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Amid Multiple Disasters, FEMA Faces Funding Challenges, Misinformation, and Politicization
Congress gave the agency enough money to last the year. But back-to-back hurricanes are stretching resources thin. Moreover, in the wake of Helene and Milton, FEMA has faced a barrage of brazen lies and distortions concocted by Donald Trump and amplified by his supporters about disaster relief dollars being misused and redirected toward housing migrants.
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Hurricane Disinformation Leads to Danger, Experts Say
Disinformation and conspiracy theories have spread quickly in response to natural disasters in the southeastern United States, creating distrust in the government response, according to experts. Many of the falsehoods stem from former President Donald Trump’s campaign and allies.
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Is Tampa Prepared for the Devastating Impact of Hurricane Milton?
As Hurricane Milton barrels toward central Florida, disaster recovery experts say residents should expect extensive destruction from the storm and its surge — particularly if Tampa is hit directly.
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Governments Respond to Multiple Claims on Helene
Bad actors coming in behind hurricanes in North Carolina to spread false claims is nothing new. This time, the White House felt the need to respond.
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Hurricane Helene Could Cost $200 Billion. Nobody Knows Where the Money Will Come From.
Even as the full scale of devastation in the mountainous regions of North Carolina and Tennessee remains unknown, it’s clear that Hurricane Helene is one of the deadliest and most destructive storms in recent U.S. history. Almost none of the storm’s devastation will be paid out by insurance.
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Fact-Checking the Viral Conspiracies in the Wake of Hurricane Helene
Buoyed by firebrands like Alex Jones and Marjorie Taylor Greene, Helene stirred up a toxic stew of conspiracy theories and culture war politics.
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Hurricanes Linked to Higher Death Rates Long After Storms Pass
U.S. tropical cyclones, including hurricanes, indirectly cause thousands of deaths for nearly 15 years after a storm. Understanding why could help minimize future deaths from hazards fueled by climate change.
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Why Are So Many Historically Rare Storms Hitting the Carolinas? Geography Puts These States at Risk, and Climate Change Is Loading the Dice
Why have so many storms that, historically and statistically, should be exceedingly rare, struck the Carolinas in just a few years? In regions near the coasts, the frequency of heavy rainfall has increased as a result of human-caused climate change. Warmer air can hold more moisture, and warmer oceans provide that moisture as the fuel for heavy rainfall.
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Deflecting Doom: How Sandia Research Could Save Earth from Asteroids
The most efficient way to prevent potentially dangerous asteroids from damaging or even obliterating Earth may involve a coordinated nuclear response to deflect the menacing asteroid. Free-floating experiments at Sandia provide deflection data.
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Where Flood Policy Helps Most — and Where It Could Do More
A U.S. program provides important flood insurance relief, but it’s used more in communities with greater means to protect themselves.
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In Storms Like Hurricane Helene, Flooded Industrial Sites and Toxic Chemical Releases Are a Silent and Growing Threat
Hundreds of industrial facilities with toxic pollutants were in Hurricane Helene’s path as the powerful storm flooded communities across the Southeast in late September 2024. In disasters like these, the industrial damage can unfold over days, and residents may not hear about releases of toxic chemicals into water or the air until days or weeks later, if they find out at all.
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Emergency Management Puts Itself to the Test
Each year, Sandia holds a comprehensive exercise to evaluate the Labs’ ability to respond to a wide range of emergencies. These exercises play a pivotal role in ensuring protection of Sandia’s national security mission.
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Effectiveness of 1,500 Global Climate Policies Ranked for First Time
The world can take a major step to meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Accord by focusing on 63 cases where climate policies have had the most impact, new research has revealed
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The U.S. Is Finally Curbing Floodplain Development, New Research Shows
Over the past century, the United States has built millions of homes along coastlines and rivers, developing on land that is all but destined to flood. At the same time that the warming of the planet has raised sea levels and increased rainfall, annual flood damages have surged in recent decades in large part because more homes are in flood-prone areas now than ever before.
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Planning for Impacts of Floods and Clouds on Power
On the heels of a Northeastern rainstorm that flooded towns on Long Island and claimed at least two lives in Connecticut, teams of scientists, engineers, and representatives of local power and transportation utilities met to discuss the increasing frequency of severe weather and its impacts on crucial infrastructure.
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The long view
Huge Areas May Face Possibly Fatal Heat Waves if Warming Continues
A new assessment warns that if Earth’s average temperature reaches 2 degrees C over the preindustrial average, widespread areas may become too hot during extreme heat events for many people to survive without artificial cooling.
Trump’s Cuts to Federal Wildfire Crews Could Have “Scary” Consequences
President Donald Trump’s moves to slash the federal workforce have gutted the ranks of wildland firefighters and support personnel, fire professionals warn, leaving communities to face deadly consequences when big blazes arrive this summer. States, tribes and fire chiefs are preparing for a fire season with minimal federal support.