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Innovative Way to Predict Saltwater Intrusion into Groundwater
Working closely with local conservation group, researchers develop new model to predict climate-change driven saltwater intrusion that is transferable to other vulnerable coastal communities.
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Colorado Prisons Vulnerable to Natural Disasters but May Be Ill-Prepared
Three-quarters of Colorado prisons are likely to experience a natural disaster in the coming years, but due to aging infrastructure and outdated policies, many are ill-equipped to keep residents safe.
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New Zealand: Firm Found Guilty Over Volcano Disaster
The court said Whakaari Management failed to sufficiently “assess risk” to visitors or provide them with protective gear, leading to the death of 22 people.
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States Working to Safeguard America’s Most Important River
Political leaders in the Mississippi River area are looking to form a multistate compact to manage threats from climate change, water pollution and drought-affected regions elsewhere. Twenty million people drink from the Mississippi River and its tributaries every day, and the river has led to more than 350,000 jobs and generates more than $21 billion in annual tourism, fishing and recreation spending.
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Floridians Believe in Climate Change, Want Government Action
The latest edition of the Florida Climate Resilience Survey found that 90 percent of Floridians believe climate change is happening, a higher figure than in the nation as a whole: a recent Yale University survey found that 74 percent of Americans as a whole think climate change is happening.
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How Big Institutions Stymie Disaster Response, and What to Do About It
Large institutions like government, the private sector, non-profits, and academia, are unprepared for disasters—both natural and human-created—because their incentives are not well-aligned.
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Floods Kill Long After the Water Has Gone
People impacted by a flooding event are at significantly increased risk of dying – including heart and lung problems – in a crucial window between three and six weeks after the event, even after the flooding has dissipated.
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Residents Unprepared for Wildland Fires, Face Barriers in Implementing Prevention Measures
Individual and social factors contribute to lack of preparedness, despite many available residential wildfire mitigation and educational programs.
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Arizona Is Evicting a Saudi Alfalfa Farm, but the Thirsty Crop Isn’t Going Anywhere
As Arizona struggles to adapt to a water shortage that has dried out farms and scuttled development plans, one company has emerged as a central villain. The agricultural company Fondomonte, which is owned by a Saudi Arabian conglomerate, has attracted criticism over the past several years for sucking up the state’s groundwater to grow alfalfa and then exporting that alfalfa to feed cows overseas. Now Arizona has cancelled one of the company’s leases and says it will not renew the others, but the decision will do little to solve a water shortage largely driven by irrigated agriculture.
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Hurricane Ian Stirred Up Flesh-Eating Bacteria in Florida
Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm in September last year, killing 149 people — the most deaths attributable to a single hurricane in the state in nearly a century. But the official death count didn’t include one of the most gruesome ways people died as a result of the storm: The state saw its highest number of vibriosis cases in more than 30 years.
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Little Improvement in Mandated Disaster plans, Despite Required Updates
Hurricanes, floods, heat waves and other disasters are striking the United States with increased severity and frequency, and since 2000 the Federal Disaster Mitigation Act has required states and local jurisdictions to have plans in place to reduce damages from such events. There has been only little improvement over time to these plans, in spite of regularly required updates.
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Testing Seafloor Fiber Optic Cable as an Earthquake Early Warning System
One of the biggest challenges for earthquake early warning systems (EEW) is the lack of seismic stations located offshore of heavily populated coastlines, where some of the world’s most seismically active regions are located. Researchers show how unused telecommunications fiber optic cable can be transformed for offshore EEW.
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In Wildfire-Prone Areas, Homeowners Are Learning They’re Uninsurable
Wildfires cause billions in home damage every year – and they are not only a problem in the U.S. West. Close to a quarter of the Americans now at risk of catastrophic wildfires live in the eastern half of the country, in places that may not be prepared to respond. Now, insurers no longer want to take on the risk.
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Rising Seas Tighten Vise on Miami Even for People Who Are Not Flooded
In coming decades, four out of five residents of Florida’s Miami-Dade County area may face disruption or displacement, whether they live in flood zones or not – and indirect pressures on many areas could outweigh direct inundation.
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Flesh-Eating and Illness-Causing Bacteria in Florida’s Coastal Waters Following Hurricane Ian
When Hurricane Ian struck southwest Florida in September 2022, it unleashed a variety of Vibrio bacteria that can cause illness and death in humans. Experts say that thepathogenic Vibrio bacteria are on the rise due to climate change, and it’s a ‘serious concern.’
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The long view
Postfire Debris Flows May Become Predictable, Thanks to a New Study
Scientists at Los Alamos have developed a model framework to better predict events such as landslides. The framework is making simulations faster and more accurate, which in turn will improve safety for communities that are at risk of their infrastructure being washed away.