August 1, 2018
Little more than two months before Hurricane Harvey slammed the Gulf Coast of Texas, Alberto Castaneda let his home’s flood insurance lapse. He had never filed a claim on the policy in 10 years and he needed the extra cash …
June 26, 2018
Hurricane Maria ripped away part of the steel roof from Carmen Lidia Torres Mercado’s home in the Puerto Rican capital. Nine months later, she is still relying on a blue plastic tarp to protect her home, even with a new …
June 15, 2018
The federal government, seeking to protect itself from the growing cost of natural disasters, is borrowing a technique from the private sector and buying reinsurance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which started purchasing reinsurance last year for the National Flood …
June 4, 2018
Allen Owen, the mayor of Missouri City, Texas, wants to do more to protect his town from the next disaster. But the city hasn’t gotten any of the roughly $1 million in federal disaster funds he said it’s owed after …
May 31, 2018
With just a week to go before hurricane season, top jobs at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency remain vacant and critics say that will make it harder for the government to respond to disasters. FEMA lacks a second-in-command and …
May 1, 2018
Connecticut’s Democratic U.S. senators announced Wednesday they’ve introduced federal legislation to help state homeowners with concrete foundations crumbling from the presence of an iron sulfide. One bill would provide $100 million in federal funding over five years for states like …
April 30, 2018
Advocacy groups said Friday that Texas is poised to unfairly distribute billions in federal funding provided for housing repairs following Hurricane Harvey‘s devastation – prioritizing wealthy homeowners over poorer victims in ways that could constitute racial discrimination. At issue is …
April 26, 2018
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is proposing to allow owners of homes destroyed by storms and bought out by the government to rebuild on the same flood-prone land. Currently, FEMA offers to buy homes that have been repeatedly damaged by …
April 12, 2018
The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded contracts for hurricane supplies without adequately researching whether winning bidders could deliver what they promised, according to a new investigation by Democrats on a Senate oversight committee. The investigation followed disclosures by The Associated …
April 4, 2018
Flood insurance premiums will rise again this year, according to federal officials. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said flood premiums will jump about 8 percent, the Asbury Park Press reported. The average flood policy will cost $935 annually, up from …