mitigation News

Explainer: Factors Behind Sydney’s Recent Flood Emergencies

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Parts of Australia’s largest city have been inundated by four major floods since March last year, leaving weary residents questioning how many times they can rebuild. The latest disaster follows Sydney’s wettest-ever start to a year …

Close Calls, or Worse, Spark Push for Wildfire Mitigation

DURANGO, Colo. (AP) — As the Missionary Ridge Fire raged in 2002, the Valley Fire, a second fire, broke out and destroyed six homes within hours near the Falls Creek Ranch subdivision north of Durango. When residents returned after the …

As Drought Intensifies, California Seeing More Wildfires

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As California sinks deeper into drought it already has had more than 900 additional wildfires than at this point in 2020, which was a record-breaking year that saw more than 4% of the state’s land scorched …

California AG Challenges Housing Plans in Wildfire Areas

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s attorney general is challenging some of the state’s largest suburban development projects as local officials weigh the risk of increasingly devastating wildfires against the state’s dire need for more housing. Attorney General Xavier Becerra on …

California Sets Home Hardening Standards to Lower Fire Risks

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — As consecutive years of catastrophic wildfires in California drive up the cost of insuring homes, state regulators on Monday announced a step toward creating incentives for retrofitting older homes to make them more resilient to fires. …

The Small Riverside Town of Mosby, Missouri, is Disappearing One House at a Time

MOSBY, Mo. — Tammy Kilgore raised the giant claw of a John Deere excavator high in the air, then slammed it down on the roof the house where she had spent nearly her entire adult life. The shingles crunched, but …

In Colorado, 24 High-Hazard Dams Are Seen as Problematic

Two dozen aging dams in Colorado were in unsatisfactory condition and are located in places where their failure would likely kill at least one person, according to an Associated Press investigation that found at least 1,688 such dams nationwide. The …

Valen Analytics, Drone Base and CNA Pitch Products

Valen Analytics Predicts Comp Risks with no Loss History Workers’ compensation carriers can now accurately score a policy even where there is no loss history on the account, according Valen Analytics, a data analytics and predictive modeling firm for the …

New Hampshire Maps Hazardous Sites for Mitigation Initiative

New Hampshire is launching a new effort to inventory hazardous sites most at risk during natural disasters. Gov. Maggie Hassan said Friday the effort will help the state target resources to reduce damage. She said developing a statewide master plan …

Mississippi Valley State University Recognized as Disaster Resistant

Mississippi Valley State University says it’s getting federal recognition as a disaster resistant university. It says that at a hearing Monday evening, university president Donna Oliver signed a mitigation plan approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The plan includes …