Disaster Recovery

Port aid, protections for highway and election workers signed into law

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed bills supporting Baltimore-area businesses and workers affected by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

  • By Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters

How hurricane response helped one state’s cyber preparedness

Local governments in Louisiana are used to having the National Guard come in during natural disasters. Today, they are growing used to the guard coming in during a cyberattack, too.

  • By Chris Teale

Community groups step up to help rural agencies’ disaster recovery

Organizations like long-term recovery groups can help rural agencies get housing, financial, health care and food assistance to victims of natural disasters.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

FEMA to overhaul disaster aid to better help those most in need

The changes would address “the inequitable distribution of benefits” and help more low-income and homeless people.

  • By Kery Murakami

FEMA to overhaul its disaster aid system after decades of criticism

The agency will offer upfront cash payments to disaster survivors and slash some of its infamous red tape.

  • By Jake Bittle, Grist

How to prevent America’s aging buildings from collapsing – 4 high-profile disasters send a warning

Policies vary by state, but there are currently few widespread mandated rules for regular, structural inspections of entire existing buildings.

  • By Abieyuwa Aghayere, The Conversation

Climate resilient construction helps mitigate disasters

COMMENTARY | Instead of spending billions of dollars on disaster recovery every year, we should be investing in resilience from the start. That means putting in place stronger building codes that incorporate proven, affordable climate-resilient standards.

  • By Eleanor Kitzman

Disaster recovery projects stall nationwide as FEMA runs out of money

The agency has paused $2.8 billion in spending as it braces for a looming government shutdown.

  • By Jake Bittle, Grist

FEMA rolls out climate adaptation loans for small and overlooked communities

The federal disaster relief agency has taken heat for steering past resilience funds to whiter, wealthier areas.

  • By Jake Bittle, Grist

Hawaii’s wildfires led to fast tracking federal identity tools for unemployment claims

Unemployment is on the rise in Maui due in part to the drastic drop in tourism after the devastating wildfires. But the state's rapid deployment of an underutilized federal identity verification tool will help it get benefits to the people who really need it.

  • By Natalie Alms

How to get federal disaster aid: FEMA is running out of money, but these strategies can help survivors of Hurricane Idalia and the Maui fires get aid faster

COMMENTARY | After a natural disaster strikes a community, determining and documenting the extent of damage to homes and property is a crucial step in receiving financial aid to recover.

  • By Latisha Nixon-Jones, The Conversation

Climate change is increasing stress on thousands of aging dams across the US

COMMENTARY | The American Society of Civil Engineers estimated that more than 2,300 high hazard potential dams—those that could cause loss of life or serious property damage if they fail—lacked emergency action plans.

  • By Hiba Baroud
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Biden administration asks railroads for more details on hazardous cargo

A proposed rule is designed to help local emergency responders have better information when they arrive at the scene of a derailment.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

To Rebuild Damaged Section of Interstate 95, Officials Will Draw on Past Incidents

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said during his visit Tuesday that a 2017 bridge collapse in Georgia may provide a roadmap for how to rebuild quickly. A timetable for building a replacement set to be released Wednesday will depend on many factors, including finding the necessary materials.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

How to Convince Homeowners to Relocate Because of Climate Change

One expert says the path to success may lie not in the data itself, but in how governments communicate the data.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Damage Assessment Tool Streamlines Data Collection for Disaster Prep, Response, Recovery

Hurricane season is officially underway, and one county in Florida is looking to utilize the cloud to build on lessons learned during one of the state's most devastating hurricanes.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Earthquake data powered by next-gen supercomputers

A collaboration among national labs aims to provide an open-access website with datasets on how ground motion affects infrastructure during earthquakes.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

The Federal Program to Rebuild After Hurricane Katrina Shortchanged the Poor. New Data Proves It

For years, low-income residents of New Orleans have said the state’s Road Home program paid them less to rebuild their homes compared to wealthier residents. They were right.

  • By Richard A. Webster , Jeff Adelson, David Hammer and Sophie Chou, ProPublica

Housing Advocates Worry About Civil Rights Protections in Texas Disaster Standoff

The state is under scrutiny for how it distributed billions in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development dollars to prevent future storm and flood damage. But whether the feds will take action to address discrimination concerns is an open question.

  • By Daniel C. Vock

Cloud-based property assessments speed hurricane recovery

Cities and counties that suffered damage from Hurricane Ian could access Accela’s damage assessment service to jump-start recovery.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

How the Costs of Disasters like Hurricane Ian are Calculated – and Why it Takes so Long to Add Them Up

COMMENTARY | A recovery expert explains what these estimates include and what could be done to make disasters less costly.

  • By Adam Rose, The Conversation