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U.S. Disaster-Response Force Stretched Thin as Hurricane Season Starts

           

reuters.com - by Andy Sullivan - June 13, 2018

With the 2018 hurricane season already underway, FEMA is scrambling to hire more people who are willing to depart at a moment’s notice for assignments that can last months at a stretch.

Internal documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show the agency's disaster-response force is understaffed by 26 percent. And as last year revealed, many of those who sign up don't always respond when needed.

The extraordinary string of domestic disasters in 2017 continues to weigh on the U.S. agency. With thousands of workers still out in the field, official figures show that 33 percent of FEMA’s disaster-response workforce is available for deployment, down from 56 percent at this time last year.

Some specialties are stretched especially thin: Only 13 percent of the workers who direct federal aid to pay for rebuilding costs after a disaster hits are currently available.

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This mock pandemic killed 150 million people. Next time it might not be a drill.

CLICK HERE - CLADE X LIVESTREAM (ARCHIVED)

A panel of experts play out a pandemic exercise on May 15 to demonstrate what policies and strategies the U.S. government should have in place. (Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security)

submitted by Mike Kraft - washingtonpost.com - by Lena H. Sun - May 30, 2018

A novel virus, moderately contagious and moderately lethal, has surfaced and is spreading rapidly around the globe . . .

. . . So began a recent day-long exercise hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The simulation mixed details of past disasters with fictional elements to force government officials and experts to make the kinds of key decisions they could face in a real pandemic.

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Hurricane Maria: 4,645 Died in Puerto Rico From Storm in 2017, Study Says

submitted by Diane Tucker

           

A tree toppled by Hurricane Maria rests over damaged graves in the Villa Palmeras cemetery in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in December 2017.  Mario Tama/Getty Images

CLICK HERE - STUDY - NEJM - Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria

npr.org - by Richard Harris - May 29, 2018

Perhaps 5,000 people died in Puerto Rico in 2017 for reasons related to September's Hurricane Maria, according to a study that dismisses the official death toll of 64 as "a substantial underestimate."

A research team led by scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health didn't simply attempt to count dead bodies in the wake of the powerful storm. Instead, they surveyed randomly chosen households and asked the occupants about their experiences.

From that approach, they concluded that between Sept. 20 and Dec. 31, 2017, there were 4,645 "excess deaths" — that is, deaths that would not have occurred if the island hadn't been plunged into a prolonged disaster following the devastating storm.

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Hurricanes Are Strengthening Faster Than They Did 30 Years Ago

                   

A new study found that hurricanes intensify more quickly now than they did 30 years ago. Hurricanes from 2017 like Irma (center), and Jose (right) are examples of these types of hurricanes. Hurricane Katia is seen on the left.  (Photo: NOAA)

usatoday.com - by Doyle Rice - May 10, 2018

With the start of hurricane season just three weeks away — and memory of last year's disastrous storms still fresh — scientists reported that powerful hurricanes are strengthening faster than they did 30 years ago.

Four of the monster hurricanes last year (Harvey, Irma, Jose and Maria) all intensified rapidly — when the maximum wind speed increases at least 29 mph within 24 hours . . .

 . . . According to a study out this week, the main cause appears to be a natural climate phenomenon that warms the seawater where hurricanes typically intensify in the Atlantic.

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Radar Images Show Large Swath of Texas Oil Patch is Heaving and Sinking at Alarming Rates

           

A new study by an SMU geophysical team found alarming rates of ground movement at various locations across a 4000-square-mile area of four Texas counties. (Zhong Lu and Jin-Woo Kim, SMU) Credit: Zhong Lu and Jin-Woo Kim, SMU

CLICK HERE - STUDY - Association between localized geohazards in West Texas and human activities, recognized by Sentinel-1A/B satellite radar imagery

phys.org - Southern Methodist University - March 21, 2018

Two giant sinkholes near Wink, Texas, may just be the tip of the iceberg, according to a new study by a Southern Methodist University, Dallas geophysical team that found alarming rates of new ground movement extending far beyond the infamous sinkholes . . .

 . . . Now the team has discovered that various locations in large portions of four Texas counties are also sinking and uplifting.

 . . . ”These hazards represent a danger to residents, roads, railroads, levees, dams, and oil and gas pipelines, as well as potential pollution of ground water," Lu said. "Proactive, continuous detailed monitoring from space is critical to secure the safety of people and property" . . .

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Motel Misery: Hundreds Fled Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico Only to End Up Functionally Homeless in Florida

           

cnn.com - by John D. Sutter - additional reporting by Cristian Arroyo - photograph by Jayme Gershen for CNN - April 20, 2018

With no running water, no power and no school for her kids, Carmen "Millie" Santiago fled Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit the Caribbean last fall. Like thousands of evacuees, she landed here in central Florida. And, like hundreds, she's still stuck in a motel.

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Tired of Waiting for Electricity in Puerto Rico, Man Builds His Own Solar Power System

           

Frank says his experience with electrical work helped him tackle the solar panel installation.

cnn.com - by Paul P. Murphy - April 19, 2018

Another day, another blackout in Puerto Rico; Wednesday's blackout was the latest to hit the island still recovering from Hurricane Maria. But one man beat the power outages and his troublesome gas generator by switching to solar power.

"As I'm typing this, we are in the middle of a blackout and my fridge, lights and fans are running worry free," a man named Frank told CNN.

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Puerto Rico Hit by Island-Wide Power Blackout

           

A general view shows buildings after Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), the island's power company, said Wednesday that a major power line failure in southern Puerto Rico cut electricity to almost all customers, in San Juan, Puerto Rico April 18, 2018. REUTERS/Gabriel Lopez Albarran

cnn.com - by Ray Sanchez and Leyla Santiago - April 18, 2018

With most of Puerto Rico in the dark Wednesday night, Gov. Ricardo Rossello said in a tweet that he has suggested Puerto Rico's Electric Power Authority cancel its contract with a subcontractor that caused an island-wide power outage.

An excavator operated by D. Grimm, a subcontractor for Cobra Acquisitions, apparently caused the blackout, which originated at a major transmission line running between Salinas and Guayama in the southeast, according to the authority . . .

 . . . As of 8 p.m., only 334,000 customers in the US commonwealth had electricity again. Power was to be restored to customers who had electricity before the latest outage within 24 to 36 hours, the authority said.

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NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT - HURRICANE MARIA (AL152017) 16–30 September 2017

CLICK HERE - NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORT - HURRICANE MARIA (AL152017) - 16–30 September 2017 - Richard J. Pasch, Andrew B. Penny, and Robbie Berg National Hurricane Center - 10 April 2018 (48 page .PDF report)

nhc.noaa.gov

Maria was a very severe Cape Verde Hurricane that ravaged the island of Dominica at category 5 (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) intensity, and later devastated Puerto Rico as a high-end category 4 hurricane. It also inflicted serious damage on some of the other islands of the northeastern Caribbean Sea. Maria is the third costliest hurricane in United States history.

ALSO SEE ADDITIONAL REPORTS HERE - National Hurricane Center - 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season

 

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Puerto Rico Closing 283 Schools Over Sharp Drop in Enrollment

           

Stack of school papers on a desk in an empty classroom in Puerto Rico.

cnn.com - by Nicole Chavez - April 6, 2018

Puerto Rico is closing 283 schools this summer following a sharp drop in enrollment in the past year, officials said.

Since May, schools have lost 38,762 students as the US territory works to rebuild following a devastating hurricane last year, the education department said in a statement.

"Half of the existing schools are at 60% of their capacity," it said. The department said only 828 schools will reopen in August.

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ALSO SEE SAME ARTICLE HERE

 

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