You are here

Vulnerability

National Storm Surge Hazard Maps

https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=d9ed7904dbec441a9c4dd7b277935fad&entry=1

This national depiction of storm surge flooding vulnerability helps people living in hurricane-prone coastal areas along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI), Hawaii, and Hispaniola to evaluate their risk to the storm surge hazard. These maps make it clear that storm surge is not just a beachfront problem, with the risk of storm surge extending many miles inland from the immediate coastline in some areas. If you discover via these maps that you live in an area vulnerable to storm surge, find out today if you live in a hurricane storm surge evacuation zone as prescribed by your local emergency management agency. If you do live in such an evacuation zone, decide today where you will go and how you will get there, if and when you're instructed by your emergency manager to evacuate. If you don't live in one of those evacuation zones, then perhaps you can identify someone you care about who does live in an evacuation zone, and you could plan in advance to be their inland evacuation destination – if you live in a structure that is safe from the wind and outside of flood-prone areas.

National Hurricane Center - National Storm Surge Hazard Maps - Version 2
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/nationalsurge/

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Will Solar Panels Survive a Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)?

           

CLICK HERE - Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack - Volume 1: Executive Report - 2004 (62 page .PDF report)

solarpowerrocks.com - by Ben Zientara - October 2017

. . . The thing to be worried about here is what’s known as a nuclear electromagnetic pulse, or EMP for short. If a nuclear weapon of sufficient size is detonated, an EMP can disrupt everything that uses electronic circuitry, potentially causing irreversible damage to electronics in cars, airplanes, the U.S. electric grid, and yes, your home solar system . . .

. . . the U.S. Government has commissioned a few studies of the effects and likely aftereffects of an EMP-as-weapon deployed against the country . . .

. . . Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) . . . it’s a lot like the E3 component of a nuclear EMP, and can shut down the grid in much the same way.

(CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Country / Region Tags: 
General Topic Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

FEMA Flood Maps Ignore Climate Change, and Homeowners Are Paying the Price

           

The flood maps don’t factor in sea level rise or changes in extreme weather, and many are years out of date. In Mexico Beach, 'minimal-risk' homes were swept away.

insideclimatenews.org - by James Bruggers - November 1, 2018

The official map laid it out for more than 200 homes within the community of Mexico Beach, Florida: the federal government had characterized their flooding risks as minimal, despite their near-beachfront locations.

That meant for them there were no requirements to buy flood insurance, and local residents say many did not.

When Hurricane Michael and its 155-mile-per-hour winds slammed into the town on Oct. 10, with a storm surge of perhaps 19 feet, the result was devastation. An analysis by coastal geologists from Western Carolina University has found that 70 percent of the homes were demolished. Another 10 percent were severely damaged.

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Crowded Shelters and the Vicious Flu Brew Perfect Storm for the Homeless

           

Members of the D.C. homeless community have constructed an encampment in front of the Central Union Mission. These crowded spaces can become breeding grounds for diseases such as the flu. (Carmen Heredia Rodriguez/KHN/Carmen Heredia Rodriguez/KHN)

washingtonpost.com - by Carmen Heredia Rodriguez - March 3, 2018

 . . . For the healthy, the flu represents a serious health concern. But for the homeless — who deal with higher rates of chronic illness, fewer resources and crowded conditions in shelters — catching the flu can be a matter of life or death.

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

 

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Why the Menace of Mosquitoes Will Only Get Worse

Aedes aegypti. Credit Andrew Bettles for The New York Times

Climate change is altering the environment in ways that increase the potential for viruses like Zika.

nytimes.com - by Maryn McKenna - April 20, 2017

 . . . Climate change is turning abnormal weather into a common occurrence: Last year was the warmest year on record, the third in a row, and there were more heat waves, freezes and storms in the United States that caused $1 billion or more in damage just in 2016 than in the years 1980 to 1984 combined. Anything that improves conditions for mosquitoes tips the scales for the diseases they carry as well: the West Nile virus that flattened Dallas, the dengue that returned to Florida in 2009 after 63 years and the newest arrival, Zika, which gained a toehold in the United States last year and is expected to surge this summer . . .

Country / Region Tags: 
Problem, Solution, SitRep, or ?: 

Pages

Subscribe to Vulnerability
howdy folks