Preparedness

Amid uncertainty at FEMA and no guarantee of federal recovery funds, emergency managers in the Houston metro area say they have plans in place to handle the upcoming hurricane season and will seek state assistance as needed.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a forecast of 13 to 19 named storms this year, three to five of which could become storms of Category 3 strength or higher.

Upheaval at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including the May 8 dismissal of acting director Cameron Hamilton, has experts worried that Americans are now more vulnerable to climate change-fueled disasters.

The Trump administration has indicated states should play a bigger role in disaster recovery. As hurricane season approaches, Mississippi communities consider how they would recover without assistance from FEMA.

The legislation includes funds to help residents safeguard their homes against extreme weather, creates a new State Resilience Office, and launches a program to modernize data on flood risk and make it accessible online.

The Drone814 initiative in the greater Johnstown, Pa., area will use drones to deliver supplies like defibrillators and EpiPens to local emergency scenes. The trials will compare the drones' speed to that of an ambulance.

Calling the state's wildfire crisis "immense," CAL FIRE and federal officials presented a new three-part strategy that includes community hardening, forest management and wildfire response.

Called HNL Alert, the mass notification system will send text messages, push notifications or emails to users during situations like severe weather, evacuations, or drinking water or ocean safety issues.

Tornado warnings Sunday gave way to severe thunderstorm warnings and watches in at least six lower Michigan counties. Some electricity customers were already without power following an earlier ice storm.

The "Weather the Storm" virtual reality experience from Clemson University and the University of Georgia simulates storm surge creeping into a home during a tropical storm in hopes that it will teach users to take evacuation orders seriously.

The Oceanside Police Department has been offered grant money for a 13-month trial of new first responder drones that can soar from a downtown rooftop within seconds of a 911 call.

More communities than previously thought could be impacted by a tsunami resulting from a large earthquake off the California coastline. The state's tsunami preparedness week kicks off this Saturday.

The new plan reflects how the county has approached emergency management since the COVID-19 pandemic, a more flexible vision that goes beyond just fire and police services as disasters become more complex.

Law enforcement officials in Chippewa County, Wisc., are preparing to undergo new training Thursday that aims to advance their skills in crisis interventions, response and de-escalation.

A preparedness exercise last week with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers simulated how the region would respond to a storm as intense as Hurricane Helene, which ravaged communities hundreds of miles from the coast.

The county was added to a list of 236 others included in a disaster proclamation from Gov. Greg Abbott amid "elevated fire conditions" statewide. The state EOC is also preparing to respond to damage from wildfires, tornadoes, hail and heavy rainfall.

Georgia, the Carolinas and even Alabama have seen intense wildfires spread over the past week. While fires aren't unusual in the South, experts say climate change is likely to lead to more severe threats going forward.

Since 2020, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation's emergency operations center in North Dakota has grown from an office in the back of a gym to a 24/7 hub for large-scale disaster response. Here's how they did it.