They’re not precise enough to use for planning purposes, but the National Hurricane Center has created a neat tool to show projections for where hurricanes are likely to drive storm surge. Using it is as easy as visiting their Storm Surge Interactive Risk Maps webpage, selecting a category of storm (1-5) you’d like to see […]
Author Archive | Wesley Shaw
New Free Webinar on Climate Change Adaptation for Local Governments
Posted on October 26, 2010
Just got this press release announcing that EPA will continue a promising-looking webcast series designed to help local governments adapt to climate change. While the blurb doesn’t say the program is specifically targeting coastal communities, it seems likely that much if not all of what they discuss will apply to all of us abutting the […]
New Guidance for Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning
Posted on October 21, 2010
The Florida Department of Community Affairs and Florida Division of Emergency Management yesterday released its long-awaited Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning: A Guide for Florida Communities. [QUICK NOTE: while this is written for Florida, it’s likely to be useful for communities anywhere in the US.] From their announcement: Over the past four years the Department and the […]
Is Your Community Getting New Flood Maps? Here's How to Ease the Sting
Posted on September 28, 2010
The fine folks over at Colorado State’s Natural Hazards Center have a neat summary of the National Flood Insurance Program’s Preferred Risk Policies program in their monthly newsletter. The short version? Property owners who find themselves newly mapped into high risk flood areas now have up to two years to apply for a Preferred Risk […]
Training: Basic Concepts for Floodplain Management [December 14-15, Virginia]
Posted on September 23, 2010
First, the bad news: the course is in Virginia. The good news: it sounds like a good spot to get an overview of what it means to manage a floodplain. From the organizer’s description: This training course will present the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) concepts in flood management, damage prevention terminology, and protocols from […]
Senate Passes 1-Year National Flood Insurance Program Extension
Posted on September 22, 2010
The US Senate agreed today to a one-year extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The House (which has already approved a five-year extension) is expected to adopt the Senate extension. This is obviously a short-term fix, but given that the program has expired four times this year alone, it’s still welcome news.
An Argument for Not Returning to Normal [Editorial]
Posted on September 20, 2010
An interesting editorial by Global Ethics professor Tom Sorell on why our natural post-disaster instinct to return things to normal is so often exactly the wrong response, and why we instead ought to work to “usher in discontinuity.” The problem with returning to “normal” is obvious: we’re often returning to the same conditions that put […]
Hurricane Earl and Erosion Take Nantucket House
Posted on September 20, 2010
This month’s hurricane dealt a final blow to a long-threatened waterfront house on Nantucket. Reflecting a national trend, the owner’s daughter compares town officials to “ostriches, with their heads buried in their hands” [sic]. Town says “Erosion is a fact of life when you live on an island. I don’t think there’s an overwhelming problem […]
Facebook vs Twitter: Which to Use for What in Emergency Management
Posted on September 9, 2010
Another good post from John Solomon over at In Case of Emergency, Read Blog. Here, he’s looking at how emergency management professionals use the two most popular social networking tools, Facebook and Twitter. In his interviews, he discovers that the two are NOT interchangeable. It turns out that in most cases the two services are […]
Webinar Series Includes Presentation on "Sea Level Rise and Property Rights"
Posted on September 8, 2010
The International Submerged Lands Management has announced its new conference dates. Unlike most conferences, this one takes place on your computer, so those of us with limited travel budgets can still participate. You can find a schedule of all the conference’s events on their website (and we’ll add the lot to the StormSmart Coasts Calendar), […]