Miami Beach is under a storm surge warning. Please stay indoors and avoid driving if possible! https://t.co/WhHzeaoMUD

— City of Miami Beach (@MiamiBeachNews) September 3, 2018

Via City of Miami Beach: Miami Beach is under a storm surge warning. Please stay indoors and avoid driving if possible!

Fish are seen washed ashore after dying in a red tide in Captiva, Florida, on Aug. 3, 2018.Cristobal Herrera / EPA file

Doctors in southwest Florida say they've seen an increase in patients complaining of breathing problems.

nbcnews.com - by Annie Rose Ramos - September 2, 2018

 . . . The red tide . . . poses a health risk to people. The microorganisms emit brevetoxins, which can get blown into the air. When the toxins are breathed in, they constrict passages in the lungs, causing people to cough and have difficulty breathing.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - STUDY - PNAS - Seroprevalence, risk factor, and spatial analyses of Zika virus infection after the 2016 epidemic in Managua, Nicaragua

sph.berkeley.edu - August 30, 2018

Almost half of the population of Managua, Nicaragua, is infected with Zika virus, according to a study by UC Berkeley School of Public Health researchers. Eva Harris, professor of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the School of Public Health and director of the UC Berkeley Center for Global Public Health, led the research, which was published August 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Knowing that 50 percent of the population was infected in only a three-month period during the epidemic is important because it means that another epidemic of that size and ferocity in the near future is very unlikely,” says Harris.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

A Princeton glaciologist says a set of mega-engineering projects may be able to stabilize the world’s most dangerous glaciers.

CLICK HERE - West Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapse – The Fall and Rise of a Paradigm

theatlantic.com - by Robinson Meyer - January 11, 2018

 . . . What if scientists could prevent one catastrophic symptom of climate change—a rapid rise in global sea level, for instance—without messing again with the weather?

Michael Wolovick, a glaciology postdoc at Princeton University, believes it may be possible.

For the past two years, Wolovick has studied whether a set of targeted geo-engineering projects could hold off the worst sea-level rise for centuries, giving people time to adapt to climate change and possibly reverse it.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

As hurricane activity starts to ramp up, Meteorologist Bobby Deskins is tracking a wave in the Windward Islands that's expected to bring heavy rain to the Southeast early next week. USA TODAY

usatoday.com - by Doyle Rice - August 29, 2018

The sleeping giant may be about to awaken.

Hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico is forecast to ramp up over the next couple of weeks. "Weather models have flipped the switch on the Atlantic hurricane season and see multiple areas of development possible, starting mainly this weekend," weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue said.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

CLICK HERE - Resilience Hubs White Paper - Shifting Power to Communities and Increasing Community Capacity (10 page .PDF document)

usdn.org

Summary

Resilience Hubs are community-serving facilities augmented to:

1.  support residents and

2.  coordinate resource distribution and services before, during, or after a natural hazard event.

They leverage established, trusted, and community-managed facilities that are used year-round as neighborhood centers for community-building activities. Designed well, Resilience Hubs can equitably enhance community resilience while reducing GHG emissions and improving local quality of life. They are a smart local investment with the potential to reduce burden on local emergency response teams, improve access to health improvement initiatives, foster greater community cohesion, and increase the effectiveness of community-centered institutions and programs.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Turns out there’s a lot of latent demand for a quick and cheap way to get around.

vox.com - by Umair Irfan - August 27, 2018

 . . . Amid the feverish passion for and against scooters, there’s a larger reckoning taking place about rapid changes to our cities and public spaces. The scooters are forcing conversations about who is entitled to use sidewalks, streets, and curbs, and who should pay for their upkeep.

They’re also exposing transit deserts, showing who is and isn’t adequately served by the status quo, and even by newer options like bike share. That people have taken so readily to scooters shows just how much latent demand there is for a quick and cheap way to get around cities.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

An ongoing red tide is killing wildlife throughout Florida’s southwest coast and has left beaches littered with dead fish, sea turtles, manatees and a whale shark. Additional footage courtesy of Southwest Florida TV via Facebook.

bradenton.com - by Mark Young - August 24, 2018

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is reporting an outbreak of Trichodesmium, sometimes called a brown tide, in waters offshore of Manatee County.

