By Justine Calma 5 February 2018 (Grist) – The unprecedented brutality of the 2017 hurricane season showed the potential that natural disasters have to destroy livelihoods, displace families, and uproot entire communities. The most recent example, of course, is the situation in Puerto Rico post-Maria. Experts estimate the U.S. territory will lose close to 500,000 […]
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, 12 February 2018 (AP) – An explosion and fire at an electric substation threw much of northern Puerto Rico into darkness late Sunday in a setback for the U.S. territory’s efforts to fully restore power more than five months after Hurricane Maria started the longest blackout in U.S. history. The island’s […]
11 February 2018 (Desdemona Despair) – The year 2017 was the second-worst year for wildfires in the U.S., according to data published by the National Interagency Fire Center. Nationwide, wildfires burned a total 10,026,086 acres, just 99,063 acres shy of the record, 10,125,149 acres, set in 2015. In December, 2017 was on track to be […]
By Patricia Mazzei And Agustin Armendariz 6 February 2018 (The New York Times) – The mission for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was clear: Hurricane Maria had torn through Puerto Rico, and hungry people needed food. Thirty million meals needed to be delivered as soon as possible. For this huge task, FEMA tapped Tiffany Brown, […]
By Patricia Mazzei and Mary Williams Walsh 24 January 2018 (The New York Times) – The devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria has made Puerto Rico’s already dire financial situation even worse: The island’s leaders acknowledged late Wednesday that they will not be able to pay down any portion of their more than $70 billion debt […]
By Nicole Carr 2 February 2018 ST. THOMAS, Virgin Islands (WSB-TV) – A trip along the winding mountain countryside in Saint Thomas reveals scenes that are not scattered across network news shows anymore. Tarps cover the homes of people fortunate enough to have a promise of federal aid. Music equipment that used to amplify voices […]
By John D. Sutter 1 February 2018 On the path of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (CNN) – Each morning before work, Héctor Luis Rodríguez Nieves showers with a garden hose behind his tattered home. He uses the jungle as his restroom.He sleeps on a mattress in what once was the kitchen. Above the bed, […]
By Angela Fritz and Jason Samenow 18 January 2018 (The Washington Post) – Near-record warmth in 2017 helped fuel extreme weather around the planet that caused catastrophic destruction, human suffering, and loss of life. NOAA and NASA both reported Thursday that last year ranked among the three warmest on record. All four of the hottest […]
By Judson Jones 8 January 2018 (CNN) – These images represent the 16 different weather disasters which topped the $1 billion mark in 2017. [more] Billion-dollar disasters in 2017
By Anthony Faiola; Photos by Salwan Georges 16 January 2018 (The Washington Post) – Months after Hurricane Irma blazed its destructive path through the Caribbean, the once vibrant community on the tiny island of Barbuda is still struggling to rebuild paradise lost. Before the September storm, Barbuda was a forgotten Eden about the physical size […]
