Need to know how to apply to the Hazard Mitigation Grants Program (HGMP)? Or for Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM), Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA), Repetitive Flood Claims (RFC), or Severe Repetitive Loss Pilot (SRL) grants? If so, you’re in luck: FEMA’s just released the extensive (188-page) Hazard Mitigation Assistance Unified Guidance handbook applicable to HMGP funds available […]
Author Archive | StormSmart admin
Poll Reveals Coastal Residents Grossly Unprepared for 2009 Hurricane Season
Posted on June 18, 2009
A new poll suggests that even after an active 2008 hurricane season, residents from Texas to Maine have taken no steps to prepare for major storms. The Mason-Dixon poll was conducted as part of the 2009 National Hurricane Survival Initiative, which was launched at a news conference at the International Hurricane Research Center in Miami […]
Whitehouse Releases New Climate Change Report
Posted on June 18, 2009
Calling it “the most comprehensive and authoritative report of its kind,” on Tuesday the White House released Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. In its 190-pages, the nonpartisan report confirms what many have long argued: climate change due to heat-trapping pollution is already occurring and is visible throughout the United States, and the […]
Mid-Atlantic to See Greatest Sea Level Rise?
Posted on June 9, 2009
The Washington Post yesterday reported that the East Coast may face the greatest relative sea level rise in the states. The reason: projected changes in ocean currents, which are currently keeping sea levels on the mid-Atlantic coastline well below what they might otherwise be. If those currents change, sea levels in the region may rise […]
Radio Show: "'Hurricane Highway' Islands: Rebuild Or Retreat?"
Posted on June 4, 2009
National Public Radio aired a piece earlier this week exploring the parallels and differences between Alabama’s Dauphin Island and Isle Derniere (a Louisiana island that was a resort town in the 1800s, but was slowly abandoned in the wake of an 1856 hurricane). The story raises that age-old question: is retreat sometimes the only answer? […]
Short Video on Building Tougher [BUILDING]
Posted on June 4, 2009
The Weather Channel recently traveled to Texas to talk to builders about the construction techniques that allowed some homes on the Bolivar Peninsula to withstand the wrath of Hurricane Ike last September while so many others were destroyed. Meteorologist Jim Cantore said these disaster-resistant homes, “should be the ultimate example for anyone living in hurricane-prone […]
Slight Downgrade in Hurricane Projections [REPORT]
Posted on June 3, 2009
The Tropical Meteorology Project at Colorado State University has slightly decreased the number of storms predicted for this year’s hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin. A quick summary of the changes since the April projections: Read the 34-page report, Extended Range Forecast Of Atlantic Seasonal Hurricane Activity And Landfall Strike Probability For 2009 (PDF).
HURRICANE SEASON IS HERE (Is Your Community Ready?)
Posted on June 1, 2009
Today is the first day of the official Hurricane Season for those of is in the Northern Hemisphere. While August, September, and October are usually the most treacherous months, 97% of tropical activity happens between June 1 and November 30th (hence the currently defined Hurricane Season). Is your community prepared for this year’s season? If […]
NOAA's New Institute Advances National Climate Service
Posted on May 29, 2009
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced yesterday that U.S. government and university scientists are partnering to form a new institute that will use satellite observations to detect, monitor and forecast climate change and its impact on the environment. The Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites is part of NOAA’s effort to create a […]
REPORT: Interagency Study Concludes Structural Shore Protection Can't Solve All Problems
Posted on May 28, 2009
The Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force (a group organized by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in the wake of Hurricane Katrina) has released a draft of a report evaluating the performance of the New Orleans hurricane protection system during Hurricane Katrina and to assess the risks posed to the New Orleans region by future tropical […]