Two years after the water came, Jen and RJ Garbowicz still own a piece of St. Petersburg. It is an empty lot on a bayou off Tampa Bay, nearly an acre, with a few concrete pilings jutting out of the ground where their house once stood. Hurricane Helene flooded it in September 2024. Hurricane Milton tore up the roof less than two weeks later. The couple had both flood and homeowners insurance.
Source
Floods, storms, wildfires, and other disasters can strike in every state and district, and members of Congress in both parties have incentives to improve the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the nation’s premier disaster relief outfit. However, current FEMA officials in the Trump administration were notably absent from a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on…
Source
There are a lot of ways for disaster victims to get help in the immediate aftermath of a flood or fire. The Federal Emergency Management Agency gives out temporary housing assistance and pays for debris removal, insurance companies pay to rebuild homes and replace lost valuables, and charity groups pass out food and water. But the long-term recovery from a major disaster is a lot harder.
Source
During the year she spent leading the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, Kristi Noem faced a torrent of criticism. Lawmakers from both parties assailed her for lying about the shooting of protestors in Minneapolis and spending millions of dollars on television commercials. Government audits concluded that she “systematically obstructed” investigations and created security risks at…
Source
Secretary Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was already facing scrutiny as temperatures plunged and winter storms rolled across much of the United States at the end of January. The expansive winter storms came just after immigration officers ultimately under her command killed two people in Minnesota. The killings heightened public anger against Immigration and Customs…
Source
We speak with journalist Jacob Soboroff about his new book and ongoing reporting about the Los Angeles fires one year ago, when destructive infernos razed entire neighborhoods, killing 30 people and displacing over 100,000 more. The book Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster provides a detailed look at how the fires unfolded, the emergency efforts and the…
Source