^4,5

Several lessons were learned from hurricane Ian that are instructive for healthcare systems to consider to adequately prepare and respond to future hurricanes.

• 1.Misplaced focus on the National Hurricane Centers (NHC) forecast cone: The public concentrated on the NHC Forecast Cone, which only indicates the probable path of the storm’s center, rather than understanding the broader impact areas. Large storms like Hurricane Ian have effects that extend well beyond the cone and may not follow the predicted forecast cone.
• 2.Delayed Evacuation Orders: Local officials delayed issuing evacuation orders, which reduced the time available for residents to safely evacuate from high-risk areas. This delay contributed to higher fatalities during the storm.
• 3.Underestimating Water Risks: People tend to underestimate the dangers of water (storm surge and flooding) compared to wind during hurricanes. This leads to inadequate preparation and response to water-related threats.3, 5

From The Hill: Fourteen attorneys general ask FEMA to make wildfire smoke, extreme heat eligible for major disaster aid

“Thirteen Democratic state attorneys general and their counterpart in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday wrote to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to voice support for rules making extreme heat and wildfire smoke events eligible for major disaster declarations.

The letter is in support of a June petition by a coalition of unions and green advocacy groups that called for expanding the regulatory definition of “major disasters” to include smoke and heat. This move by FEMA would make the federal agency’s funds and resources available to communities dealing with their effects.”