It is a separate species but similar to the well documented Karenia brevis, a photosynthetic organism responsible for the persistent red tide hitting Manatee and other nearby counties along 130 miles of coastline. Concerns are now being raised that if the two blooms merge, it could essentially deepen an ongoing red tide.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLE HERE - WHAT IS A BROWN TIDE? SCIENTISTS FEAR FLORIDA RED TIDE COULD MERGE WITH NEW OUTBREAK TO CREATE SUPER BLOOM

Figure 1. Average estimated annual residential rooftop PV market capacity potential from 2017 – 2030 (Source: NREL)

sepapower.org - by Jeffrey Cook - August 16, 2018

If the solar industry reaches this Department of Energy (DOE) target, it could dramatically alter the energy market and present a future where residential PV becomes a standard, cost-effective home installation, versus a luxury or long-term investment. A recent NREL report — Cost-Reduction Roadmap for Residential Solar Photovoltaics (PV), 2017-2030 — models a set of pathways that the industry could follow to realize this future. The analysis focuses on two key markets for residential PV cost reduction: installing PV at time of roof replacement and installing PV at time of new construction. These two market segments were selected because each offers significant cost reduction opportunities while representing a 30 gigawatt (GW) annual market nationwide (see Figure 1).

Caroline Lewis - Jorge Castillo—The CLEO Institute

time.com - July 26, 2018

People across South Florida are awakening to the danger of climate change, and Caroline Lewis is a big reason why. The former high school principal has spent the last eight years educating the region’s vulnerable communities about its effects from the helm of the CLEO Institute, a nonprofit she founded. At the heart of CLEO’s work is Lewis’ training of local leaders in the science and policy of global warming, so they can spread the word in their communities. CLEO also helped found the Miami Climate Alliance, which has planned marches and helped shape local environmental policy.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Congressman Darren Soto and staff reach out to Puerto Rican evacuees in a lobby in a Florida Super 8 motel in Kissimmee, Florida, earlier this month. Photograph: Staff/Reuters

For the more than 300,000 people who fled after Hurricane Maria the Sunshine State proved to be no Disney World but they are poised to have an electoral impact in the midterms

theguardian.com - by Richard Luscombe - August 9, 2018

 . . . As of the end of June, more than 600 Puerto Rican families were still living in cramped, single-room accommodation in Florida hotels, two-thirds of them in central Florida’s Orange and Osceola counties and relying on the temporary shelter assistance program paid for by the federal emergency management agency (Fema).

And with the Orlando/Kissimmee/Sanford area third in the US for its dearth of affordable housing options, low-cost rentals are especially hard to come by, forcing even more to remain in $60-a-night hotel rooms in rundown areas, especially along the US 192 highway in Kissimmee . . . 

miamiherald.com - by Alex Harris - July 24, 2018

The letter might have already come in the mail. “Your building is at high risk for flooding,” it declares in bold. There are ominous charts warning that if you don’t take action, your flood insurance premium could rise up to 18 percent each year.

The bottom line: your flood insurance premium is going up again — and under a policy change the Federal Emergency Management Agency is considering, it could skyrocket even more in coming years.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

CLICK HERE - Risk Rating and Policy Forms Redesign (15 page .PDF document)

CLICK HERE - Federal Flood Insurance Average Premium to Rise 8%

CLICK HERE - FEMA - Flood Insurance Reform - Rates and Refunds

miamisao.com - Filed August 1, 2018

The Fall Term 2017 Grand Jury is releasing this report during Hurricane Season 2018, approximately one-and-a-half-months shy of the one year anniversary of Hurricane Irma making landfall in South Florida.  Based on information we received regarding the preparation for and the aftermath of Hurricane Irma’s impact on South Florida, this Grand Jury decided to conduct an investigation of this topic.

Grand Jury Reports - 2017 Fall Term – As Storm Clouds Gathered: The Preparation for and Aftermath of Hurricane Irma
(37 page .PDF document)
http://www.miamisao.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Grand-Jury-Fall-2017-Report-As-Storm-Clouds-Gathered-FINAL.pdf 

Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office - Grand Jury Reports
http://www.miamisao.com/resources/grand-jury-reports/