Nothing to panic about (we don't think), but the US Senate failed to pass a reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). As a result, the NFIP officially expired last night.
FEMA, meanwhile, released an announcement last Friday expressing its confidence that the program will be reauthorized when the Senate reconvenes tomorrow. Others. . .
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While this list was written by FEMA for the general public, most of it applies to your municipal properties, too (and it's not a bad outreach tool, either).
The Top Ten Reasons to Buy Flood Insurance Now
Spring flooding is almost here and there is a 30-day waiting period before coverage begins.
Coverage is relatively inexpensive – nationally premiums. . .
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The folks over at the NOAA Coastal Services Center recently released a two-page summary of risk communication specifically for those working in coastal hazards.
In addition to explaining the concept of risk and why our behavior in the face of risk is so complicated, it provides six best practices for those trying to communicate risk. In their words: . . .
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To help inform and engage coastal communities on coastal climate preparedness, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA will be hosting a monthly webinar series focused on all issues surrounding coastal climate adaptation in the Southeast U.S.
This month’s webinar will be on February 25th from 12 – 1 . . .
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The National Weather Service has created a new way to help coastal decision makers better project damage from coastal flooding through an experimental forecast technique they're calling the “Coastal Flood Nomogram”. Unlike some other models which rely solely on predicted damage from still water, the Coastal Flood Nomogram considers the combined effects. . .
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Just a heads-up: we've got some exciting work to do on the StormSmart Coasts site.
We think you'll like the results, but in the meantime, we're going to pull the site down for a few hours Sunday evening and put our robots to work. If you visit then, there's no telling what you might find. Rest assured, we should be up and running at full force by Monday. . .
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One last event for this week's news:
"Please join us for the Impact of Climate Issues on America’s Energy Coast hearing taking place at 9:00 am – 11:30 am on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at the Battle House in Mobile, AL. For more information or to register to attend this free event, please email Lisa Noble at lnoble@americaswetland.com.
The hearing. . .
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NOAA's National Weather Service has just announced that it will use a new hurricane scale this season called the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The new scale keeps the same wind speed ranges as the original Saffir-Simpson Scale for each of the five hurricane categories, but no longer ties specific storm surge and flooding effects to each. . .
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This just across our desks:
"The challenge of living with water is one shared by cities and communities around the world. Nowhere is this more true than in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region, where people live with a daily awareness of the threat, and opportunity, of water. Please join us at the Building Resilience Workshop, to be held February. . .
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Dealing with storms means dealing with stormwater. EPA has just released a new resource for local governments to help them do just that. In their words:
"EPA has released a first-of-its-kind water quality scorecard designed to help communities in rural, suburban and urban settings incorporate green infrastructure practices to protect local water quality. . .
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