Recovery

Four months after Irma formed, fewer than half its nearly 866,000 claims in Florida worth an estimated $6.6 billion have been closed with payment, state records show.

Developers in East Baton Rouge can try to mitigate flood risk by including features like retention ponds, but groups like the Center for Planning Excellence say that adding more green spaces with water-sopping vegetation could also help.

The school system’s new director of security, emergency preparedness and response will deliberate issues thoughtfully.

This system, long advocated by the National Transportation Safety Board, was supposed to be in placed on all trains operating in the United States by the end of 2015.

Using data from both government and volunteer sources is key to an effective disaster response strategy.

Before the new law, known as Wisconsin Act 97, rural emergency medical services workers in small EMS departments could function only as basic EMTs.

In any case, available technology would have prevented the Amtrak crash, experts say.

'This is why defensible space is so important for homeowners. You run out of fuel, you run out of fire.'

But the massive federal relief package includes a slew of changes to federal disaster-recovery policy that could remove numerous bureaucratic roadblocks for victims of the 2016 Louisiana floods.

About 16,000 people in Santa Barbara County still can’t go home. At assistance centers, case managers meet with evacuees one-on-one to help them once they’re allowed to resettle.

The disaster aid bill nearly doubles the $44 billion request made by the White House last month.

News reports indicated that the Amtrak train that crashed Monday, killing three passengers and closing Interstate 5 for days, did not have that safety measure working yet.

The county relies on 25 public schools as shelters with a total capacity for 35,000 evacuees. During Irma, 24 schools sheltered 25,000 evacuees, about 5 percent of whom came from other counties.

The solidarity and unity once palpable after Harvey has been left to the history books. Now it feels like we're back to politics as usual.

One of the train cars slanted at a 45-degree angle onto the highway. Others crashed into a wooded area nearby, aerial images show. Twelve cars total went off the tracks.