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Why FEMA’s Disaster Relief Gets Political − Especially When Hurricane Season and Election Season Collide
Rumors and lies about government responses to natural disasters are not new, but they don’t usually come from former presidents. Yet, in the wake of hurricanes Helene and Milton, former President Donald Trump spread falsehoods about the federal government’s response to the disaster. Misinformation on the topic became so widespread that FEMA set up a webpage to debunk the rumors spawned by Trump.
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Autonomous Disaster Response Technology Successfully Applied to Fire Extinguishing System of a 3,200-ton Vessel
An innovative technology for autonomously responding, without crew intervention, to ruptures to the pipes within the fire extinguishing system of vessels has been successfully verified for the first time in Korea.
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Coastal Cities Have a Hidden Vulnerability to Storm-Surge and Tidal Flooding − Entirely Caused by Humans
Today, 80% to 90% of estuaries – areas where rivers meet the sea – such as New York Harbor, San Francisco Bay and Miami’s Biscayne Bay has been built over. The result has been the loss of buffer zones that helped protect cities from storm surge and sea-level rise. And below the surface of many of the remaining waterways, another form of urbanization has been slowly increasing the vulnerability of coastlines to extreme storms and sea-level rise.
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Efforts to Build Wildfire Resilience Are Heating Up
Stanford’s campus has become a living lab for testing innovative fire management techniques, from AI-powered environmental sensors to a firebreak-creating “BurnBot.”
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Extremists Co-Opt Hurricane Response to Blame Israel, Incite a Storm of Hateful Narratives
Right-wing extremists have been exploiting the devastation surrounding Hurricane Helene — a storm that has so far claimed the lives of at least 230 people in the southeast U.S.— and now Hurricane Milton, to advance antisemitic or anti-Israel conspiracy theories that federal disaster assistance has been slow or inadequate because they believe the U.S. is sending funds and personnel to Israel instead.
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Hurricane Helene Brought Devastation — and an Opportunity — to Appalachia’s Power Grids
As recovery efforts continue, utilities in the region need to rethink their approach to electricity in the face of climate change.
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Reducing Vulnerability to Sea-Level Rise in Virginia
As the climate changes and sea levels rise, there is concern that sinking coastlines could exacerbate risks to infrastructure, as well as human and environmental health in coastal communities. The Virginia Coastal Plain is one of the fastest-sinking regions on the East Coast.
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2025 Homeland Threat Assessment
DHS has issued its 2025 threat assessment, focusing on the most direct, pressing threats to the U.S. homeland during the next year. The assessment is organized around DHS missions that most closely align or apply to these threats—public safety, border and immigration, critical infrastructure, and economic security.
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Evacuating in Disasters Like Hurricane Milton Isn’t Simple – There Are Reasons People Stay in Harm’s Way, and It’s Not Just Stubbornness
Evacuating might seem like the obvious move when a major hurricane is bearing down on your region, but that choice is not always as easy as it may seem. Evacuating from a hurricane requires money, planning, the ability to leave and, importantly, a belief that evacuating is better than staying put.
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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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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.