Disasters

"The Army Corps of Engineers is embarking on studies of potential improvements to the east bank and West Bank hurricane levee systems because portions of the post-Katrina levee system are likely to be inadequate to reduce risk from stormwater surges created by a so-called 100-year storm as early as 2023."

"The National Mining Agency (ANM) decided to ban a series of dams throughout the country because of problems of stability in its operations, the Brazilian Agency announced Tuesday."

"A massive emergency aid bill for victims of hurricanes, wildfires, flooding and other natural disasters was defeated in the Senate on Monday amid a fight between Democrats and President Trump over relief for Puerto Rico."

"The Black Hawk military helicopter flew over Iowa, giving a senior U.S. agriculture official and U.S. senator an eyeful of the flood damage below, where yellow corn from ruptured metal silos spilled out into the muddy water."

"Extreme weather events, supercharged by climate change, affected some 62 million people around the world in 2018, the United Nations' weather agency said Thursday."

"Last month, hackers tied computers into knots at a small Colorado water utility."

"The widespread, severe flooding in the Midwest over the last month has exposed the vulnerabilities in a levee system that is now so full of holes that many here ruefully describe it as “Swiss cheese.”"

"Something is killing apple trees across the American countryside, and the epidemic is reaching plague-like levels. Worst yet, scientists are completely clueless as to what is causing the mysterious pestilence."

"The U.S. Air Force said Wednesday that it needs $350 million in emergency funds this year to cover cleanup and basic repair costs after this month’s devastating floods at Offutt Air Force Base."

"When Hurricane Maria shattered Puerto Rico's power grid in 2017, it set off the longest major blackout in U.S. history. The island territory's political leaders faced a choice: rebuild the long-troubled centralized electric grid, which had been powered largely by imported diesel fuel and coal, or ditch the costly fuel imports and start over by building a more resilient grid powered by clean energy."