The Zone Zero regulations, designed to keep embers from igniting homes, have drawn more than 4,000 public comments and fierce debate over plants, property rights and policy.
The state-run company Citizens has warned it may impose a “hurricane tax” this year if another big, expensive storm, or a series of little ones, hit the state. The company now insures 1.2 million homeowners, a 50 percent increase.
A 2021 investigation revealed Chicago’s deeply flawed inspection system for identifying and responding to safety issues in residential buildings. Since the report was published, 53 more people have died in residential fires.
Environmentalists are pushing back against a proposal to install 12 moveable gates in local waterways. They say the plan needs more local input and less focus on the storm surge problem.
The state has signaled its support for allocating an additional $70 million to Gov. Tina Kotek’s initial request of $130 million in emergency funds to help move residents off the streets and keep them housed.
A tale of two trains: When something bad happens, local and state officials increasingly are shouldered aside. The people and the pundits now expect all solutions to come from Washington.
The state has ambitious goals to end natural-gas usage over the next several years as a way to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. But storms and fires are more routinely causing residents to go days or weeks without power.
Nine Democratic candidates are vying for Mayor Jim Kenney’s seat and nearly all of them have said they would declare a citywide emergency for gun violence. But what would this local government declaration actually do?
The Wildfire Emergency Act would accelerate forest restoration projects, create a program to maintain critical facilities’ power during disruptions, help low-income households fireproof their homes and establish a fire-training center.
An analysis of nearly 92,000 Road Home grants statewide found that the program to help homeowners rebuild after hurricanes Katrina and Rita gave more funding to wealthier neighborhoods than low-income ones.
Changes to Texas’ power grid have improved ERCOT’s ability to keep power flowing during major winter storms, but in an extreme scenario, the grid could still face rolling blackouts, a seasonal assessment shows.
The housing tends to be older, is more often rented, making it less likely to be maintained and more vulnerable to serious damage in the wake of a disaster. But there are steps communities can take to help.
A decade after Hurricane Sandy, three of the city’s climate resiliency projects are nowhere near completion. The “Raised Shoreline” project has only spent 0.3 percent of its $103 million budget.
They increasingly bear most of the burdens of the disasters that climate change brings. Those that combine strong building codes and zoning that keeps people out of dangerous areas will fare the best and better protect their most vulnerable residents.
Research suggesting the 2020 California wildfires could have erased years of benefits from the state’s climate efforts has attracted international attention. Forest ecologists say it’s not that simple.
Even though mental illness is just as pervasive in rural communities, crisis response teams have been slow to grow beyond cities partly due to a lack of resources. Unfortunately, there's not a simple solution.
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