hurricanes

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Affordable Housing Is Slow To Recover After Disasters Like Hurricanes, And What Communities Can Do About It – 4 Reasons Why

How a community recovers after a disaster like Hurricane Ian is often a “chicken and egg” question: Which returns first – businesses or households? Businesses need employees and customers to be able to function. Households need jobs and the services businesses provide. As an urban planning researcher who focuses on housing recovery after disasters, I have found in my research that they’re mutually dependent. However, in coastal communities, the recovery of tourism-based businesses like restaurants and hotels depends in large part on the return of affordable housing for employees. Rockport, Texas, where Hurricane Harvey made landfall in 2017, is an example of the challenge. It’s a small community that caters to vacationers and sport fishermen, including celebrities like country singer Ge...

Lake Charles Still Recovering From 2020 Hurricanes

With the 2022 hurricane season looming, Lake Charles, Louisiana, residents are still working to recover and rebuild from Hurricanes Laura and Delta. The storms pummeled the region in the late summer and fall of 2020, destroying homes and setting off vicious cycles of housing injustice, unmeasured exposure to potentially toxic chemicals, and increased vulnerability to further flooding. The application period for the Lake Charles Housing Rehabilitation and Recovery Program opened last week and Lake Charles mayor Nic Hunter said, “We have no doubt in our mind that the $11.3 million we have dedicated will be gone quickly after the registration period.” The funds are expected to assist 150 homeowners, and carry specific guidelines, offering a maximum of $60,000 per structure for elderly- or ...

Hurricanes and wildfires are colliding with the COVID-19 pandemic – and compounding the risks

With a major hurricane hitting Louisiana and Texas and wildfires menacing the western U.S., millions of Americans are facing the complex risks of a natural disaster striking in the middle of a pandemic. The steps people normally take to prepare for a severe storm or to evacuate can contradict the public health recommendations for protecting themselves and others from COVID-19. That’s what millions of people were facing as Hurricane Laura intensified to a dangerous Category 4 storm on Aug. 26. More than half a million were under evacuation orders, including the cities Galveston, Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas. My urban resilience lab at Texas A&M University has been examining interactions between urban infrastructure, systems and people in disasters. At the onset of the COVID-19 pand...