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New Biden administration rules aim to unsnarl FEMA relief for disaster victims

Jan 23, 2024
The rules include up-front housing vouchers and broader access to flexible, critical-needs payments in the aftermath of a disaster.
Two years after the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s history, hundreds of victims are still waiting on FEMA payouts. Updates to FEMA’s regulations are meant to cut through red tape.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

After disasters, mobile home owners often struggle to recover

Sep 14, 2023
Mobile homes are uniquely vulnerable when natural disasters hit, and face challenges when trying to get recovery money. Some in Colorado are still grappling with the effects of flooding in 2013.
Brand new affordable housing units sit on a hillside above Lyons on Aug. 14, 2023. People who were displaced by flooding have priority access to the new units, but few former mobile home residents are expected to move in.
Alex Hager/KUNC

Financially, FEMA may not be equipped to handle climate change

Jul 20, 2023
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund is likely to be in the red sometime next month.
While FEMA will be able to find the cash to handle disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes, funding for rebuilding or mitigation programs are running thin.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Flood insurance program updates hit homeowners hard

May 16, 2023
In some counties, the rates for property owners have increased on average more than 600 percent.
The federal government's flood insurance program is now more accurate in its risk assessment. That's affecting the price of buying insurance for many homeowners.
David Greedy/Getty Images

Few homeowners in Kentucky's flooded areas have flood insurance

Aug 2, 2022
Nationwide, only 4 in 100 homes are covered, a FEMA official says. Without it, victims are pretty much on their own.
An aerial view of Jackson, Kentucky, on Thursday. There are only a few hundred flood insurance policies in that part of the state, a FEMA official said.
Leandro Lozada/AFP via Getty Images

Biden administration launches Heat.gov as extreme heat becomes more common

Aug 1, 2022
The government also boosts funding for a FEMA program to help communities prepare for extreme heat and other climate-related disasters.
While the government is taking steps to address the impacts of extreme heat, climate experts worry that the problem could worsen.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

FEMA plans to double down on climate preparedness

Dec 10, 2021
The Federal Emergency Management Agency's new strategic plan focuses on helping communities adapt to the changing climate.
A FEMA task force searches a flooded North Carolina neighborhood in 2018. The emergency response agency is boosting its investment in helping communities withstand destructive weather.
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Lots of homeowners are dropping flood insurance, study shows

Aug 4, 2021
It's bad news for federal officials who are trying to convince more homeowners that they need flood protection.
A Houston home sits in floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Many in Houston did not have flood insurance.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images

Nashville flooding renews federal push to tear down homes

Apr 29, 2021
Those in areas prone to flooding are weighing whether it's better to stay in a home, or take a government buyout.
Baylie McDaniel is a public school teacher in Nashville who is starting the long process of rebuilding after floodwaters inundated her home in late March. She says she'd prefer the city to focus on controlling Seven Mile Creek rather than buying homes to tear them down.
Blake Farmer/WPLN News

We might be underestimating our collective flood risk

Aug 26, 2020
Matthew Eby, head of the First Street Foundation, wants to help homeowners protect themselves as climate change poses hazards to coastal properties.
Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images