Tag Archives | hazard identification

New Study to Predict Economic and Ecological Impact of Oil Spill & Sea Level Rise on Panhandle

A new University of Central Florida study will examine how rising sea level could harm estuaries and coastal communities along the Florida Panhandle and Alabama and Mississippi coasts. The study may also help project impacts of the BP Deepwater Horizon spill. The team, led by Scott C. Hagen, (associate professor of Civil Engineering), also includes […]

FEMA Releases Guidance for 2011 Mitigation Grant Programs

Via the always useful CZMA Climate Change and Coastal Hazards E-News Update newsletter: The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) “Unified Hazard Mitigation Assistance Program Guidance” (176 pp.) represents the unification of all five of the agency’s hazard mitigation grant programs into one guidance document. These programs, which provide funding for eligible mitigation activities that reduce […]

Panel to Discuss Long-Term Impacts of Oil Spill, this Friday (Web or Corpus Christi)

Curious about the projected effects of the oil spill on the region? The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies is hosting an event in Corpus Christi on Friday. Not in Texas (or too far from Corpus Christi)? You can also watch the event on your computer. From their press release: Scientists with the […]

New Survey of Southeast Louisiana Residents Shows Most Planning to Evacuate

A new survey of residents of Southeast Louisiana finds that while 57% feel at least “moderately comfortable” with the area’s levee systems, drainage pumps, and emergency warning systems, about 80% have “well developed” hurricane evacuation plans and say they are willing to evacuate in the face of a hurricane (see the graph for percentages of […]

Gulf Spill Oil Coming to Atlantic?

What’s the real worst case scenario for the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill? What it the oil keeps gushing all summer? The New York Times is reporting that a team of scientists has run the models, and that the results aren’t pretty. Nearly all of the simulations show oil heading into the Atlantic, and, perhaps, even […]

The 2010 Hurricane Season Begins with New Oil Spill Map

Today, of course, marks the start of the 2010 Hurricane Season. The good news: there don’t appear to be any storms yet. The bad news: the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill continues to spread without an end in site. Have a look at this interactive map that shows the extent of the oil each […]

County Promotes More Precise Storm Surge Maps

Hillsborough County county has released new storm surge maps, and they’re giving locals a more precise idea of their risks of being hit by the storm surge associated with a hurricane. Tampa Bay Online has the whole story. As the article reports, Hillsborough County has based the maps on revised models from the National Hurricane […]

Oil Slick Nears Gulf Coast

This doesn’t look like it’s going to be pretty. NOAA’s models show the slick hitting the Louisiana coast late Thursday (reports are just coming in that it’s already arrived) and proceeding into Breton Sound and Chandeleur Sound on Saturday. The rest of the Gulf Coast appears to be at risk, too. You can see the […]

High Tech (and generally free) Tools for Disaster Preparation

Mashable has written a short article outlining some of the many ways that people can take advantage of the technology they already own (computers, smart-phones, etc) to help prepare themselves for natural disasters. Some of the ideas: Using Google My Maps to create evacuation maps (see video below for an intro on how to do […]

Eight Hurricanes, Fifteen Tropical Storms for 2010 Forecasters Say

The leading storm forecasting team at Colorado State University is predicting eight hurricanes and fifteen tropical storms for this year’s hurricane season. “While patterns may change before the start of the hurricane season, we believe current conditions warrant concern for an above-average season,” researcher William Gray said. Not good news. “U.S. forecaster sees increased 2010 […]